Venturi - the French Supercar?

[wildcat45]

So its a bank holiday Sunday night and I have been sitting up in the loft having a nostalgic read through my car brochure collection.

Got about 2000 dating from the 1970s - to brochures for my presnet and future cars.

Anyway, I happened upon an envelope full of stuff about a car I had long forgotten about.

The Venturi. Or MVS as some of the brochures are branded. Really really good looking sports cars with PVR V6 motors.

Great reading - and very rare, I can only find one for sale on the net and that's a French Ebay auction.


Just thought I'd ask if anyone has any memories/experience of these. The company went bust about 10 years ago.

Link here to what PH has to say about it.

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=103&i=362...

[yinujim]

Theres one at the back of a breakers yard I go to.

[wildcat45]

Done a bit more online trawling. As a toy, I'm agraid it's going to be out of my reach. Loking at 30K for a good one from france.

[AlpineA610]

Lovely cars. I was looking at a number of them over the weekend at La Vie en Bleu. The red 400 GT is the only one in the UK and has more than a look of F40 about it.

[hesnotthemessiah]

Yeah, the same car was at the Sheffield Supercar Sunday meet a few weeks ago. Sounded awesome!

Edited by hesnotthemessiah on Monday 31st May 10:46

[SystemParanoia]

i saw that red one yesterday morning headed towards cannock.

thought it was an f40 but couldent catch it due to being in a specs zone. tried to get my 4yr old to take a pic as it pulled of into the services.... but he missed it... 4 times lol. ahh well

[belleair302]

I have a friend who ran one of these a few years ago and never had any problems with it...a leftfield choice over a 911. Not perfectly built but it never went wrong and always turned heads. He now drives a Conti GT...dull.

Edited by belleair302 on Monday 31st May 10:40

[anonymous-user]

Here's a nice one,



Proves the French can make proper sports cars, along with Alpine/GTA and Renault Spider Sport.

MVS/Venturi Atlantique factory baased near Nantes - hence the name Atlantique. Essentially the French Lotus Esprit and one of the most interesting "alternative" sports cars. Unfortunately the reputation for reliability (or lack of it) is fearsome whether or not deserved. Suspicions must surround the mid-mounted turbo engine installation and consequent heat management issues. Lotus had to put huge effort into heat management for Esprit Turbo and had a bigger sales volume to work with.

I'd love to own one. Am I brave enough - no.

By the way, a tiny handful were built in RHD.

[Tony427]

Saw a blue rhd one on the M6 in Cheshire on Thursday last week. I'd never seen one before, but was very impressed by its styling. I am ashamed to say I thought it was a Kit car until I did some searching on here.

Cheers,

Tony

[Ian974]

I remember years ago one of these used to park near to my friends house

I find something appealing about cars like these. It's that rare that no-one will have a clue what it is, but it's a fairly subtle looking car so no-one will notice that they haven't got a clue what it is!

[Howitzer]

A very memorable 150mph cruise with one on the way back from Italy a few years ago, we managed to get up to my comfort zone where he slowly drove away and then turned off somewhere as I never saw it again.



Dave!

[OwenK]

I think the red 400GT is owned by a (female?) member on PH.

I really like the look of them too, more than a hint of Ferrari 348 about them - very well proportioned visually and unusual enough to be interesting!

[dougc]

Howitzer said:

A very memorable 150mph cruise with one on the way back from Italy a few years ago, we managed to get up to my comfort zone where he slowly drove away and then turned off somewhere as I never saw it again.



Dave!

That looks more like an Invicta S1

[dobrowski 2007]

Tony427 said:

Saw a blue rhd one on the M6 in Cheshire on Thursday last week. I'd never seen one before, but was very impressed by its styling. I am ashamed to say I thought it was a Kit car until I did some searching on here.

Cheers,

Tony

i have a blue venturi but i wasn`t on the M6 on thursday
on Saturday yes , on the way to Prescott in the rain .
not aware of another blue one in the U/K


cheers

[plasticpig]

hesnotthemessiah said:

Yeah, the same car was at the Sheffield Supercar Sunday meet a few weeks ago. Sounded awesome!

Edited by hesnotthemessiah on Monday 31st May 10:46

Owned by Ph'r GT 1

[GT 1]

Oooh, hello

OP, I know where there's a 400 Trophy for sale in the UK if you're interested. Needs a bit of work doing to the chassis but it does have 600bhp

Feel free to PM if you want any more info

Edited by GT 1 on Saturday 19th June 11:16

[Pothole]

3 for sale here (in France) http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/view-classic-c...

[nelson.tfr]

5 USA said:

Here's a nice one,



Proves the French can make proper sports cars, along with Alpine/GTA and Renault Spider Sport.

MVS/Venturi Atlantique factory baased near Nantes - hence the name Atlantique. Essentially the French Lotus Esprit and one of the most interesting "alternative" sports cars. Unfortunately the reputation for reliability (or lack of it) is fearsome whether or not deserved. Suspicions must surround the mid-mounted turbo engine installation and consequent heat management issues. Lotus had to put huge effort into heat management for Esprit Turbo and had a bigger sales volume to work with.

I'd love to own one. Am I brave enough - no.

By the way, a tiny handful were built in RHD.

Is it just me, or does the front end look exactly like a Corrado's?

[Skylinecrazy]

GT 1 said:

Oooh, hello OP, I know where there's a 400 Trophy for sale in the UK if you're interested. Needs a bit of work doing to the chassis but it does have 600bhp Feel free to PM if you want any more info

Edited by GT 1 on Saturday 19th June 11:16

How are things 'Chelle? I'll drop you a PM later Having been up Prescott in the Venturi I can certainly say it's more than awesome!

[anonymous-user]

nelson.tfr said:

Is it just me, or does the front end look exactly like a Corrado's?

No, it's not just you... Very similar indeed.

There was very fine Venturi on show at the St Saturnin "Great British Welcome" on the eve of Le Mans 24 hour race last week. Also a couple of Alpines and the odd Matra. Good to see some French sports cars out and about!