705 hp and 717 lb-ft torque LS9 Hennessey HPE700 Camaro

[trev0006]

705 hp and 717 lb-ft torque LS9 Hennessey HPE700 Camaro

HENNESSEY PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING ANNOUNCES LIMITED EDITION 705 HP LS9 POWERPLANT FOR THE 2010 CAMARO

Extreme Performance Makeover Transforms the 2010 Camaro from Muscle Car to Super Car!

SEALY, TX – Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE), well known for their extreme performance sports cars and muscle cars, announces their Limited Edition 2010 HPE700 Camaro.

At the heart of the beast is GM's new LS9 supercharged V8 tweaked as only HPE could to 705 horsepower and 717 lb-ft torque. To qualify as a supercar under the HPE banner it can't just go, it has to whoa. With optional 15 inch carbon brakes from the stunning new Corvette ZR1, light weight HRE wheels with Michelin PS2 tires and full suspension upgrades the HPE700 Camaro will be able to make full use of its new found power.

In addition to the power and handling upgrades., Hennessey will also be offering an exterior aerodynamics package to improve downforce at high speed. Penned by British designer, Steve Everitt, Hennessey's Cam-Aero ™ body upgrades include: Carbon fiber rear lip spoiler, carbon fiber side rocker panels, carbon fiber front splitter, front fascia with hideaway-look headlights and front billet grille. Completing the look of the HPE700 is a ZR1 inspired hood design with window showing off the Hennessey's tweaked LS9 powerplant.

"The HPE700 Camaro allows our customers to combine supercar power and performance with classic American muscle car looks in a modern, daily-drive usable sportscar with a backseat and a trunk!," said John Hennessey, President and CEO of Hennessey Performance Engineering. "We will be announcing other Hennessey turnkey vehicle packages for the 2010 Camaro in the near future along with an extensive list of aftermarket performance parts and accessories. But for now, the LS9-powered HPE700 Camaro, replete with ZR1 inspired looks and performance promises to be at the top of the American muscle car food chain later in 2009.

HPE700 buyers will also receive a 1-day performance driving course at Lonestar Motorsports Park – a ¼ mile dragstrip facility located adjacent to Hennessey's 24,000 square foot production facility and showroom.

Hennessey is offering the first HPE700 Camaros exclusively to registered bidders at the 2009 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ. Orders can be placed at the Hennessey display at the show or by phone or email beginning Tuesday, January 13 through Sunday, January 18, 2009. On Monday, January 19, 2009 the HPE700 Camaro will be available to the general public and can be ordered from select Chevrolet dealers as well as directly from Hennessey Performance Engineering.

Base price for the 2010 HPE700 Camaro is $109,500.

Located just west of Houston Texas at the Lonestar Motorsports Park complex, HPE has been building American supercars for nearly two decades with its Veyron-beating Venom Vipers, Ford GT's and recently released Dodge Challengers.

[schocker]

They are going to have to get plenty of new cars into the shop in order to strip the parts to make that car

[94boosted]

That thing looks pretty mean, I wonder if it will actually be able to "use" all of it's power or if it will just sit there and burn rubber.

[chkolny541]

[SCHIDER23]

WOW

[NickGT]

Originally posted by 94boosted
That thing looks pretty mean, I wonder if it will actually be able to "use" all of it's power or if it will just sit there and burn rubber.

705hp, 717lb-ft torque - It's gonna do nothing but melt tires at will lol. I like it

[scat19]

2 Things.

1) Who would put money down on a car that doesn't exist? It's just a photoshop. Or a car that has not even hit dealer lots. Has the interior hold up been addressed yet?

2) I wouldn't give ANY money to John Hennessey. He is a disgusting business man, if you could call him that. Just read some real life experiences from people who have encountered and SUED him over a product that was never delivered, not to mention their own cars parted out and parts sold!

