information on venom 427
 

Hello:
I am considering the purchase of a venom 427 , which like the super performance is made in south africa. Same type program, turn key minus engine transmission. I am planning on a 351w, don't need 500hp, I'm in southern ca.
The numbers so far using a used engine and transmission brings my cost to about 35K.
As Venom is new to the states, is there anyone that can give me any feed back.
Thank you for your help

You should also consider Backdraftracing.com

same price range and probably more of them out there. Just a thought.

GS

hanks for your responce. I looked into the backdraft. They don't seem to be in the same caliber, but may be. I think they both have bmw rear end and may be close. The venom is 28,900 turn key minus and I guess you can pay as much as you want for the engine.and transmission. backdraft is in Az. and the Venom is in Conn.

I've seen a couple of the backdraft and maybe they were bad build jobs but looked like some poorly build ffr that I've seen. Might have been the owners and where they were driven. Also looked at Lone star and they are up there price wise.

I don't want to build another car, I want to drive one.
Thanks for the info.

Not an endorsement, just passing on some info.
The manufacturer of Venom.
http://www.performcars.com/

damn...its a nice car! 2 in wider and longer...Pretty much like the BDR. SS sidepipes, SS rollbar BMW suspension...Well if and when you get one you got to tell us how it turns out. Good luck on your cobra dream!

GS

Thanks, I am going to look into the BDR also. they are in Az about an 8 hr. drive over there. I'll grab a weekend and go over.
Seems like the africans are taking over the cobra business. Superformanance, Venom 427, Backdraft, what next?

Have a good day.
Thanks again

Venom 427 and BDR use to be one company and have split.
Dan

StreetBeagle: The Venom 427 is a fine car. In fact, it is a carbon copy of the origional Backdraft Roadster.(a nice compliment in itself) Venom was started by a group who were on the inside when Backdraft was started. I say origional, because Backdraft underwent numerous improvements in 2003, making it a far nicer car than either model was in 2002. The BDR benefeits from on-going R&D and changes are continously implemented to yeild the finest car available in any price range. The car is very close to that goal now and details are improving all the time. One customer said it best, "You can get a little more car for alot more money, but you get allot less car for less money."

Sorry to hear that you saw a couple BDRs that looked poor. I assure you, they didn't leave the factory that way.

Good luck in your search and I'm sure you will be happy with your choice.

Boudy

As long as we're turning this thread into a commercial "we're the best" fest.... try looking at www.427cobras.com. I won't make that statment that our roadster is the best. But I will invite the public to take a look - a REAL CLOSE look at the VALUE we pack in our cars. If anyone looks hard enough and truly compares components, quality, delivery time, price... they will figure it out.

And we're driving for 100% AMERICAN content in our car. May take a while, but when we find a Chinese, Taiwanese, Indian, Canadian, or any other country ( including GB ) a concerted effort is made to find a vendor who can build it here and put someone back to work.

You will spend more dollars to buy our car. Thats a fact. Add up anyone's turnkey or turnkey minus, a drivetrain, and the various ancillary parts you'll need to get on the street. Then compare and take a LONG, CLOSE look at what you get for the difference as far as componentry, quality, engineering excellence, time of delivery... It then should be a no brainer and who has the better VALUE and the better ride for you.

Please understand that we are NOT disparaging anyone's product in any way. Virtually all the turnkey minus and turnkey cars are very, very nice. We just happen to believe that ours are among the very, very best with hands down the best VALUE in the marketplace. True, we are the new kids on the block as we've been around only a little over a year. As time goes on we believe you'll discover thats theres a new posse in town and they are professional, experienced, and dedicated to your satisfaction.

But we'll leave that decision up to you.

American born, American bred, American jobs, American muscle.

I just bought one and putting in a 351W.

So far so good.

What specifically would you like to know?

Jong

Bob: If your product was likened to a poorly built donor kit, we'd expect to here from you. Not only would we expect you to answer the origional post with what you knew of the Venom, as requested, we'd expect to here a little about the goals that drive the quality level built into your cars. You know, a post very similar to the one you wrote.

