There’s just a couple of days to go now until the release of Suicide Squad in the UK, and after the disappointing Batman v Superman, fans will be hoping that the debut of Jared Leto’s Joker will leave more of a smile on their faces, so to speak.
By now you’ll have read the articles and seen the trailers, complete with that shiny purple sports car (complete with ‘HAHAHA’ licence plate) that The Joker is seen driving, and there’s been plenty of speculation as to what exactly it is.
Some suggested that it was a Corvette Stingray with a body mod, a doctored R8 or a Noble, while others thought that perhaps like Ben Affleck’s new Batmobile, it might be a completely custom job made specifically for the Suicide Squad film.
As it turns out, the car that The Joker drives in the film is a Vaydor, a custom kit car body and frame that’s built on the underpinnings of an Infiniti G35 and tricked out with white leather, neon lights and a reflective pink finish.
The car was built by independent Florida-based company Vaydor Exotics, which was founded by designer Matt McEntegart to allow buyers access to kits for cars which are as eye-catching as Italy’s greatest hypercars, but which cost a lot less.
Included in The Joker’s kit is a main rear body shell, front clips for the bumpers and side roof rails, along with a rear floating wing, a central tail-light and Lambo-inspired door hinges.
Matt explains that the Vaydor G35 conversion doesn’t require any modifications to the donor car’s chassis, electronics or engine, and as a result can be bought for around £9,000 or less. He said: “You retain all the comforts of the stock chassis: power windows, locks, AC, cruise, tilt, ABS, traction control, etc. 90 per cent of the components needed for the build are provided by the donor G35.”
However, the Vaydor package includes a lot more than a new set of bumpers and side skirts, meaning that there’s quite a bit more to it than a simple donor car; in order to make a Vaydor, you have to totally sacrifice the donor Infiniti by sawing its body off the chassis underneath.
Once everything above the chassis and powertrain is removed, the Vaydor build begins with the installation of a roll cage before mounting points for the doors and windscreen are installed.
From there, the crazy angular body panels are added and the entire interior also needs to be refitted, given that the new roofline is so dramatically different to the original car’s. Buyers can either buy the interior kit from Vaydor or get creative on their own with a variety of aftermarket seats and parts.
If this all sounds a little Frankenstein-esque, well, it is. The fact that it comes with a home-brew roll cage might get the hackles of safety experts up, but Vaydor insists that all of its parts are built and tested by professionals, with consistent thicknesses and strength.
And, if you’re a bit squeamish about taking an angle grinder to your Infiniti yourself, a few custom shops like Fever Racing and Premier Motorworkz will build it for the cost of the kit and a little extra for labour.
In any case, it’s unlikely that The Joker of all people could give a hoot about crash safety ratings, and he could probably just force some poor sap at gunpoint to build the car for him, cost-free.
Underneath all the crash, bang, wallop styling it’s all still stock G35, which itself used the same four-wheel drive system as the R32 Nissan GT-R and which comes with a widely available range of aftermarket performance parts to tune and boost its power output.
Although it’s likely that the car in-movie will be said to have more power, in the real world Matt has shown that the 3.6-litre twin-turbo Vaydor G35 is capable of an output of 500 horsepower or more on dyno tests, so it’s not just all show and no go.
For a little extra cost, Vaydor also offers a big brake upgrade with eight-piston Brembos, plus forged AMANI wheels in a variety of sizes, so it’s clear that there’s equal focus put on performance as well as looks.
There have been complaints from some fans, however, that the Vaydor is just a little bit, well, odd. Why have The Joker drive such an obscurity when he could be tearing up the streets of Gotham from behind the wheel of a Veyron, or a La Ferrari?
In truth though, the Vaydor G35 is probably the most perfect choice of ride for the Clown Prince of Crime. With its eye-grabbing mixture of gaudy and aggressive looks, its design is all Joker and its Frankenstein construction is the perfect reflection of The Joker’s emotional unbolting of Harley Quinn.
It’s probably quick enough to give the Batmobile a fair run for its money too, but above all you can’t help but imagine The Joker must find it pretty funny when people find out that underneath all that body cladding it’s just a ten-year old Infiniti. ‘HAHAHA’ indeed.
Excited for the film? Check out our awesome Suicide Squad car renders!
