This is the Mosler Consulier GTP, a car built around a composite monocoque years before the major manufacturers got there, and quick enough that sanctioning bodies kept adding weight to it rather than let it run. It won the Longest Day of Nelson 24-Hour Race in 1990 and ran the IMSA Supercar series under weight and power penalties.
The key to the success of the Consulier GTP was its low weight, it was made almost entirely from a composite consisting of carbon fiber, Kevlar, fiberglass, and closed-cell foam. It’s been called the first production car with a composite monocoque tub – putting it well ahead of the major supercar manufacturers at the time.
Fast Facts – The Mosler Consulier GTP
- Consulier Industries was founded by Warren Mosler in 1985, he developed the company’s first car – the Consulier GTP – with a strict focus on low weight and good aerodynamics.
- While the styling of the car has attracted some criticism over the years the performance has never been in doubt. It was one of the most advanced production cars in the world when it was introduced in 1988, with a carbon fiber, Kevlar, fiberglass, and closed-cell foam monocoque tub and a curb weight of just 2,200 lbs.
- The Consulier GTP was quick enough in IMSA’s Supercar series that IMSA responded with weight and power penalties. Lance Stewart finished second in the 1991 championship on 107 points to Hurley Haywood’s 124 in a Brumos Porsche 911 Turbo, with Chet Fillip fourth on 98, and Consuliers won two of the seven rounds. The car was not thrown out of the series, despite that claim appearing almost everywhere online — Consuliers were still contesting IMSA Supercar rounds through 1992, three of them at Laguna Seca that July
- Estimates of how many Consulier GTPs were built range from 60 to 100, with production running from 1988 to 1993. Warren Mosler has said it may have been as few as 60. No firm total exists, partly because cars were repeatedly rebuilt as development mules and some were later converted to Intruder and then to Raptor specification.
Who Is Warren Mosler?
Warren Mosler is an American entrepreneur and academic who is best known, outside of academic circles, for founding automotive manufacturer Consulier Industries in 1984 which was later spun off into into Mosler Automotive.
The interior of the car is well set out, and there are gauges for everything you could possibly want to know about the car at any given moment.
Mosler graduated from the University of Connecticut in the early 1970s with a degree in economics. He initially worked in banking before founding a hedge fund in 1982, which would prove successful and allow him to pursue his passion for technologically advanced cars starting with the Consulier GTP in 1985.
In the 1990s Mosler would transition largely into academia, he now has an honorary doctorate from Franklin University Switzerland and he was a visiting professor at the University of Bergamo. In 2010 he published the book Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy which highlighted errors that can be made in economic policy, offering better alternatives.
In economist circles he’s well-known for Mosler’s Law which states that “[…] no financial crisis [is] so deep that a sufficiently large fiscal adjustment cannot deal with it.”
Mosler would run for elected office a number of times, and he’s now based in the U.S. Virgin Islands working on a government-sponsored economic growth initiative.
The Mosler Consulier GTP
The Consulier GTP first appeared in 1988, and no one was entirely sure what to make of it. It was the first production car with a composite monocoque tub, an architecture that’s now being used extensively by high-performance automobile manufacturers around the world.
Above Video: This is the original review of the Consulier GTP by MotorWeek from 1989. In it you see Warren Mosler discussing the philosophy behind the creation of the car, and you get to see him standing on its roof to show how strong the composite body is.
In an interview with MotorWeek in 1989 (see it above), Mosler explained that he wanted to build a high-performance car with a curb weight of just 2,000 or so pounds, as opposed to the much heavier average sports car weight of 3,000 – 3,500+ pounds.
This weight saving alone would be enough to make almost any car competitive, but Mosler paired it with advanced suspension, a mid-engined layout, excellent aerodynamics, and four-wheel disc brakes. The result was a car that was almost unbeatable, and certainly unbeatable by any American production sports car of the time.
The body of the Consulier GTP was made from a combination of carbon fiber, Kevlar, fiberglass, and closed-cell foam, with box-section tubular steel subframes front and back to hold the suspension and engine/transmission.
Inside the car there was seating for two, and a number of modern conveniences were available including electric windows, power locks, Recaro bucket seats, a stereo, and even air conditioning.
The unusual styling of the car has won it both fans and detractors over the years, but one thing is certain, it was one of the fastest production cars around the track at the time of its release.
Power was provided by the Chrysler 2.2 Turbo II engine, an inline-four producing 175 bhp. Mosler discussed with MotorWeek the importance of using engines that had already been federalized for use in production road cars – a difficult feat for automakers as emissions regulations were changing often, and becoming more stringent.
Though 175 bhp may not sound like much the Consulier GTP was lightning fast thanks to its excellent power-to-weight ratio. A second series of the GTP used the newer Turbo III version of the engine which was capable of 190 bhp with no additional weight penalty. Some later cars were claimed to have as much as 204 bhp and 235 lb ft of torque.
The curb weight of the GTP was just 998 kgs to 2,200 lbs, an achievement that Colin Chapman himself would have been proud of. It’s believed that just 83 examples of the Consulier GTP were made, with the model renamed the Mosler Consulier GTP when Consulier Industries was spun off into Mosler Automotive.
Mosler Automotive would later release the Mosler Intruder and the Mosler Raptor, both based on lessons learned with the earlier GTP.
Power is provided by a transverse, mid-mounted Chrysler 2.2 Turbo III engine. The unit in this car is said to be good for 204 bhp and 235 lb ft of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a Getrag 555 five-speed manual transaxle and a a limited-slip differential.
The 1991 Mosler Consulier GTP Shown Here
The car you see here is a Mosler Consulier GTP from 1991, meaning it benefits the later, more powerful specification of the Chrysler engine. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a Getrag 555 five-speed manual transaxle and a a limited-slip differential.
This GTP is fitted with 15″ Cragar wheels, ventilated disc brakes, removable roof panels, a rear spoiler, power windows and locks, Recaro bucket seats, air conditioning, and a JVC CD stereo. The seller notes that the air conditioning system was re-gassed before it was put up for sale.
The car is showing signs of wear and tear both inside and out, so it will hopefully be picked up by someone who wants to give it a rolling restoration back to top shelf condition. It’s now being offered on Bring a Trailer out of Trammel, Kentucky. If you’d like to read more about it ore register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