Sorry you felt my reply sounded like a commercial "we're the best" fest. Our product was questioned and I did my best to defend it.

Boudy

Hope I didn't offend anyone about the quality of the cars I had referred to in an earlier post.I was told they were BDR cars by someone that probably didn't know. I called him this afternoon and he confirmed they probably were not BDR as there are not many on the west coast. He knows what they were but I'm not mentioning for fear of starting a debate with another two cobra republic companies. We don't see many or for that fact any of the following out here at the shows that I have attended this year.
BDR, Venom 427, or Lone Star, have seen a few of the others. The factory probably turn our a good product and certainly can't be held accountable for what their buyer does afterwards
I stand corrected if I offended any builder out there.
Thanks to everyone that has provided information to me. I hope to receive more

Streetbeagle: I am the representative for Venom 427 in the USA. Our cars are distributed by Team C Racing. If I can provide you with any information on our car I am at your beck and call. I do not normally reply to a posting about the Venom 427 as I see the forum as a powerful tool for the consumer, forum members and other interested people. However when there is misinformation about our company or its products I feel it is my duty to set the record straight.

Bobl and Boudy: The forum and any posting on a specific manufacturer’s product should never be turned into a “commercial "we're the best" fest”. It is unethical and quite honestly I have never seen it done before.

Boudy: Indeed the Venom 427 is a fine car. Thank you for the compliment. You did have a right to defend your product and its quality, however it could have been done with just a statement to the contrary and without the inferences about our company and our product. I also read it as a “commercial "we're the best" as I am sure many others did. Best would have been to start a new post on Backdaft to answer this and the other posting on the quality issue.

I am unsure of whether your opinion of our Venom is drawn from first hand knowledge or based on information you have collected from different sources. When you say it is a "carbon copy" the inference is that the car is exactly the same and we have made no improvements. Does this imply the original Backdraft was a carbon copy of the Johnspeed- the first car to be marketed in the USA as a BMW suspensioned Cobra? I think not !! The Backdraft 2002 I feel was a far better finished car than the Johnspeed as I was involved in the development of that car. But then again the Johnspeed was in a different price bracket as the car could be had for $26 000 turn-key so was a good deal for what it was.

“Venom was started by a group who were on the inside when Backdraft was started.” - For your information Performance Cars was in operation approx. 1 year prior to that of Backdraft.

The Venom 427 is not a carbon copy of the original Backdraft. After we split the 2 cobras were obviously the same. From there on out the 2 companies took 2 different paths of development and improvement. We re-engineered the chassis and other integral parts to improve their strength and functionality. We believe the quality of our build, finish and paintwork to be of the highest standard in the industry. Our quality has never been brought into question. We have not modified our bodywork a' la' Backdraft 2003 as we believe the original shape to be just right and close to original. Because of the BMW suspension many believe the 2 cars to be the same and to the untrained eye they do look similar. However on closer inspection they are quite different. We also continue to improve our car with research and development to "yield the finest car available" in OUR price range. I believe there is a customer for every product. As you quoted "You can get a little more car for a lot more money, but you get allot less car for less money." I read this over and over. The statement is dependent on a benchmark which is undefined. Cut right down to it and the translation is "You get what you pay for". If that is the case, I agree wholeheartedly, as most car purchases of this kind are filled with passion and are thus subjective. What you discount as "little" may mean a LOT to the next customer. I do not believe we will steal deals on ERA's, Kirkhams and Shelby's right now. We may steal the deals from Superformance as they are closer to our price range however the subjectivity of the customer will determine that. There will always be customers that perceive the SPF to have more value in order to pay the price margin.

On that issue I am always impressed with all the products from ERA, Kirkham, Shelby and Superformance and am enthused on closer inspection at shows and runs. In some areas I feel our cars are better than all of those. But as newcomers to the US cobra industry we aspire to reach the level of all those companies, in terms of recognition, perceived quality and sales !!! I am also impressed with the Backdraft and Tony's success with it. I enjoy a close inspection of his cars and to see their developments and changes.