RE: http://www.carforums.net/showthread.php?t=15083
RE: http://www.carforums.net/showthread.php?t=15083

Here is some items from the links above:

Hennessey's Vipers are fast, but lawsuits say he serves them up too slowly. (Photo by Mark Vaughn)
Ninety-eight percent of his customers love him, John Hennessey says. But a few hate him and some have sued. Hennessey Motorsports in Houston specializes in tuning Vipers, adding more power to what is already one of the most powerful cars in the world. Hennessey’s Vipers have been featured in this and many other magazines and the cars he has sent to us and to other media were impressive performers. Hennessey presents himself well, projecting an image of the consummate Texas good ol’ boy whose reassuring conversational style and howyewdoin’ demeanor put customers at ease. People believe they will get what he says he’ll give them. But not all people do.

According to a lawsuit filed in Salt Lake City, Utah resident Taig Stewart sent his Viper GTS to Hennessey last May for an engine upgrade to 1100 hp along with several other modifications. For that he wire-transferred $142,500 to Hennessey. The lawsuit states the parties agreed the car would be done by mid-July 2001. As of press time the car was still sitting under a tarp in Hennessey’s shop in Houston. Or most of the car, anyway. Stewart’s suit claims Hennessey sold the car’s engine, transmission, wheels, tires and hood. The suit seeks return of the money, the Viper and “no less than $1 million” in punitive damages.

Hennessey claims he’s just slow in getting the work done.

“My side of the story is we’re planning on finishing his car and planning on giving him everything that he paid for,” said Hennessey. As for the parts being sold, “That’s totally false. We’ve got all his parts in the shop except the hood and he wanted to do a lightweight hood.”

Stewart is not the first unsatisfied customer. The longer we dug the more dissatisfaction we found. Here’s a sampling:

On Nov. 14 a New Jersey court entered a final judgement of $133,674 against Hennessey on behalf of Viper owner Gary Dan for a botched conversion.

William Walters said he is out over $22,000 after shipping his Corvette to Hennessey for a head and cam package that was never done; he did have five rods bent and a head gasket damaged on the dyno in Hennessey’s shop during an experiment Hennessey tried with nitrous oxide.

Jerry Johnson said he had to file suit in Placer County Court in California to straighten out registration and engine computer problems on a Viper he bought from Hennessey. n Jon Belinkie said he loves the changes made to his Viper but had to sue in his home state of Maryland, then register the judgement in Texas, to recover overcharges Hennessey made on his American Express card.

Rick Ryan said he had to hound Hennessey for eight months by long distance from Marietta, Georgia, to put the proper wing and stripes on his Viper.

Mark Lublin said he sent his Viper cylinder heads to Hennessey for new valves but when the heads came back he found the “new” valves were actually used; a cam that was delivered to Lublin in a Hennessey box turned out to be a stock Chrysler cam. Lublin was finally refunded $5,715 from American Express but only after nine months of disputing the charge; and he got no money from Hennessey.

Bruce Iannatuono said he ordered $8,500 worth of Hennessey parts for his mechanic in Baltimore to install but was only able to use two-thirds of what was shipped, and then only after haranguing Hennessey for six months on an order that was originally promised in five weeks.

Most of the complaints come from outside Texas. Hennessey, some said, tends to take better care of local customers.

“If you were out of state, man you were fair game,” said Kyle Kent, a former employee at Hennessey Motorsports. When an out-of-state car came in it was sometimes parted out, with the wheels, tires and whatever else looked good going to other cars waiting to be finished or sold outright, according to Kent and others inside Hennessey Motorsports. Then Hennessey would call the car’s owner and try to sell him an upgraded kit. If the customer balked, Hennessey would take parts from other cars in the shop, or just let the job sit.

Kent described one typical disassembly on an out-of-state Viper. “The motor and transmission went into a Durango John was putting together, the brakes went to someone else, the hood went to a guy in Ohio, the rear bumper to South Carolina, man you name it. We had multiple cars like that.”

Another common practice was putting stock parts on what was supposed to be an upgraded car.

