European Car: Wiesmann GT MF5 – Lizard King

It Took The Germans To Bring Out The Best Of Britain

There’s a certain romance attached to a classic English sports car, that quintessential image of bounding down the Queen’s highway on our latest escapade with a Penelope, or Tabatha, by our side. But the reality is so much different. That reality sadly involves huge discomfort, a horrible driving experience, an AA truck and going home alone.
Classic cars like the E-Type Jaguar, Austin Healey, and even Triumph Stag might look cool through rose-tinted spectacles, but by modern standards they’re simply not good enough. So it was left to the Germans, or Wiesmann brothers Friedhelm and Martin to be precise, to step in and build the traditional English sports car properly. And the Wiesmann GT MF5, the third car in the lineup, is their new crowning glory.

Inspired by great British engineering of the 1960s, the Wiesmann brothers took a trip down nostalgia lane and created a perfectly proportioned roadster with hints of Jaguar XK120, Jensen CV8 and Austin Healeys of the time to create a work of art that landed on the world in 1993. That car went down a storm in Germany, Switzerland and Asia, and that niche industry has now grown to a 350-cars-a-year business that recently moved to a spectacular new factory in Dulmen that sits underneath a sprawling gecko that is the company’s logo.
The key to the company’s success was a charming, cute-looking car built around the perfect drivetrains from BMW. They just knocked on BMW’s door and politely asked for a supply of engines more reliable than the turning tides. Munich said yes, and a success story was born.
But the MF3 and subsequent MF4 GT, even with the 4.4-liter V8, were never going to be enough. Not when the 5.0-liter V10 arrived on the scene. Boasting a full 507 hp in a car that weighs just 1,380 kg, or 3,042 pounds–almost half a ton less than the super saloon that spilled its guts for the cause.