Tuesday 18th October 2011

YKYWT... Dodge Viper 'Hennessy Venom 600'

Jacques Villeneuve's 1997 F1 Championship prezzie could be yours

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Surely few F1 fans can forget Michael Schumacher's attempt to 'block' Jacques Villeneuve's ambitious dive-up-the-inside at Jerez in 1997? As a result Herr Schumacher received a tremendous bollocking from the FIA and was stripped of his second place in the world championship. Further to this, his failure to finish the race handed the title to the Williams driver.

Not long afterwards Williams' principal sponsor, Rothmans, asked American power-merchants Hennessy to build a Dodge Viper especially for their man - which toured with him at most of the 1998 World Championship rounds.

This is it. It's rather... er... white (apart from some graphics and the lamentable blue wheel and hand brake handle), which it has to be said probably isn't the best colour for a Viper, but then again Villeneuve won't have complained about that when it turned up on his doorstep. He will probably have been cheered somewhat by the fact that the car was free, and furthermore that in its day there will have been very few cars on the road which could have shown it a clean pair of heels. You'd still need a very serious piece of kit to keep up with one today, come to think of it.

With a reputed - and entirely believable - 607bhp on tap and probably more torque at tickover than a lot of supercars develop deep into the rev-range; this will still be an extremely fast car. As such, the asking price of £39,995 seems like decent value even before you ascribe any extra value to its celebrity provenance.

On the downside it suffered a wee prang at the hands of the previous owner who managed to back it into a tree which destroyed a rear three-quarter panel, a wheel, and a suspension upright. However this work has supposedly been carried out to a high standard and the car is now ready to go hypercar- hunting.

Described by the vendor (who has a history of dealing with Vipers) as 'horrendously quick - too fast for the roads' and with no ABS, no traction control, and no... anything of that nature, do you feel lucky? Well, do you?

And what value would you put on its history?

[mattyc69]

I reackon its had some front end damage aswell by the look of things! The front bumper shut line around the lights is horrendous!

[firman]

In before the title!!!!!!!11111one

[Oelholm]

Have any interior photos? I can only just about make out the garish blue steering wheel...

My cousin's husband had a go in his father's Viper when he imported it from the States - he crashed it at 55 mp/h while negotiating a chicane! Lost traction suddently, went into a ditch and flipped two times. Widowmaker, if there ever was one. Luckily, the roll-over bar had them both reasonably safe...

[Motown Junk]

mattyc69 said:

I reackon its had some front end damage aswell by the look of things! The front bumper shut line around the lights is horrendous!

That's just American build quality - before anyone else says it

[Sivraj]

No thank you!
I can think of better things to do with £40K
Speaking of pranged celeb cars did Rowan get his F1 sorted?

[Owlwood]

Wow, that is a find. You'd have to be a proper driver, or a proper lunatic, to handle that beast. Safe to say it's definitely been hooned around the place...

[LuS1fer]

I came close to importing a Viper in 2004 but went for a C5 Z06 instead. The one I was looking at was white with blue stripes and it's a colour combo i don't like. I suspect had it been a different colour, it might have been a different story.

As for cars and famous past owners, who cares. Certainly not worth paying a premium for a car that's been screwed.

[sprinter1050]

Sivraj said:

No thank you!
I can think of better things to do with £40K
Speaking of pranged celeb cars did Rowan get his F1 sorted?

Similar thinking-but I was going to suggest that this could be Rowan's next crasher undriveable beast.

[Ex Boy Racer]

I wonder if it was Jacques that stuffed it into the tree???

[Maldini35]

Incredible value

Alas there would be no way I could survive a day in that car.

[Fartgalen]

Maldini35 said:

Incredible value

Not really. It's probably worth about 25k. 30 at a push since it's a Hennessey.
Who cares who owned it in the past ? Doesn't make it any more valuable to me.

[AndyCzech]

They’ll have a problem driving the thing off the grass if it rains.

[sinbaddio]

0-60 in 3.3 secs, that's a seriously quick car. I love the old American truck in the background of the 4th pic in the main ad although I've no idea what it is.....

[Cupradan]

Bonkers car!

[galro]

sinbaddio said:

. I love the old American truck in the background of the 4th pic in the main ad although I've no idea what it is.....

It's a old Chevrolet Task Force.

[j_s14a]

If its had front end damage, it must have been an expensive repair. Apparently the front clamshells on these cost circa $10k!

If it was a GTS i would be more keen, but for half this amount you could have a 600hp aerotop MKIV Supra, which IMO is MUCH better looking than the RT Viper.

[SWoll]

Fartgalen said:

Maldini35 said:

Incredible value

Not really. It's probably worth about 25k. 30 at a push since it's a Hennessey.
Who cares who owned it in the past ? Doesn't make it any more valuable to me.

Not a big fan of Vipers personally but the fact that it was owned and regularly driven by a current F1 World Champion is about as good as provenance goes for a car IMO.

Wouldn't bother me either as a purchaser but I can appreciate that plenty would be interested. If a car driven by David Beckham comes with an elevated pricetag then surely this is fair enough?

[900T-R]

j_s14a said:

!

If it was a GTS not previously owned by the most irritant person ever to bag an F1 seat i would be more keen,

Fixed that for you.

[Fire99]

I rather like it, in principal. Not so keen on the Graphics and i'm not really that interested in past owners (so long as there hasn't been too many)

But a fast viper? Yeah definitely.

[j_s14a]

900T-R said:

j_s14a said:

!

If it was a GTS not previously owned by the most irritant person ever to bag an F1 seat i would be more keen,

Fixed that for you.

He must have looked like such a burk driving this in the UK!