The 2008 Arex Super Coupe Roadster is a one-of-a-kind creation designed and engineered by David J. Stollery. The Arex was conceived not as a production car but as a showpiece to demonstrate the vision and capabilities of his California design firm, Industrial Design Research.
Stollery’s path to this creation is remarkable. A child star of Disney’s Spin and Marty serials in the 1950s, he left Hollywood at the height of his fame to study industrial design. After graduating at the top of his class at the Art Center College of Design, he spent seven years with General Motors before helping Toyota establish its groundbreaking U.S. design studio, CALTY Design Research, where he oversaw work on the second-generation Toyota Celica. Later, he struck out on his own, creating experimental vehicles like the FireAero and Trihawk, as well as the fiberglass lifeguard towers still used on beaches today. His design work even extended into projects like the Las Vegas Monorail and set pieces for the TV series SeaQuest.
The Arex represents the culmination of that independent streak. Built around a tubular steel spaceframe, the car is clothed in a lightweight fiberglass body with dramatic butterfly doors and an aircraft-inspired canopy. The design was heavily influenced by aerospace principles, with a pointed nose and flowing cockpit canopy that gave it a futuristic, almost spacecraft-like appearance. Underneath, the engineering is pure race car: double wishbone suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and a chassis tuned for speed and agility. Its suspension combined unequal-length A-arms up front with pushrod-actuated coil springs in the rear, technology usually reserved for racing prototypes.
Power comes from a mid-mounted, supercharged 5.7-liter V8 Corvette engine, projected to deliver 585 horsepower. With a weight of only 2,600 pounds and a rear-biased weight distribution, the Arex was designed to reach 0–60 mph in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 200 mph. Period performance projections also listed a 0–100 mph sprint in 6.1 seconds and a quarter-mile time of just 10.8 seconds at 134 mph, numbers that rivaled the best supercars of its era.
Although it remained a one-off prototype, the Arex is more than just a car, it is the embodiment of David Stollery’s bold career shift from Disney stardom to automotive innovation.
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