By Dean Larson

The story of the now-defunct firm Devon Motorworks is really the story of a carbon fiber, V10 coupe that could have been. As the company’s first project, the GTX was designed as an all-American supercar based on the Dodge Viper. Unfortunately, only two GTXs were ever built and Devon ceased operations in 2013.

The Devon GTX was a fairly ambitious undertaking from the start, and it honestly could have worked with a few tweaks. Its carbon fiber bodywork was designed with “classic and contemporary" design cues, and we’ll buy that to a degree. Some aspects of its design look a tad dated now, but in 2009 the Devon was borderline futuristic. We’d assume those contrasting panels surrounding the wheel wells were designed to harken back to the look of pontoon fenders of the ’30s and ’40s. 

As for mechanicals, the GTX was designed for Dodge’s Viper platform, which Devon attempted to buy, but Chrysler rejected Devon’s $5.5 million bid since it was below the $10 million reserve. Sensibly, Devon went ahead and built the GTX anyway by reskinning the Viper. 

At its 2009 debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, people liked the looks and the idea of a carbon coupe with a manually shifted 8.4-liter V10, but had a few reasonable complaints. “It looks like an expensive TVR Tuscan.” “Why does it cost $500,000?” “I could buy several Vipers and a nice house for that.” All reasonable concerns. In 2010, Devon was slated to start production of the 650 hp super coupe at 36 units per year, but only two were ever built. The company closed its doors in 2013 citing the 2010 economic downturn as the cause, but other sources mention the 2010 discontinuation of the Viper also.

The Devon for sale here on eBay is serial No. 1, which has surfaced a few times in recent years. Back in 2012, the car was sold at Barrett-Jackson for a surprising $220,000, a 60 percent discount off its original price tag. Since then, the car has come up for sale a few times on eBay, all around the $200K mark. The past year has knocked another thousand off the price tag, and it sits at $199,000.

The Devon GTX is a unique coupe with an interesting look and power to spare, but it does suffer from a bit of an identity problem. On one hand, the car is cheap for a one-of-two carbon fiber supercar, but its rocky inception and failed brand name will probably continue discounting its price. It's difficult to see the GTX ever being a huge success with its astronomical price tag, 5.5 times the cost of a Viper of the day. That's really too bad, because we like the idea of an all-American exotic breathing new life into the tired Viper. And as novel as the GTX was, it would really be interesting to see what else Devon could have come up with. 

Let us know what you think of this failed carbon coupe in the comments below.