blueovalz Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=234868 Interesting info if your planning any business with John Hennessey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 OMG!!! Firstly, I can't fathom the kind of $$ figures this guy is throwing around, next I can't believe Hennessey has the balls to just part the car and not do anything after being given all that $$$ Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Bayley Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 You see this stuff all the time in the Offshore boating industry. When people start throwing this much money around like its spare change, even the holiest of holy will have at least one impure thought. It really chaps my ass to hear about people being taken advantage by any type of "performance house". However, it sounds like this guy set himself up for it. "Hi, my name is 'Dumb Sucker'. I want the fastest Viper out there, don't know schit about cars, and have a disposable income." I'm sorry, but he won't get much sympathy from me... even though he was royally screwed (so we read). I guess this just firms up the statement: If you wan something done right... We all know the rest. That's why we're all reading Hybrid Z here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 John Hennessey... EMI Racing used to sell John the Penske shocks, anti-roll bars, monoballs, etc. that he put on his Vipers and touted as his own. After he didn't pay the first invoice, he was put on COD. After a check bounced, he was put on cash only. He then contacted Penske directly and tried to have them sell him EMI's valving. Penske said no. EMI doesn't even sell him stuff for cash now. Some folks saw him ball up a customer's car during a delivery demo drive at LVMS and then walk away from it telling the customer "that's racing." Car and Driver had a road test about a year ago of a Yellow Hennessey Viper that supposedly went over 200 mph. One of the things they raved about on the car was the suspension. That car had the EMI Racing suspension on it and John was supposed to give the company a promo in the article. He didn't. See a pattern here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted February 28, 2002 Author Share Posted February 28, 2002 It's a shame regardless of how much money you spend. For many, many years, I always had the impression Hennessey was a reputable as, dare I say it, Enron. More and more, the bottom line is all that matters, and to hell with honor and dignity. That's why I got out of painting aircraft and cars. I spent so much time and effort to make the jobs "worthy" of my name, that I couldn't justify the time spent, so I quit doing it and went back to working for the utilities again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 ""However, it sounds like this guy set himself up for it. "Hi, my name is 'Dumb Sucker'. I want the fastest Viper out there, don't know schit about cars, and have a disposable income." I'm sorry, but he won't get much sympathy from me... "" I agree he the customer was very exposed to be abused but even though we all say buyer beware...I don't care if you're spending $100/$1000/$10,000 or $1,000,000; many buyers aren't interested or don't have the time to do much research on the planned project etc which is why they're spending dough for it. I have NO sympathy for companies/individuals misrepresenting their services and products. The buyer can only do so much within their resource limits and magazines/media etc easily hype up reputations of most anyone listed their and it's easy to see how others feel that vendor/service is THE GO TO for their product. Hennessy's had troubles for years but noone took it up to a high degree that got publicized (why is he always changing marquees....he builds zero brand loyalty as he consistently screws a new car group). If we put the onus on all buyers to fully understand all products and vendors then their would be a helluva lot less purchasing going on and aftermarket parts/offerings including those of myself and others would not be available to the same detail. I think those on this board are more responsible buyers than most and are not the 'buying' norm. If he entered a contract with JH and it was breached by JH so knowingly and repeatedly then I have zero sympathy for JH. I still do tons of homework on most all of my purchases but I certainly don't expect other buyers to do it to the same degree. Vendors (particularly good ones) exist so buyers can just have faith and enter a contract for a 'complete' package and then see their contract fulfilled. Maybe I'm just pissed at what I'll term a mild to potentially severe amount of misrepresentation on varying auto parts including those for our own and other marquees who have not been immune to the courts actions. I'd like to see some vendors held more accountable. Won't delve further as this is a fun forum/home and not the appropriate venting outlet IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 I was talking to a buddy of mine from texas the other day... and turns out that hennessey got into a brawl at a local star bucks with a member from f-body.org who was trying to stir up a fight because of the recent bad rap that hennessey got. They should