Weekly Treasure: 2010 Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85 Coupe – CarBuzz

Spyker Cars, the Dutch sports car company that’s become more known for its history of financial upheavals rather than its gloriously unusual and beautiful sports cars, has not sold any of those cars since 2012, despite listing eight dealers in the US still currently active. Just two were sold that year. The most it ever sold was 94 examples, in 2006. It’s sadly been downhill from there. The first decade of this century can be looked back at as Spyker’s glory days, and this can be attributed to the first generation Spyker C8.

Introduced in 2000, the C8 came powered by an Audi-sourced 4.2-liter V8 which made 400 horsepower and 354 lb-ft of torque. This was the same engine that later powered the first-generation Audi R8, but the C8 arrived first. And like the R8, the C8 featured a mid-engine design and a six-speed manual transmission. Unlike the Audi, the C8 was rear-wheel-drive only.

And for those who think Pagani’s gear shifter design is fine art, then the C8’s could be described as a piece of priceless art because just look at it. If it were up to us, we’d crown it as the greatest manual shifter in automotive history. Several versions of the first-gen C8 appeared over the course of 13 years.

But it was in 2012 when Spyker released the C8 Laviolette LM85, essentially a street-legal version of the Laviolette GT2-R racing car. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you’ve never heard of it; it actually never achieved any wins when it raced from 2008 to 2012. It entered 28 events and finished 21 of them. Fourteenth place was its best result. Spyker fittingly chose to build just 24 examples to pay tribute to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The road-going version came in just one color combo: a two-tone Burnt Orange and Gunmetal accents. The “LM85” name comes from Le Mans and the Spyker Squadron racing team’s favorite racing number. A few modifications over the “base” C8s included an upgraded exhaust system, side window reinforcement bars, and more powerful brakes. And now one of those 24 examples is up for grabs on Bring A Trailer.

VIN No. 14 was originally sold to a Russian businessman and was imported to the US last year. There are just 750 miles on the odometer. Both the exterior and interior are perfect. Notice the Lamborghini-sourced steering wheel, black leather seats with quilted Alcantara and orange contrast stitching, and that lovely polished gearshift mechanism with exposed shift linkage. Right now, the highest bid is $275,000 and the auction ends on August 21.