The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!

Steve Tyler's 1 million Hennessey convertible

13K views 51 replies 33 participants last post by  Lotusyank 
#1 ·
#4 ·
If Lotus had made this, it would've been awesome! The only "issue" I have, and a personal preference only, is that the Exige is too small, so if Lotus had make a longer/bigger Exige and kept the design intact, it would have ROCKED!!!!!..... IMHO.

Why didn't Lotus go in this direction instead of the '5 new lamb-style cars'?!

This shows there's nothing wrong with the previous Lotus design look!
 
#5 ·
the fail here is so multi-faceted...

and yes - it is the elise chassis.
 
#6 ·
The chassis is HIGHLY modified to handle the power..... not close enough to call it an "elise chassis" imo.

otherwise

The Venom GT is created from a base Lotus Elise / Exige and utilizes components including but not limited to the roof, doors, side glass, windscreen, dash, cockpit, floorpan, HVAC system, wiper and head lamps. Hennessey Performance and the Venom GT are not associated with Lotus Cars.
 
#7 ·
A million dollar plus for this car? Especially built from parts and pieces of our cars? The price tag is the Fail ! :eek:





.
 
#8 ·
Low production cars cost a lot of time and money to produce. Look at the LFA, they arent' even making money when they sell them for 400,000.

With high volume cars, you can amortize the cost of production much further and easier.

Look at it like an optomist. A veyron is 2x as much, weighs 1300 lbs more and has less horsepower, and worst of all, the veyron has NO LOTUS DNA. yuck

:UK:
 
#10 ·
The engine I swapped into my car this winter came from the donor Elise (not Exige) that was used to produce Stevens car. Purchased it from Hennessey via eBay about 6 months ago. Am about to write a story about it to see if I can get Steven to sign my car. I figure he's a obviously a car guy so he should love that his original motor lives on in a track car. Hell I'd love to take him out in mine!

(Still a crazy price...)
 
#19 ·
So this thing actually starts out as a production Elise. I wonder if it still has the Elise VIN and registration. That would make it a whole lot easier for Hennessey, no emissions, crash testing, etc. That also means that he is making about a million profit per car.
 
#29 ·
"James Dean’s 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder: In addition to being the reigning King of Cool before Steve McQueen, James Dean was also an accomplished race driver. Like McQueen, Dean favored Porsches. After trading up from a 356 Speedster to a 550 Spyder, a purpose-built race car, Dean started to come into his own as a driver. Sadly, he was killed on Sept. 30, 1955, driving the car to a race in Salinas, Calif. The remains of the car were transported around the country as part of a driver’s ed campaign (ironically, the accident had nothing to do with Dean’s driving). The car disappeared during one of these tours, never to be seen again."

Legendary Lost Cars
 
#15 ·
I'd be surprised if the main frame was modified in the slightest bit. My guess is they just attached longer A arms to the stock pick up points, bolted on a new rear sub frame, and called it good. I love how they try to pretend that the roof was a structural element of the first version, and charge $100k more for a version that has it unbolted.
 
#23 ·
I saw the yellow one (non roadster) at Pebble Beach last year and had the 'pleasure' of speaking with John Hennessey. If you've ever been to Pebble Beach, you'll know that you'll see/rub elbows with all manner of 'car guys' - from uber billionaire collectors to enthusiasts to car company executives. In just spending a few days there, we met and chatted with/took photos with tons of people including: Schwartzenegger, Dan Neil (Car Show), Barry Mequiar, Wayne Carini from Chasing Classic Cars, Dany Bahar (yep), Stephan Winkelman (CEO of Lambo), Cate Blanchett (yep, that Cate Blanchett), the Austrian dude who played the bag guy in Inglorious Basterds and many others. Most were very nice (for example, Barry Meguiar was a phenomenally nice man).

Of note, the Venom was in the lobby of the Portola Hotel. I go to look at it and find myself next to Michael Anthony of Van Halen - have a bunch of pics. We started talking cars and John Hennessey and crew walk up. After a small chat, Michael Anthony's lady friend, who used my iPhone to take the pics, turns and comments about what an a$$hole Hennessy and his peeps were! :)

On to the car. Sorry, I don't see it. It's cheating. This is Pagani, Koeningsegg, Bugatti money. Those cars are their OWN (regardless of the say AMG engine in the Pagani). Taking a Lotus Exige and an LS9 engine and doing all sorts of voodoo, just doesn't justify the price tag.

Also, what about resale? Even rocker guys sell cars. For example, I know a guy that has Steven Tyler's old Panoz AIV Roadster. Hell, I own two snare drums that I bought of of Tim 'Herb' Alexander from Primus! Rock guys sell off stuff!

What will the resale value of this car be? And yes, I'm sure they care. Paganis and Veyrons still command a king's ransom. I think this would depreciate rapidly. There's no provenance, no panache, no uniqueness is motoring history - it's just a frankenstein'd car
 
#27 ·
I spoke to the Hennessey reps at SEMA and no, it does not have an Elige title or registration. They import the cars partially built from Lotus, disassemble them and rebuild the BONE STOCK ELIGE tub with their stuff. Then they send it back to Europe where it gets the LS9 and is imported to the US again, this time reiceving it's new Hennessey title. Final assembley takes place here. When I get bored with my Elise in a few years, the Venom will inspire some über mods :D
 
#30 ·
Hmmmm, that's not the exact story I got at Hennessey when I stopped by there to check on Ross's engine and get a tour of their shop (amazing place). Perhaps the official story differs for "tax purposes." At least in the case of this car, it allegedly started life as a full CA car, rolled eight miles up on the odometer and then was disassembled for the "conversion" and process of being sent to Europe and back again. Supposedly the other cars started as whole Elises in Europe, parts were stripped and sold there and what was left was brought to the US as the basis for those builds.

Allegedly and supposedly though, I can't say with any certainty.

If I had the cash-ish I'd ask for a naturally aspirated version, with half the horsepower, and proceed to track it. To me that sounds like a fun way of dying. ;)
 
#34 ·
I just think it's a bit pointless to criticize every athlete, rock star or actor who buys a supercar, or every investment banker, CEO, lawyer, or doctor who buys a Porsche because they don't have the skills or "talent" to drive it. Even more so if you can't comment on what driving/racing schools or track days they have or have not done. A significant majority of the people on this forum would probably jump at the chance to own a supercar if it was an easy purchase based on net worth or annual income, regardless of driving talent.
 
#48 ·
The cost is not the point nor is what one could have instead. Steve could buy all those, times three and then like Clapton pay 5M for custom Ferrari.
 
#37 ·
No lie, on saturday of last weekend I was driving through an area in L.A. (not sure where, I was just cruising). A venom Gt in black flew past me, it had to have been steven's spyder... It's the only one right? I previously seen it at cars and coffee the week before. I can't believe I passed Steven on the road going the opposite direction!!!! That thing sounded like a beast, and looked so aggresive! I about shat my pants!
 
#44 ·
The silver one is not his car, they took the pictures off and put general ones on. His is a black car, see my other link...



.
 
#52 ·
Rocket on Wheels: Venom GT

There was a great review of the Spyder version of the Venom GT in the video below. Hennessey said you have to respect the car or it will punish you. Notice he didn't say, "It will kill you." Make no mistake. It is an extreme car, built to perform, but it is very dangerous. It is not for novices. The old expression about pilots, old or bold, but none old and bold applies with this car.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top