have a video of it up soon. personally, i think hennessey is a joke. What you guys didn't see is the earlier post on corvetteforums. Hennessey posts on the forums himself, and he claimed he would take the administrator/owner of corvette forums to court because of slandering and defamation of character. now, in my opinion, the stupidest thing any business associate could do is start a verbal fight on an internet message board that everyone and their mother can see. You can be that thread went around clubsi.com, riceboypage.com, corral.net, basically any import/domestic board that exists and has a large collection of users...it was seen by thousands of people. Talk about getting yourself negative publicity : even if he cleans up his act, he won't get any business Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 "and turns out that hennessey got into a brawl at a local star bucks with a member from f-body.org who was trying to stir up a fight because of the recent bad rap that hennessey got" Yup, word was he didn't fare so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 Originally posted by Ross C:Yup, word was he didn't fare so well. Nah, that's BS. At least until one of the guys releases it on video so we can see for ourselves. The guy I was talking to was standing right there, and said Hennessey was the one winning (unfortunately). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 further on in the corvette thread the admin said that the thread was up to 16,000 hits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30Z Bushido Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 woah...i never knew that hennessy operated like that... i to thought of it as a "professional" tuning shop such as RUF or something like that... for the amount of money he put on the line he should have done some research on henessey... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 I should get out more. Is this what goes on in the new millennium? This Hennessy hustler will be small change by the time the legal professionals get thru sucking the daylights out of every available dollar of the legal dispute in court proceedings. Over $100,000.00 for cheap thrills is outrageous waste on only one person's ego.I am at a loss which is worst the wealthy person paying or the greedy hustler providing the lube job. Both must be deranged on crack at someone else's expense and labors. Make no mistake the lawyers will make everyone pay now, if it gets to court.I have been took more than once and definitely do not applaud this hustler. Hopefully he will recieve some "justice" for his endeavors that will prevent further injury to others. I really question forking over that kind of money for whatever reason except for humanitarian purposes. It is just plain waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 (sigh) This came up on SupraForums awhile ago and I didn't bring it here. Read the ENTIRE thread - I stopped reading it a little while ago but until then I'd read it all. Yeah, the guy had some money and his research was pretty much just Car and Driver but... Come on - how many of us can afford to research everything we buy? To have that kind of money he had to either work his ass off for it or come into it via family or luck. Imagine if he was a stockbroker working 50+ hours a week and this was going to be his outlet to blow off steam - think he'd have had time to check up on it? Would any of us? I was screwed like this once. Turbo Performance Center in Glen Burnie Maryland was supposed to rebuild my 5.0 motor and install a turbo kit THEY recomended. Why did I use them? Turbo Magazine featured a few of their cars and they had a rep. NO ONE in my area knew **** about turbos much less turbo V8s - they all wanted to slap a carb on my car So, I take my $3K+ turbo kit, my fairly new car, and my butt several hours up the road to Glen Burnie. FIFTY WEEKS later and about several hundred phone calls later I got my car back. I was charged a zillion bux, I was charged for screwups THEY made when they modified a head gasket (don't ask), my car had some new scratches, and I vowed to never trust a shop so far away I couldn't easily drop in and remove my car. Guys this is a long story but the short of it is that I too got screwed out of what for me was a substantial amount of money by someone who was supposed to be reputable - and is STILL in business. Henessy is no better IMO. He's taking on big jobs, pushing them into the corner of his shop, selling parts off of the cars of his customers for quick cash, and not getting work done on the big ticket customers. Guess what, I saw the same thing with my car - cars came in and out while mine SAT in their showroom being used as a picnic table for lunch!! Ever get your car painted? Ask Pete about that experience or have it done by a shop yourself and watch what happens - you might wind up with something in common with these guys. This guy got screwed. If you read the thread so did a bunch of other people. It's not right if it's $5 or $50K. The only difference is the scale. If you guys don't feel bad because this guy got ripped off then what exactly is the dollar figure you WOULD feel bad about? How about if it were your money? Sure, maybe you