By Adam Purrier
26th July 2023

One Man’s Dream

There’s a car guy, he’s called Henrik, he’s a kinda shy fella, not the sort you can Google to find out more about – a private person.

This is a short story about Henrik and his deam to create the car of his dreams.

Titled ‘The Invictus GT Project’, it has been in the making for close to ten years – it’s not something that has been rushed, or driven by any future completion date.

The goal: well to design and build the perfect car, not just in terms of aesthetics, but also drivability.

Henrik had a clear vision, he wanted the shape of the car to echo the golden age of sports cars, have nimble handling, be light and fast. Therefore it was important to select the right donor car with smaller proportions – dimensions cars had back in the ’60s and ’70s.

The team Henrik selected to build his car knew that the Lotus Exige S2 would be the perfect solution, given its power to weight ratio and overall shorter wheelbase – it was a clear choice.

Henrik sat down with his close friend and car designer, Iker Lopez Totorika, and together they penned a design that they felt combined some of the best automotive designs cues of classic eras.

Once complete, Iker was then able to use that design blueprint and translate it into a three-dimensional computer model, and size the body so that it would fit perfectly on top of the Lotus chassis.

The team worked with a London based company (FBFX) to create a 1:1 model in foam and then handed it over to Andrew Windsor of Windsor Coachworks to bring the project to life.

The team at Windsor Coachworks worked over 12,500 hours on the Invictus GT to refine the surfaces; fabricate the moulds; produce the fibreglass panels, and complete all the intricate and painstaking work to make everything fit beautifully together.

Whilst the car maintains the Exige S engine and running gear, the team have repositioned the intercooler and redesigned the exhaust system, whilst maintaining the lightweight origins with 240bhp / tonne ratio.

We think Henrik and the team have created something beautiful, something soulful, however it’s more than that for Henrik, he’s fulfilled a boyhood dream and can now and forever say, ‘that’s my car’.

Finally, we asked Henrik if he’s got any plans to build more, he replied ‘Who knows, but where there’s a will, there’s a way”.