From One Man’s Imagination, It’s the Otherworldly Dimensia Sports Car

Builders, Oddities  /   /  By Jim Motavalli

It’s hard to believe that the Dimensia sports car is not: (A) from the future or (B) a factory-made vehicle.

Mike Vetter inside his creation—it’s strictly a two-seater (like the Boxster).

Mike Vetter inside his creation—it’s strictly a two-seater (like the Boxster).

The sleek silver roadster looks like a glittery concept from the floor of the Detroit Auto Show in 2030—only more finished. And yet it was made last year in a small shop near Orlando, Fla.

The Dimensia (based on a Porsche Boxster) isn’t the product of a California design studio but sprang fully formed from the mind of Floridian Mike Vetter, who’s made almost 200 custom cars (some for the movies and TV), and some even more outrageous than Dimensia. This piece of rolling artwork is now being offered on eBay Motors with a $95,000 Buy-It-Now price.

“I built that car five times,” Vetter told eBay Motors. “I’d put it together, drive it, see what’s wrong and then take it apart again. I even painted it three times with an airbrush. If I added up all the hours that went into it, maybe I’d make $20 an hour. A car like this is a labor of love built for the fun of creating something new and unique.”

Definitely Unique

The Dimensia on the track, its natural element

The Dimensia on the track, its natural element

Dimensia sits two inches lower than a Lamborghini, but it was made to accommodate taller drivers like Vetter himself—he’s six feet, one. Quite a lot of the Boxster survived, including the Porsche V-6 and automatic transmission. The car’s antilock disc brakes also carried over, as did the (ice-cold) air conditioning and many of the digital controls. There are five cameras and two large screens. “It drives smoother than a Boxster,” Vetter said. “It’s lower to the ground, and also a little heavier. I build my cars super strong.”

The Dimensia retains the Boxster’s creature comforts.

The Dimensia retains the Boxster’s creature comforts.

The need for safety dictated a custom-made tubular steel frame and superstructure with a fiberglass body. The center of the Porsche’s floor was cut out and lowered. Vetter made his own suspension, which features adjustable coil overs and end links. He made the exhaust, too.

“We build our own headlights and tail lights from scratch,” Vetter said. “We design tooling and build our own laminated DOT glass, as well as tempered glass. We design and build custom doors from scratch with working power indexing windows. We also design and cut unique wheels from a picture or drawing.”

Four-wheel antilock disc brakes are retained

Four-wheel antilock disc brakes are retained

Despite being one of a kind, the car has a lot of Porsche Boxster DNA. Parts for the Porsche Boxster are well supplied on eBay Motors.

Radical Designs

The Dimensia was featured on CNBC, and shown at Art Basel in Miami. Vetter has built cars for the Suicide Squad movie, and for Pitbull and Flo Rida videos. (He sometimes works from non-disclosure agreements, if you want your project kept secret.)

The car uses a cab-forward design, which gives plenty of interior space.

The car uses a cab-forward design, which gives plenty of interior space.

Vetter has put 4,000 miles on Dimensia, and he says it “runs and drives great.” But it’s a two-seater, and he has a wife and daughter, so it doesn’t get driven much. That’s why you can buy it now on eBay for less money than a McLaren. And those cars, while super sexy, aren’t unique. Dimensia is.

Vetter’s website shows some of his other creations, including ETV, the extra terrestrial vehicle, a computer mouse on wheels that’s been in several futuristic movies—and the more conventional GTA Exotic supercar. His newest creation is the 600-horsepower Slash, another radical design, with a General Motors LS-Series V-8 under the hood.

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About the Author

Jim Motavalli is a contributor to the New York Times, Barron's, NPR’s Car Talk, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, among others. He is the author of nine books, including two—Forward Drive and High Voltage—about electric cars and why they’re important. He is a longtime radio host on WPKN-FM, and a public speaker on environmental topics.