wouldn't make a mistake like this with your car but suppose it was someone doing something for you that you weren't familiar with? Say an addition to your house? Maybe a new home? Think about it - there's bound to be a big ticket area where you get screwed or fleeced. Just ask anyone who invested in Enron.... A thief is a thief IMO - I can't believe anyone wouldn't be pissed about a theft from someone else. Thankfully Henessy finally pissed off someone who's willing to take on the problem. Oh and supposedly he's not going to be able to shield his assets with the business - they will be going after HIM and his brandy new home paid for by his customers trust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 I don`t have a problem with people spending money that they`ve worked for on things like this. IMO if you make the money you should spend it on whatever you want. Unlike JH who is out spending money he has stolen. I feel for anyone who gets taken,whether it`s a wino that gets rolled for his shoes,or a millionaire that gets screwed for a couple hundred grand. Anyone that would rip someone off just because they can,needs to be hung by their scrotum until dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinked_Chrome Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 I remember a while ago I would always tell people how cool the Hennessy TT Viper as a freshmen (just starting my gearhead days) and how I would give anything for one, it was my favorite car by far, that guy was basically my hero . To me there was nothing else that compared. In fact I planned to get rich, just to buy one. Guess I'll have to build my own Last summer the only cars that I wanted were a V8 Z (getting there) and Hennessy Viper. Now I'm going to have to find a new favorite car, this could take years. It's unreal how aggrevating it is to find out that someone I 'respected' and bragged about so much turns out to be scumbag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 This should all give you guys a healthy dose of skepticism about tuner magazine articles. No magazine article about Hennessey ever said a bad thing about him. No magazine article has ever said anything bad about Saleen, Stillen, Shelby, Brown, etc. One of these days I'll tell ya'll a story about "The Viper That Never Was." Here's a hint for those sharp enough (ya gotta be really sharp and up on the ALMS series) to figure it out: The Viper That Never Was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oltmann Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 I'm certainly glad you feel that way, Ross, especially since I ordered your rear brake package ,but I really have to wonder how these guys got so rich yet remained so naive. Do they have so much money that they don't even care? I wouldn't trust the guy simply because they wrote about him in Car and Driver, in fact I would trust him less. Anyhow, if Hennessey had actually delivered a 1000hp Viper, I would bet even money that it would have ended up wrecked within a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 I don't care who you are, or how much you spend.... If someone misrepresents their product or service, that is criminal. Sure, the customer should have known better. But the vendor, or service representative bears the ownership of the responsibility here. I personally know nothing about Hennessy, but him getting onto these bulliten boards and jousting with people, arranging illegal street races to prove his car is the baddest, and getting into brawls with people in public places is just plain BAD. This guy has a MULTI-million dollar "POTENTIAL" business that he has screwed into the ground. If he were a smart guy (And he isn't just based on the bad press he gets), John would have kept a low profile, kept his business managable, and made promises he could keep. The fact that he is doing all of the above (And this is purely hearsay) tells you that this character is someone NOT to do business with. Forwhat its worth, this is EXACTLY why I learned to do ALL my work on the Z myself. I got screwed twice in 6 months (More in time than money) and just said to myself "Self You are a Smart man who makes a serious living in computers, and you are smarter than these pinheads working on your car... Do it yourself, and do it right!" John C., your comments about the magazines is SPOT ON! They struggle to get copy every issue to fill their space. Monthly periodicals will do whatever they can to fill their pages. Mike Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 The other thing I see proving that he is a complete idiot, is that, not that I would condone this, but with that much $$$$ He could have built the guy the car, and still walk away with quite a bit of pocket change! I mean, he would have gotten his pleasure from ripping someone off, and not have a bad rep, come to think of it, I'm glad he didn't, cause if he did, he would still be in business... Just my thoughts on a complete IDIOT! Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 ...Well that is the unfortunate circumstance here... He IS still in business! At least for the near term! Mike Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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