“One customer spent $130,000 to $140,000 and that guy thought he had purchased a Venom 650R package which he thought came with the stroker motor,” Kent said. “John told him he was getting a stroker. He was just getting heads and cams.”

Hennessey denies any wrongdoing.

“I’ve got probably 3000 customers,” he said. “I’ve built over 300 cars and out of that I’ve had a handful of people that I’ve had some sort of a delivery problem with and I’ve had some of them who have sued me. So is that some sort of a trend or is that par for the course?”

Here is the E-mail:

Hi Bill,

I followed your story about John Hennessey with much interest and want
to thank you for your various posts regarding it. Unfortunately however,
I hold the title of the King of Stupid when it comes to falling victim
to John Hennessey's scams and I know my loss (in monetary terms alone)
easily gives me bragging rights to that title. =) It was greatly to my
disadvantage that I didn't get wind of Hennessey's antics (as posted on
the Corvette Forum and the VCA forum) until long after I'd already given
him my car, as well as -all- of the money agreed upon up for the
scheduled work in advance. I feel like a complete jackass.

Do you happen to remember the issue of Motor Trend this last Spring that
showed John Hennessey's Venom 800 on the cover? Never having been an
true American muscle car fan as much as a Porsche guy up until that
time, I didn't really know all that much about Vipers, other than I
liked the look of them, etc. But when I saw the numbers John supposedly
wrung out of that orange Viper in the article, I was astounded. I had to
have one! So I did some looking on the web, found his website, and sent
him an e-mail. He responded and after that initial contact I talked to
him on the phone, as well as thru e-mails. He was personable and
friendly (as I'm sure you found him to be initially) and he seemed
competent and straightforward.

Accordingly, I located a new Viper GTS in Idaho and had it trucked down
to Utah (where I live) and continued to go over everything with John as
I decided which options to go with, etc., until finally we'd come to an
agreement that totaled $122,500--not including the car (yes, I know, I
know, Bill--I'm a complete idiot). In my defense, I guess, I'd like to
say that: 1) I didn't really know Vipers--as I mentioned--and it seemed
to me that all of the options I'd chosen were both very worthwhile or
necessary; 2) the Venom 800's performance put it into another league
altogether and as such the cost seemed reasonable in light of what you'd
get (or not get) for the same money if you went with a very custom
Porsche, Ferrari, or Lamborghini, etc.; and 3) Hennessey seemed to have
a very solid reputation in the tuner industry (I -assumed-), not unlike
RUF, Lingenfelter, or Saleen, etc.

I drove my new Viper only several hundred miles over the next few weeks
before I arranged to have John send a fellow to pick up my car and
transport it down to his shop in Houston. Interestingly, John pushed
pretty hard for all of the money for the Venom 800 project up front,
though he only really insisted on half. Based on what I believed to be
one of the most trusted names in the industry, however, I agreed to wire
him the entire $122,500 up front, which I did. What an unbelievable
mistake. A date of approximately 12 weeks from the date he took delivery
was projected for completion of the car (he took delivery of the car in
April of last year), making the due date approximately mid-July.

Over the course of the next couple of months, I heard very little from
John, but I assumed all was in order (I'd never done this sort of thing
before, after all). In early July, John called me to discuss ways to
produce even more horsepower from the car buy rebuilding the engine with
all titanium parts so that it could run reliably at 16-18 psi, vs. the
originally planned 10-12 psi. For this new upgrade (which he dubbed the
"Venom 1000" due to his anticipating between 1000 and 1100 bhp at the
crank) he stated that he needed another $20,000, and asked for it ASAP
if possible, stating that it would greatly speed up his ability to get
the parts quicker. I agreed and sent him another wire for $20,000.
Because of the additional modifications, John now estimated a September
delivery date.

September came and went. Then, around the end of October, I started
putting a little pressure on John, asking him when he was going to be
done with the car. He blamed his inability to get certain parts for the
Venom 1000 on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks (no, I've never been able
to see the connection either) but assured me that everything would be
wrapping up soon.

