The Mosler story begins with Warren Mosler, a hedge fund founder, economist, economic theory scholar, and engineering innovator. His engineering endeavors, which include cars, and in later years after moving to the United States Virgin Islands, a quad hull catamaran ferry that he designed himself, have always been characterized by a desire to build a better mousetrap while rejecting conventional wisdom in the strongest possible terms.
In the 1980s, Mosler created a composite car with the aim of reducing weight so dramatically that remarkable performance would be possible with a relatively modest powerplant. The composites would comprise not only the car bodywork of the car, but its entire structure. While this approach has become commonplace in exotic cars in recent years, it was entirely novel in a road car at the time, and in fact, it had only recently appeared in Formula 1 cars. The low weight was achieved despite high strength, which improved crashworthiness, and this, coupled with aerodynamic efficiency, delivered a fast, safe, high-performance car that was also remarkably fuel-efficient.
Mosler’s first car, the Consulier proved to be a performance revelation. It weighed around 2,200 pounds and became the first road car capable of pulling more than 1.0g, while also performing just as impressively in braking and crash testing. Despite this, the car was not a commercial success. Much of this was due to its looks; its proportions and detailing, both inside and out, were crude and unappealing and so it always remained a fringe car which was quite impressive for those who were able to look past its appearance.
Initially powered by turbocharged Dodge 4-cylinder engines, V8 powered Moslers followed in the 1990s, which were dominant enough in racing to be banned from various events, including the One Lap of America after three consecutive outright wins. The cars of the 90s, the Intruder and Raptor, were marginally less unattractive, but their unrefined aesthetics continued to be an impediment to sales.
For 2001, Mosler debuted the MT900, the first car bearing the Mosler name to offer genuine aesthetic appeal, thanks to participation of an actual stylist, specifically Rod Trenne (who also contributed the first letter of his last name to the car’s model name), a member of the C5 Corvette design team. As ever, however, the magic was under the skin. Naturally, the structure and bodywork were composite, which was motivated by a mid-mounted V8 driving the rear wheels via a 6-speed Porsche transaxle.
Production started a few years later with the car designated as the MT900S. In standard, naturally-aspirated form, the car weighed 2,500 pounds and made 435hp thanks to its LS6 V8 (as used in the Corvette Z06), which was enough for the car to set a number of production car records. Forced induction variants were also offered, both supercharged and turbocharged, which made the performance even more mind-bending.
The car’s racing variant, the MT900R, was raced in Grand Am, the British GT Championship and other series, where the cars achieved a number of wins, including a GTS class win at the Daytona 24 Hours in 2003.
Total MT900 production, of both road and race cars was no more than 75 cars, of which about two dozen were MT900S road cars, making them exceedingly rare. This particular example is powered by a supercharged 6.2 liter V8 from a Corvette ZR1 and is fitted with low restriction airbox to yield and output of approximately 600hp. It has covered fewer than 10,000 miles from new and is beyond exciting on the road, yet it is also quite usable.
