Hennessey 605R or 650R? Anyone installed?

[mullens]

I remember reading that story where the victim went to John's shop looking for his car and the little weasel had him arrested. I believe it was connected to the above story. I guess he's got the cops in his pocket too.

Oh and if you go the the 300C forums link John responds to the victim. Then you can see what a class act he is.

 

[slocum1946]

from Jeep SRT8 Turbo Road Testing - Page 3 - Cherokee SRT8 Forum

post 29:

"Yet another reliable source, Car and Driver Published this in Sept 2002:

"There is, of course, no place in the world where talk is cheaper than on an Internet message board, and a few lurid posts hardly constitute proof of wrongdoing. So I went to the Web site of the Houston Better Business Bureau (www. bbbhou.org) and searched for Hennessey Motorsports. The BBB reported 12 complaints filed against Hennessey in the past 36 months, of which seven were in the past year. Of the 12 complaints, only one was listed as resolved. To put this performance in context, I ran checks with the local BBBs of every participant in our Supercar Challenge. Just one other complaint turned up, against AutoThority, and it was described as "resolved."

Then I went to Dun & Bradstreet, the financial research firm, where for $117 I purchased a comprehensive report on Hennessey Motorsports. For comparison, I also purchased a report on the well-known Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. The report indicated that LPE was financially sound, with no liens, lawsuits, or judgments pending against it. In contrast, the Hennessey report revealed that courts have four times ruled against the company and that there are 10 lawsuits currently in various stages and three liens. The D&B report also provided a "Financial Stress National Percentile" rating, measured on a 1-to-100 scale, with 100 being the best possible score. Hennessey's company had a rating of one. (LPE had a 79.)""

 

[09Troublemaker]

Now I see why know one here has the kit.... LMAO

 

[doublex]

from Efool Gets Punked On His Own Board - Page 14 - Chrysler 300C Forum: 300C & SRT8 Forums

post 136:

"Just for fun, click this link. Type "Hennessey" in the spot for party name, and select "defendant." How many lawsuits can you find?
Search Databases Relocation?

I got the following:

.........

Holy crap! I've been out of the loop on this one. I certainly learn something every day on this forum. :beer:

Probably explains why I don't see any VelociRaptors either.

 

[AllenC]

Everybody thanks! I would go with Van or BJ any day over Hennessey. I was more curious if there was actually someone who spent four times the money for the same product just to put the Hennessey logo on the back of their GT500. I appreciate everyone looking out after someone who is looking to mod their car in a year or so. You guys are great and back up your opinions with a trail of information. We are all here for the same reason, our love of the 500.

Allen

 

[evasive]

I think people pay to not have Henne$crewyouover on the back of their car. Best thing the new owners can do is change the name of the company and bury any ties to that d-bag.

 

[red gt500]

cull van and he well hook you up :thumbsup:

 

[slowbra1]

Boy do I remember the fire storm about Hennessy back then along with the Taig Stewart issue along with several other people.

 

[slowbra1]

Absolutely 100% agree! Even for the small purchases, Van goes out of his way to make his customers happy.

That list of lawsuits against Hennessey is crazy! I honestly can't believe anyone would trust that shithead and pay him anything. $10,000 for the 650 kit installed? That's thievery. Unfortunately he's probably found some suckers to pay it that don't know any better.

You can thank Car and Driver and Road and Track Ect...for writing positive articles about Hennessy cars for people showering the guy with cash.

 

[Zak Attack]

The last claim that was on there was in 05 (not that it makes it any better). I imagine that things have changed.

 

[slocum1946]

The last claim that was on there was in 05 (not that it makes it any better). I imagine that things have changed.

and that report was run in 2006...didn't run a current one...

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

John doesn't own the company any more its under completely new management and doing quite well...yea he screwed alot of ppl back in the day..but like I said very different now. Pretty sure they just set a new Texas mile record in a GT... but ur talking Big $$ for upgrades as previously stated. But a 3 year warranty on turn key 650, 800, and 1000hp cars is pretty badass.. I'm no advocate for them... not defending..just bringing a tad bit more recent info to light..

LOL, i don't know if you really believe that or your just trying to justify it to yourself, but either way that's bullshit! i believe your correct in that hennessey performance isn't in his name(which is the "new" company that came after hennessey motorsports got so tangled up in lawsuits), but make no mistake that he absolutely runs the show there.

I'd heard the internet rumors about Hennessy, but wow! Never knew it was that bad.

as billy mays would say - "but wait, there's more!"...

(warning, it's long! and some may have already been posted)

This is from an Autoweek article back in mid 2002.

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?”

Five years ago I bought a brand new 2001 Viper GTS and sent it to John [******]--along with $142,500--to build what I hoped would be one hell of a Viper. Many of you will remember that fiasco. I won’t revisit any of that history here, not because I have any moral or legal compunctions restraining me from doing so but because I lost interest in fighting this fight quite a long time ago.

So why this post? Simple. To tell the rest of the story and more importantly to give credit to a couple of exceptional guys who took up the fight for me and who fought until the end without any expectation of a reward other than the feeling that comes from helping someone out. Also, since expressing that gratitude here wouldn’t make much sense without at least a brief conclusion to the story of my experiences with John [******], I need to make that happen. Along with the good, of course, there were a few other guys who deserve credit of a very different nature too, but they know who they are so we’ll just let that pile go unstepped-in.

