Hennessey has come a long way from the early days of “making fast cars faster” as John Hennessey puts it. Now, it’s a bona fide automaker, a wild tuner, and even has ambitions for ultra-low-volume, high-horsepower custom builds.
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On the OEM side of things, the Venom F5 is the brand’s bread and butter, with variants launched this year including the Venom F5-M with a manual gearbox, along with a variety of special editions showcasing the crazy customization capabilities of Hennessey’s artisans. But in a portion of the market where money is seemingly no obstacle and a big enough check can get you whatever you want, what’s the craziest thing a client has ever requested for their Venom F5? That’s a question we asked Nathan Malinick, design director at Hennessey earlier this year.
Hennessey
Hennessey (specifically Hennessey Special Vehicles), is an American automaker founded in 2017 with the announcement of the Venom F5 hypercar. Previously, Hennessey operated as a vehicle tuner since 1991, specializing in Dodge Vipers initially before branching out to cover a wide range of American vehicles. Prior to the Venom F5, its most notable achievement was the limited-run Venom GT, a highly modified Lotus Elise chassis that set multiple speed records.
- Founded
- 2017
- Founder
- John Hennessey
- Headquarters
- Sealy, Texas
- Owned By
- John Hennessey
- Current CEO
- John Hennessey
A Very Texas Request For A Very Texas Brand
It should come as no surprise Hennessey buyers aren’t exactly laying down million-dollar checks for custom-bodied works of art in the same way Rolls-Royce buyers are. That’s why the craziest feature ever requested by a Hennessey buyer wasn’t a longtail coachbuild or anything of the sort – although who knows what shape the remaining 9 Venom F5s will take. Nope, it was something far simpler, and far more on-brand for the American hypercar manufacturer that prides itself on its Texan heritage.
“We’ve had quite a few guys asking for interesting details, but I’d say the craziest request was probably something that’s very on-brand for Texas… We had one customer ask for a gun holster in his glovebox.”
– Nathan Malinick, Director of Design, Hennessey
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While Malinick wouldn’t say whether Hennessey obliged or not, the Texan identity is something firmly embedded within Hennessey as a brand, and it’s something that resonates with buyers. When CarBuzz spoke to John Hennessey, he explained how clients buying a Hennessey weren’t just buying a car, but an entire experience and an atmosphere.
“For us to be building these cars in Texas, our clients come to us and they really like and resonate with the whole Texas swag. You know certain people that buy Paganis or Ferraris, they like going to Italy, and they like the whole immersion and the Italian culture. But we have our own version of that in Texas […] we have really great meat and barbecue. We go eat steak. We had a client come in from New York last week, and so we fed him barbecue after the spec session.”
– John Hennessey, Founder and CEO
Hennessey’s Customization Capability Is Wilder Than You Think
Because the Venom F5 is assembled by Hennessey’s small team in Texas, an incredible level of personalization and attention to detail goes into each one. Hennessey showcased this earlier in the year when it unveiled the Stealth Series of the Venom F5 at Monterey Car Week. Only three cars were included in this special edition, each with a bespoke hand-painted livery that took over 650 manhours to complete. This was paired with exposed carbon fiber portions, which were hand-laid in a process taking 2,350 manhours. Inside the cabin were yet more hand-crafted elements, with each panel upholstered by hand and custom Easter eggs for each individual buyer.
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Limited to only three units, the Venom F5 Stealth Edition epitomizes Hennessey’s commitment to bespoke crafted hypercar excellence.
Each of these costs over $3 million, nearly half a million more than the base price of a Venom F5. That’s because, as Malinick told CarBuzz before the unveiling, the buyers just “took the heart” of the Stealth Series to new levels: “[It] was really and truly to let our craftsmen just go wild with what they could do and then they added on – the customers themselves – added on these just incredible and incredibly complex specifications.”
This isn’t something everyone will understand. “A lot of people look at numbers like that, and they think – and I understand it because it’s so much money – ‘Oh, why is this so much? Why does a paint color cost so much?'” says Malinick. But these aren’t normal cars, and details like the carbon fiber are works of art.
“You have to understand these cars are all completely handcrafted, bespoke creations […] it’s very complex, it’s very difficult to do. And it’s like a very fine mechanical watch, it’s just one of those things. If you appreciate it, you appreciate it. If you don’t, you don’t, and that’s okay. But to get that end result that we’re happy with and our customers happy with, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.”
– Nathan Malinick, Design Director, Hennessey
News Summary:
- Crazy Option Requested By Hennessey Venom F5 Buyer Is The Most American Thing Ever
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