Devon Motorworks was known as an industrial design house that was based in Los Angeles, California. The company specialized in the development of premium lifestyle products. In the automotive world, this company was better known as the company that was the sole bidder for the Dodge Viper.
Devon intended to provide the basis of the Devon GTX. An all American Supercar that was meant to begin production in early 2010. We are going to take a look at the features, engine and overall design that this car had. One thing is for sure, it is a forgotten supercar that could produce over 600 horsepower!
Devon Motorworks once said that their aim was to have:
"multiple design projects that have a common purpose of providing sculptural power with recognizable beauty."
The Devon GTX supercar has been forgotten about but has a V10 engine that can produce 650 horsepower. That engine is something that we do not want to forget about!
The design of the supercar
The car was designed by Daniel Paulin. He is a Swedish designer. Between the designer and the founder, Scott Devon, they shared a vision for an American supercar that had a mix of classic and contemporary design cues. If you take a look at the outside of the car, the design is sleek and effortless. When you look at the car, it looks like a classic car that you would find around the world. The inside of the car looks and feels like you are driving in luxury and yet a car that is modern.
Scott Devon said:
"We set out to design a vehicle that was quintessentially American, both in its shape and in its performance."
The Devon team did just that. One of the stand out features of the design of the car has to be the aircraft-quality carbon fiber body. The body makes the car lighter around corners which means it can go even faster. The car also had articulating doors and we cannot forget about the two-tone wheel surrounds.
To tie the whole look and feel of the car together, it also has dual center exhaust ports as well as carbon fiber racing seats. The car looks and feels like a race car and yet the shape of the car brings you back to classic car days.
The Engine of The Devon GTX
Now, to look at the all-important performance aspect of the car, the engine! The GTX was powered by the 8.4 L V10 engine that also featured in the Dodge Viper. A few tweaks were made to the engine because it could get up to 650 horsepower! That is 50 more horses than the Viper could with the same engine. It was a 6-speed transmission, Tremec TR6060 manual.
If you look at some track times, The GTX had a time of: 1:35.075 at the Laguna Seca track which was a little bit slower than the Viper. The Devon also went around the Willow Springs Raceway in California and came up with a time of: 1:26:00. This just shows how quick this car really is and it is a shame that it was not put into production.
The price of The Devon GTX
The Devon GTX was meant to go on sale in the first quarter of 2010. The production was going to be limited to 36 cars per year. With that being said and all the bells and whistles that the car was meant to come with, the car was starting at $ 500 000.00. There was going to be a racing package that would be available as well for an extra $ 25 000.00.
Two GTX cars were made back in 2010. The cars were auctioned at Barrett-Jackson auction back in 2012. Turns out one of the cars were auctioned off for $ 220 000.00. This price seemed more reasonable for buyers.
Why was The Devon GTX project canceled?
Unfortunately, the Devon GTX was canceled because of the Dodge Viper discontinuation.
Scott Devon released an official statement:
“The Viper platform being discontinued and the inability to amortize tooling costs are the key reasons. But we have two beautiful prototypes and might still race the Laguna Seca car with Justin Bell in GT2. However, our Devon brand plans have expanded to include jeans, leather jackets, watches, scents, and eyewear. Our Beverly Hills flagship store will open this April. We also have a line of motorcycles being made by legendary builder Shinya Kimura. And the black and chrome GTX will be in the store as a display piece of automotive art. I wish we could have gone into production but have no regrets and feel we achieved a significant contribution in auto design along with the Laguna Seca record.”
We can only hope that much like the Viper returned in past years, the folks at Devon will find a way to as well.