November came and November went. Then in early December, I got a phone
call from a fellow who asked me how my car was doing and what I'd heard
about it. I replied with the facts above and he told me that John was
basically sticking it to me and that I should go to the Viper Club of
America forum and the Corvette Forum and do a little reading. Your case
was noted. He assured me that I was getting screwed badly. I began to
get nervous. It was at this time that I first read your bad experiences
with John Hennessey, as well as those of others and I began to get even
more nervous. And I began to get angry.

I called John and asked him straight up, "John, will I get my car back?"
To which he replied with a hurt tone, "Yes! Of course. What do you
mean?," and wanted to know why I didn't trust him anymore. I didn't tell
him that anyone had called me, but I did tell him that I'd read a lot of
disturbing things on the forums about him. He had no reply whatsoever
for that one and changed the subject. I told him I wanted my car
finished and I wanted it finished quickly. He agreed that it would be
ready in the beginning of January. Then, without warning, I flew a
trusted buddy down to Houston to simply show up at John's shop and see
what the status of my car was for himself.

What my friend found was terribly discouraging. My car was there in his
shop all right, but he discovered that John had sold my hood (one of the
parts on a Viper worth quick cash I'm told - since they're $14,000 to
replace) though I had NOT ordered his carbon fiber replacement hood,
wanting instead to keep my stock one. I also discovered that John had
sold my stock wheels and tires, though I had specifically requested that
my stock wheels be fitted with slicks and returned to me as a second set
of rims/tires. None of the parts that I had ordered (suspension upgrade,
HRE wheels, body parts, Brembo brakes, Quaiffe diff, Connolly leather
interior, etc., etc., etc.) were anywhere to be seen and John admitted
that he did not have them.

I told John at this time (thru my friend) that I wanted all the parts
I'd ordered collected and the upgrades completed ASAP or there would be
trouble. John hung his head and shifted from one foot to the other and
assured me that everything would be completed immediately. My friend set
a date in mid-January at which time he would return and actually hear
the completed, modified engine actually start, in my car. John agreed.
After this visit, John sent me a number of cheery e-mails in which he
talked at great length about other subjects and another Viper he'd been
working on and how he was getting great power out of it, etc., but not a
thing about my car.

Well Bill, my friend did indeed return to visit John just a few days ago
and found that NOT A SINGLE THING had changed or had been completed. My
car continues to sit in the corner of John's shop where it collects
dust. The wheels are still missing, the hood is still missing, and the
engine is yanked but as yet remains unmodified. Meanwhile, two reliable
sources have told me that John just bought or built a new home for
himself in Colorado. And I know I'm the one who made the down payment
for it.

I've decided that I've waited long enough. I contacted my attorneys
recently and I'm starting the ball rolling on going after John for my
car and for the $142,500 I fed into a black hole. I have no delusions
about my likely failure to get anything out of John eventually, of
course. I guess this is just one of those painfully difficult lessons
life throws at you from time to time--in this case a lesson that cost me
a staggering amount of money. It also makes me see just how amazingly
stupid I really am. =)

Bill, I hope you don't mind me unloading my experiences with John
Hennessey on you. I realize you don't know me at all, but after reading
your posts on the Corvette Forum, I felt a sort of kinship to you thru
the misfortune we've shared at the hands of the same crook and I hope
you don't mind my having contacted you with this lengthy story. I don't
know anyone on the Corvette or Viper forums and since I never really
entered into conversations there it seemed that it wouldn't really be
appropriate for me to post this out of the blue, in any event. After
reading your posts, however, as I said, I felt the need to get this off
my chest to someone who really understood what it was like to get
screwed by Hennessey firsthand. And if there is anything I can do to
help you, as I embark on the next step of trying to get something back
from Hennessey, I would be very pleased if you would let me try--and I
mean this not as a platitude, but in all sincerity. Thanks for
listening. =)

Best regards,

Taig Stewart

[autospeed]

Wow a guy so shady, he even makes the gallery of fine cars seem acceptable...