Venturi body parts?

Hi Ventrev

Lots more questions! I will answer them but not tonight.

I'll be round BigMs with a roll of £50's totalling £5k for his Alpin 610.......see how he likes it

Right answers to questions or at least some of them.

Chassis

Bespoke, pressed steel. Also Venturi liked to make a point of saying the chassis was so rigid it could be driven without bodywork.

Body is not in 2 pieces like an Esprit, the main body is a 1 piece item with the doors, bumpers, bonnet and wings added later. See pic of blue body mounted to chassis although it is without side skirts the later cars had their side skirts moulded as a seamless part of the body.

More to follow

Ventrev - good luck with your possible project. Here in the U.K. an incomplete LHD earlier Venturi is not worth a lot (arguably undervalued) so don't over pay. But if you do get it and can fix it up you'll have a great car and (potentially) a tidy profit were you to sell it in France some time down the line.

I can't help with your questions, other than to say that there are only about 20 Venturis in the UK, so they are very rare and most people have no clue what they are or where they came from. And even those 20 cars are rarely out on the road. People have come up to me to ask what mine is.

More answers

The splitter on the 260 SPC's I believe were factory installed and looked like one unit with the bumper, other cars with splitters have been added later and could be as per factory units or screwed on.

Engine and box not really from Alpine GTA turbo, more like Alpine and Venturi used the Renault 25 turbo engine and box in 200 BHP format.

Front and door glass is Fuego... not sure about the side and rear glass, could be bespoke.

Switch gear is more Peugoet and Citroen. Heater controls Pug 205/309 phase 2. Heater vents BMW E30 same as rear lights. Gauges from Venturi. Indicator/lights stalk is Pug 205/309, wiper stalk Pug 309 sedan.

Headlights are generic round. Side light and indicator units from Renault 16 TX. They are not fog lights at the front but auxillary driving lights set to flash when light pods in down position and are Hella or Cibie.

Suspension uses R25 parts but generally bespoke though uses 24 x Pug 205 and 2 x R25 bushes!

No idea on the steering column etc.

Thanks for all the answers Paul. Your knowledge about these cars is incredible.

When you say the suspension uses R25 parts, you mean arms etc too?

About the bumpers, the picture you posted for the stadard bumper looks a little different from the bumper I know. It looks more square than normally.

Your picture:




vs what I know as the standard no splitter MVS Venturi bumper:

Is the bumper in the picture you posted a modified bumper?

Ventrev - good luck with your possible project. Here in the U.K. an incomplete LHD earlier Venturi is not worth a lot (arguably undervalued) so don't over pay. But if you do get it and can fix it up you'll have a great car and (potentially) a tidy profit were you to sell it in France some time down the line.

I can't help with your questions, other than to say that there are only about 20 Venturis in the UK, so they are very rare and most people have no clue what they are or where they came from. And even those 20 cars are rarely out on the road. People have come up to me to ask what mine is.

They are a rare sight I would say anywhere. Maybe in France they are more common place? Although I would think you see more Esprits in the UK than Venturis in France.

When people come up to you to talk about your Venturi, do they risk a guess at what it is? Do you get asked a lot if it's a Lotus or a Ferrari? I think those are the closest most popular cars which anybody would know.

You not bought it yet!?

Go round with an envelope of crisp 20's totalling £2000 and tell the fella you will do him a favour and take it off his hands.

Tell him the last one was £4000 complete. It's not going to be easy tracking down all the bits but should be a great project to get your teeth into. With it being LHD it will command a higher price when it's done if you decide to sell.

And it's Alpine not Alpina....

Nope, I have not bought it yet. To be honest I'm not even sure I will.

It's a complex situation. The car is not officially for sale. It has not been advertised or anything. It's privately owned and I came across it through an acquaintance. I was tipped off the current owner might sell if I can tempt him with an offer. But I'm not offering a lot for it and he might not be interested in selling for a low offer. He is not actively looking for a buyer. He has the space to keep the car.

I was quoted around £1700 for the bumper. I must say it's more than I was expecting. I was kind of basing prices on Lotus parts, as I think they are equivalent marques. But since Venturi is more unusual outside of France, I was expecting parts would cost a bit more. But I wasn't expecting that much more. You can buy a whole Esprit body shell for £500 for example.

This will sure play a role whether I buy the car or not. If you consider a £4000 price for the car, the bumper would cost me 42% of the price of the whole car. If I go by that I can expect it will cost a fortune to restore the whole car.

So I have to be able to negotiate the price on the car low enough or I will probably have to pass. Since the owner is not really actively looking for a buyer, I very much doubt he would sell it for a low enough offer to make it worth it for me. Especially that I have no idea what else may be wrong or need repairing. Too much of a gamble to pay a lot of money for the car and then pay high prices for parts, not to mention have a hard time locating parts first.

To make things worse I don't really want to embarrass my acquaintance by making a too low offer as I'm sure he would not appreciate it. But I kind of have to go through him as at this point I can't even contact the owner directly. Like I said, it's a complex situation.

So I'm starting to feel like I may be driving towards a dead end.