Venturi body parts?

Hello there.

Is it still possible to find Venturi body parts? Specifically the front bumper for a MVS Venturi, among a few other bits. I would think France is probably the best bet, if at all possible? I tried googling it but didn't find anything. Thanks.

Give these guys a try

http://www.extreme-limite.com/venturi

Hello there.

Is it still possible to find Venturi body parts? Specifically the front bumper for a MVS Venturi, among a few other bits. I would think France is probably the best bet, if at all possible? I tried googling it but didn't find anything. Thanks.

Hi Ventrev

So what is the story are you a new owner? Tell us more, is it the 200 model as we refer to it now? The original cars imported in the late 1980's where as you stated above known as MVS Venturi and these are usually referred to as 200's

Also try a guy called Serge Lenoir in France, he did work on Venturi's but not heard anything of him in a while! Failing that try this link and ask for Philippe. He is a restaurateur but he is French, a Venturi enthusiast, owns a Venturi and has lots of contacts in France especially as his dad started the original Venturi Owners Club in France.

http://petitparis-restaurant.co.uk/

All the best
Paul

Thanks everybody.

I don't own the car yet. It was kind of a lucky find. It's sitting in a type of barn and missing some parts. Has been there for a while. So it's a restoration project or project car. The good thing is, it runs!

I would be fine if the missing parts were mechanical, as it's basically a Renault underneath apart from some custom parts like front discs etc. But body parts I always suspected would be nearly impossible to find. I'm thinking I would have to basically luck out to find an used one from a not running car?

I doubt new spare parts are still around. Problem with used is they didn't make many to begin with and being the front bumper that I need, a crashed car in a savage yard will most likely have a crashed front bumper. So I'm not holding my breath I will find a bumper. But who knows?

So at the moment I'm just trying to figure if it's possible to find the parts and how much it could take to get the car road worthy.

[BIG_MVS]

Welcome.

Which model of Venturi is it?

200



or 300?



Did anyone ever make a bodykit for the Venturi? Just thinking someone out there in France might have made some moulds.

I would trawl google.fr and have a good poke around, there is a french Venturi forum I think...

Good luck with it, post some pics up as it's sounds really interesting.

No, no. Definitely one of the earlier cars. Not an Atlantique 300. Sorry for not being more clear. I'm just not sure if a 200 or 260. They look basically the same and I haven't looked at documents or dug around the car.

I tried google.fr but without speaking French it's difficult to find anything. I tried searching for MVS pare-choc and Venturi pare-choc, which is French for bumper, but didn't really find anything. Also tried Ebay France and nothing.

[BIG_MVS]

I think it will be a 200 then as 260's were badged as Venturi as far as I'm aware, Paul will confirm?

Is it RHD, what colour is it?

I think it will be a 200 then as 260's were badged as Venturi as far as I'm aware, Paul will confirm?

Is it RHD, what colour is it?

Yes Martin, likely to be a 200 and unlikely to be a 260 as only 2 x 260's in country (RHD), mine and a none runner in metallic burgundy.

You are correct 200's where badged as MVS for manufacturer and Venturi was the model name. They later, (1991 I think) changed their company name to Venturi and the models then became numbers. Just to confuse matters a little the 200 was developed into the 210 but this was after the name change to Venturi.

Your pic of the red car seems to be an early 2.80, (MVS), or 260 SPC, (Venturi) judging by front end. Later 260's like mine had moved on to this front bumper and side skirts. See below.

Still think the best bet is to contact Philippe in Edinburgh and get him to use his contacts. Mind you another thought occurs that Philippe may have a front bumper knocking about as he bought Paul Dobrowski's 200 some time ago and set about returning it to original specification as Paul D had customised his car a little and not to Philippe's taste so the customised one might be about still unless they had to use it as a base to return to original.

Maybe somebody who is currently rebuilding their 200 would lend a front bumper to take a mould from?

Silver car is a 200 with correct front bumper. Blue car is later 260 APC front bumper.

At least we only need a front bumper!!!

Ventrev

I have had contact with Philippe and he has a friend with a 200 type bumper, he says get in touch and he will try and help you. PM me and I will give you his number.

PaulC

BIG_MVS, the car is LHD and it's red. But I have been told it has been resprayed.

It has no badge. The clam shell bonnet is off the car and there is no badge on it. The rear is pressed against a wall so I couldn't see the rear badge or if there is one. It doesn't have any naming on the sides. It was locked so I didn't get in. The steering is just black. No colored badge as some have. But maybe there is an engraved badge but I couldn't see from the outside. It looked like it could have a small engrave circle or circular badge. But hard to tell as I can't stand right outside the driver's door to look at it. There are several machines around it where it's parked. And it's dusty.

The person who is now in possession of the car doesn't know what happened to the bumper, mirrors and other bits missing. He got it that way already. My theory was that the car broke down and it was being broken up for parts. So the missing parts were sold. But if it runs that doesn't make sense. Unless the engine was repaired after that. I didn't see it running as it was locked and the key not available at the time. But I was assured the engine will run.

Since I was not immediately interested I didn't insist in much more info. I'm standing on the type of situation that I might try to buy it if fixing it won't cost a fortune. The car is not officially for sale. But it seems I could make an offer and buy it. It's just sitting there now.

Ventrev

I have had contact with Philippe and he has a friend with a 200 type bumper, he says get in touch and he will try and help you. PM me and I will give you his number.

PaulC

That's great news. Thanks for getting to it so quick!

Although I'm nowhere near ready to buy a bumper. I'm now basically just trying to figure how much I would have to spend for one and trying to decide if the expense to get the car road worthy would be worth it for me. If I decide I can do it, then I would try to buy the car. So basically I'm just budgeting for the moment. Do you think it would still be ok to contact him about the bumper? I don't want to make him feel like I'm wasting his time.

The mirrors seem to be no problem. The wheels I don't much care if I find the originals or not. If I find them before I finish the car good. If not I would just get some similar wheels and drive it till some original wheels show up.

I think there were only 3 different bumpers for the 200 series right? The simple one without the extended lip which came with the 200, the one with the extended lip, which I think came with the 260 and the one with heavy ground effects, which I think came with the Transcup, APC etc. They had several special editions I think. But I think any of the 3 bumpers would still fit?

[BIG_MVS]

If it's cheap get it bought!

That's the thing. I have no price. I would have to make an offer. What would be considered cheap?

Prices are all over the place. If you look in France they sell for a lot. In the UK, less, but seems to be all over the place. One sold for 17K in an auction posted here on the forums. But then you see things listed for 40K. I also saw the black project car which sold for 4K.

Hi Ventrev

I am sure if you explain where you are with the car at the moment and ask Philippe to enquire as to the bumper price he will be fine, I have always found him to be most helpful.

Door mirrors are originally Citroen CX phase 2 but after that found their way onto many other cars such as Lotus Esprit, Most or the 90's TVR's, Marcos, Jaguar XK220, A few 90's Aston Martin's and the McLaren F1 and a few more I can't think of at the moment. So not as hard to find than you would think, bound to be an old scrapper XK220 or McLaren F1 lying in a field somewhere!!!

To identify the car there is a chassis number plate that is sited under the bonnet, as there is no bonnet should be easy to get to and photograph, once you have that I should be able to tell you what it is and when it was made, chassis number is 17 digits long and should begin with VK8.

As far as price goes use your judgement and start low, you have a bench mark of £4000 for the black one that needed a lot of work and then gauge the reaction and offer a bit more each time you are turned down is my advice.