In conclusion, there are many customers in the US and as I stated a customer for every product. Johnspeed still sells all the cars he produces as does Performance Cars and Backdraft.

Streetbeagle: Sorry to you and the other members for flaming your post but that reply can be compared to a Ford salesman sneaking onto the Chevy sales floor and trying to talk their customers out of buying a Chevy !!!

For more information on our history do a search on past postings by me.
_______________

Ross Sinclair
Performance Cars
www.performcars.com

Ross: Some very good points. Well done.

Thanks,

Boudy

I 'm not sure how to start this without creating a monster and offending anyone, but here goes. I might not know all the facts but what I do know, is all I can talk about.
I own one of the very first Bcakdrafts, infact it's #5. A very beautiful well made Viper Blue with Pearl White strips car. You can see pictures of my beauty in the gallery.
I was there when Ross left Backdraft and took a car with him that was intended for another customer, It could have been his, I'm not sure, but I did know the unhappy customer that had to wait for another car to come in from the factory. A short time later I saw Ross at a show taking orders with an identical car and called his Company,"Brat's". I picked up one of his brochures and to my amazement I found a picture of my Backdraft Cobra and Flanker's, another BDR owner and friend, in his Brat's literature. I don't know if Reg or Tony gave him permission to do that, but I certainly did not. I also found a picture of my Cobra in Kit Car magazine, that wouldn't have been so bad, except it was being advertised as a Venom 427. Again without my permission.
I think if you need a history lesson on this "split matter" and who came first Backdraft , Brat or Venom and who started what, we need to here it from Reg Dodd or Tony Martin. I don't mean any disrespect to you Ross, you looked like a pretty nice fellow to me. I'm just not sure about your business ethics, that's all.

As for BDR , car and company, in 35 years I haven't found one better.

Dear Cobradoc,

What I stated was purely in response to the posting of Boudy. As I said I will respond to mis-information about our company, our product or myself. Again you have mis-informed the members of the forum.

The car that I took with me after the split was my personal car. Part of the reason for the split was the deal in question. I do not see the necessity to detail this issue on the forum so if you are interested in knowing more, give me a call.

I guarantee you that every car that we have ever used in our brouchures or any advertising, has been built in OUR factory and exported under OUR government licence to the US. That includes the car owned by you. Backdraft were also using pictures of my personal car on their website. When you expressed your dissatisfaction by us using your car in our advertising it was removed. I think these issues were dealt with over on the, now defunct, Cobra Forum back in February. I posted the reply here :

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/show...ight=Venom+427

Dr Lopez you do disrespect me if you bring into question my business ethics on a public forum. As you said you "might not know all the facts", and you do not know me. I can assure you my ethics are of the highest standards.

Nuff said. Let us keep this negativity off the forum as it is precisely this that led to the demise of the Cobra Forum.

-----------------------
Ross Sinclair
Performance Cars
www.performcars.com

History is a subject of perception. Tony and Reg could very well jump in here and tell how they percieved the events of a couple years ago, and so on, and so on.

However, today, we have 2 companies. Each building a quality product.

May I offer that this is problably a really good time to envoke the gentleman's rule and allow sleeping dogs to lie? This could really get ugly and nobody will gain a thing from it. NOBODY!!!

Respectfully,

Robert

I apologize to all.

I didn't mean to start a negative public debate.

I somehow missed your February reply Ross, I'm sorry for stirring up the pot!!

Thanks Boudy.

Thanks Doc. I appreciate you coming back and posting that.

Boudy. I think it is safe to say Cobra men are Gentlemen. Even though they will not admit it, that includes the Gassholes !!

I think you'd be very pleased with a BDR. Why do you ask? B/C you'll have $3,000 to buy beer with! $25,900 vs. $28,900? Better looking rear fenders and extra cash! I don't think the Venom boys have an extra $3k in chassis development. Call Reg at Backdraft.