After postwar efforts to build microcars and post-communist factories churning out Japanese and German designs, Hungary now has its own supercar. It’s called the F&M Vulca S and it’s got a 630-hp V10.
As with all things Hungarian, there is a twist. While the car was indeed penned by the Hungarian designer Zsolt Tárnok, 27, the Vulca utilizes BMW gear—the engine is
the V10 from the M6, bored to 5.8 liters—and is built by the Italian coachbuilding firm Faralli & Mazzanti.
You will know F&M as the builders of the heartbreakingly beautiful Antas V8, that wonderful hybrid of pre-war Bugattis and post-war Maseratis, complete with visible welds and even more visible velocity trumpets on its carburated Maserati V8.
While the Antas V8 is an endless cascade of impeccably executed details, the same cannot be said of the Vulca S, which we’ve posted on as a concept back in 2008. Our Budapest intern Máté Petrány was present at the car’s local unveiling and he’s photographed
a wealth of details more at home on early ‘80s Ferraris than on a 2010 coachbuilt GT.
“The fact that it’s handbuilt should result in finer execution than on a mass-produced car, which is indeed the case for the chassis,” writes Máté on the Hungarian car blog Stipistop. “The lines are pleasing and the car is obviously well-made. But the more you look at the construction, the more errors in execution you see. And don’t think I was out there looking for things to criticize.”
Even if, generally speaking, handmade is no longer synonymous with less-than-perfect execution, it would all be well—but not at the staggering price of €385,000 ($473,000). That’s not oddball exotic money — that’s way beyond Ferrari money.
On the upside, the exorbitant price and the homely execution combine to make the car even more Hungarian than its undoubtedly talented designer intended. For to echo the classic line of water inspector József Pelikán from the 1969 film The Witness, uttered when Communist leadership tries to pass off a lemon as an orange, the Vulca is the new Hungarian orange: slightly yellower, slightly sharper, but definitely our own.
Photo Credit: Máté Petrány