Lykan HyperSport

You know those used car listings that claim “no stories,” where a vehicle is of such faultless history and pure lineage that it requires no qualification? Well, this isn’t one of those cars.

This particular story goes like this: When VINwiki founder Ed Bolian was hunting down a blown-up Lamborghini Murcielago V-12 powerplant to create a “steampunk chandelier” for his garage, he found a seller who was willing to throw in the body shell of a Lykan Hypersport. 

The aggressively named Lebanese supercar is manufactured by UAE-based W Motors, and rose to prominence after being featured in Fast and Furious 7. Only 7 of the original cars exist in total; this particular shell was not used in the film, but was intended for use in a Fast and Furious live show.

Since the real deal Hypersport was based on a Boxster chassis and modified by Ruf, Bolian and his cohort Casey Putsch of Genius Garage hunted down a 2007 Porsche Boxster S as a donor car so they could mate the bodywork to a functioning chassis. The build process was documented in this YouTube playlist, and as Putsch puts it, “This will never be a Porsche Boxster again.”

The Lykan Hypersport Supercar reportedly drives perfectly. 

Genius Garage

The story takes a human interest twist when we get to the workforce used to painstakingly Frankenstein the fiberglass body onto the Porsche platform (which no doubt required stretching, shimmying, and squeezing in order to connect the disparate mechanical dots): Putsch’s Genius Garage utilized engineering students, whose practical experience on the project gave them an unusual perspective on what makes a functioning automobile tick. W Motors guided the team on how to make all those mismatched parts fit together, and its CEO provided a letter and a commemorative roof plaque.
While Putsch says the car “drives perfectly,” he also discloses a few caveats like a check engine light, a tire pressure warning light, and an off-road-use only stipulation. The car is currently for sale on Bring a Trailer, with proceeds going to Genius Garage, which is a 501 C3 nonprofit with a self-described mission of “bridging the gap between academia and industry to help kickstart the careers of college engineering students.” 

The ersatz Hypersport has already reached a six-figure price on Bring a Trailer—not quite the original Lykan’s $3.6 million value, but still significant considering its convoluted provenance. Putsch says, “Histories and stories are what set great cars apart from historic cars. This car definitely has an awesome story.”

Click here to see all the photos of the Lykan Hypersport Supercar.

Genius Garage

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It’s no secret that Fast and Furious movies are synonymous with insane car stunts. But, as any self-respecting F&F stan can tell you, few stunts in the franchise stand out like the Abu Dhabi skyscraper jump in Furious 7. And now the car used to film that dazzling sequence is heading to the auction block.

One of the Lykan HyperSport built by W Motors for filming the blockbuster has just been posted for bid on the NFT marketplace Rubix. If you’re wondering why a digital asset company is selling a stunt car, it’s because the winning bidder won’t just be walking away with the flashy vehicle, they’ll also be the owner of its non-fungible token of it as well.

“Furious 7” W Motors Lykan HyperSport 

W Motors

Supercars don’t come more over the top than the Lykan, making it a perfect fit for one of the Hollywood’s most outrageous franchises. Designed in the Middle East and built in Europe, it features a futuristic exterior, sumptuous interior and is powered by a twin-turbocharged flat-six capable of churning out 780 horses and 708 ft lbs of twist. The Abu Dhabi-based W Motors only built seven examples of the $3.4 million coupé between 2014 and 2017, making it one of the rarest production vehicles of the last decade.
Despite this limited run, 10 examples were built specifically for use in the 2015 action extravaganza, of which only this one survives—and it’s easy to see why. In the scene, Vin Diesel’s Dom and Paul Walker’s Brian (in his last appearance in the series, following the actor’s tragic 2013 death) jump the car out of the upper floor of one sky scraper, into another and then into one more before leaping to safety as the car plummets hundreds of feet to the ground. While much of the bonkers sequence was handled by computers, real versions of the Lykan were used to give it some sense of realism.
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While still in one piece, this example bears the scars of production, with slight damage to the body, wheels and engine. This Lykan, like the other nine used for filming, is also a stripped-down version of the supercar it’s based on, with its brawny mill swapped out for a smaller flat-six. It’s also not street-legal as its airbag was ripped out for production. Still, it is drivable, and, as far as museum cars go, it’s about as cool as they come.
Pre-bidding for the Furious 7 Lycan Hypersport begins Thursday, with the actual auction scheduled for 9 am EST on Tuesday, May 11. Bidding for the car starts at $100,000. If that seems a lot for you can’t drive around town, just remember that it also comes with an NFT that includes a collage of images and 3-D videos, as well as a “irreplaceable” QR code proving ownership. With the way NFT Mania has been going, the digital assets could turn out to be what you’re really paying for.