The Covini C6W is one of those supercars that really shouldn’t work, but yet somehow does. Based on the idea of the Tyrrell P34 F1 car, which had four very small front wheels and two very large rear ones, the basic physics and reasoning make a ton of sense on paper.
Four wheels up front give better braking performance and better cornering grip—and with double the suspension, a more comfortable ride. If you suffered a tire blowout at speed, you still have three points of contact up front instead of just one. By having to extend the front of the car to fit the extra axle, you also make the front crash structure that much longer.
However, paper and reality are two entirely different things. The original design of the car was something that Ferruccio Covini dreamed up all the way back in 1974, and it wasn’t until 2003 that he had the chance, materials, and, critically, money to actually get a prototype made. That prototype was revealed to the world in 2004, and it drew the attention of most people because it looked like something that they would have doodled in the middle of math class in junior high school.
Being technically an in-house production, everything made for the C6W was bespoke, and it took those four years to figure out which bits were carbon fiber, which bits were fiberglass, and to build the tubular steel space frame that the whole thing relied upon as its backbone. The Covini C6W is powered by a 4.2-liter V8 that is said to produce over 500 horsepower. This mid-mounted V8 is paired with a traditional 6-speed manual transmission or 6-speed single-clutch paddle-shift automatic similar to the transmissions used in the early 2000s Ferraris and Lamborghinis.
When it finally did start production, the cost of each unit had soared out of the stratosphere to reach $640,000. In figuring out the production issues, a convertible option had been designed, so you could either get a coupe or a convertible, but the fact remained that you could buy a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren or a Porsche Type 997.2 911 Turbo S for the same money.
The car was made between 2008 and 2016, and no one really knows how many were eventually made. Only 6 to 8 were made per year because absolutely everything for each car was hand assembled, and customization for each owner added more time. Most guesses put it at less than 30 total cars, meaning that if you do actually see a C6W, you’re seeing one of the only six-wheeled supercars that ever made it to the road.