Just to recap my story, I sent $142,500 and a brand new Viper to John [******] after reading Motor Trend’s gushing article on [******]’s Venom 800 in April 2001. It took three years to get my Viper back from [******] in a “dynoable,” if not “drivable” condition. In fact it ran just long enough to make a strong run on the dyno in Salt Lake City in September of 2003 (for which I was not present) before the first turbo blew 50 miles later. The car was also missing over $85,000 of parts and upgrades I’d paid for two years earlier: Brembos, Penske suspension, HREs, Quaife, etc. Without going into specifics, a legal “settlement” was reached which stipulated that I was to receive the missing parts over the course of the next several months with the promise that the car would be tuned to actually run.

Well, to make a very long story very, very short, I spent a total of $315,000 (the new Viper and [******]’s fee plus the attorney’s take of 33% on everything recovered from [******]--including the car itself--plus miscellaneous expenses) for a Viper made up of parts from at least two different cars that wouldn’t even start. I confess, at this point I simply gave up.

But that wasn’t the end of the story.

Most of you know a guy named Bill (aka MANA) who can frequently be found wherever there are exhaust fumes on the net. Most of you also know, or have heard about a tuner named Jason Heffner (8.75/168 MPH). Simply stated, if it wasn’t for the collaborative efforts of Bill and Jason, I still wouldn’t have a Viper that ran today.

I met Bill in 2002 not long after I realized things weren’t quite as they should be in Houston. After receiving an anonymous message on my cell phone urging me to “look into the forums and call [******] again about your car” I began delving into the Viper and other forums. After I’d read a few of Bill’s posts on the Corvette forum, I sent him an e-mail with my story. I didn’t expect anything, it just felt good to get it off my chest. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk to my wife about it yet, after all… Bill and I have been close friends ever since. Every single time progress was made in trying to get information about my car from [******], Bill was behind it. He was the reason I even got the car back three years later. Bill proved to be an exceptionally loyal friend who never gave up the fight, even long after I had. I owe him a hell of a lot and I won’t ever forget it.

Some months after I’d given up on the car altogether, I got a call from Jason Heffner. I’d heard of Heffner’s cars and Bill spoke highly of him but I didn’t know too much about him other than that. Jason told me Bill had talked to him about my Viper and he wondered if I would be willing to send the car out to him to work with. He didn’t talk about money, he just said maybe he could help with the car. I sent it to him (plug for Gary Almond here--Thanks Gary!) and assured Jason that he could have it as long as he wanted it since I’d had it for five years already without it running for more than a few hours.

Again, without going into the details of what he found under the hood, Jason worked and worked and worked. He called and updated me consistently every step of the way. In the end there was a lot of work that had to be done, parts to be replaced and/or modified (the second turbo was also blown) to make it all work but the day came when he called and told me the car was finished. He felt bad that it wasn’t perfect but he said it ran “pretty well” and that he’d done everything he could do. A week later, Gary Almond delivered it to me and I can honestly say it didn’t look like the car I’d sent him. Not only had he fixed the engine and turbo system and installed all braided SS lines instead of the rubber ones it had came back to me with but he’d added an AEM EMS, installed Penske suspension (one of the many things I never received from [******] despite the legal settlement) and had the whole car wet sanded because he felt the paint “just wasn’t quite right.” When I asked him what I owed him he just asked if I’d feel comfortable covering his cost for the AEM and the Penskes. He would not take money for anything else and insisted that he just wanted to help out.

That was six months ago now. The Viper runs like I imagined it would when I sent it to John [******] five years ago. To say I think Jason Heffner is an honorable man who went way beyond the call of duty to help out a guy he didn’t even know is an understatement. Hell, he went way beyond what anyone else even offered to do for me for substantial additional money. And his work--including that on a turbo system he can’t vouch for--is exceptional. Needless to say I have nothing but the highest praise for Jason Heffner.

I realize that if I had hung out on the forums instead of just trusting the car mags before my adventures with John [******] that I probably wouldn’t have the experiences I did. But hindsight is 20/20 and I’m not complaining. What I can’t let get swept under the rug, however, is the recognition and credit for the way Bill and Jason have fought in my corner, not because they had to or were paid to, but because that is just the way they are. I said in the beginning there were many players in this story; many who turned out to be self serving, deceptive, or even downright nasty, those who turned out to be genuinely interested and helpful, and a few who were extraordinary in giving their support and giving of their time and effort with no hope for reward or compensation other than my friendship.

In any event, that’s the rest of the story. I felt it was necessary for me to finally clear the air about what really happened and to give credit to those who worked to make things right for me--especially to Bill and Jason. I’m very grateful.

Taig Stewart

Ive heard a lot of negative things about Hennessey lately. The only reason im bringing it up is because Im sure some of the GCSRT8 guys wouldnt want this to happen to them.
Shed some light on these statements by customers:

"Hennessey is a fraud, as if not delivering cars on time wasn't bad enough, if my memory serves correctly, many of the cars he had sent to journalists and magazines for testing have been plagued with reliability issues, some of them puking during shake down runs, not even lasting long enough to be properly tested"

"I am sure many of you know who John Hennessey is? He is a reputable performance car builder who has built several "legendary" Viper, Corvette, and some other vehicles. But he is also known for scamming some rich folks. Many has warned to stay away from him. Hennessey have been sued by FedEX, UPS, and past clients for unpaid debts"

"Hennessey has a tendency to take the vehicle and the cash, and then never give the vehicle back. Or if he does, nothing has been done to it. I read one account where Hennessey pulled parts off a guy's Viper, sold the parts, and then put the car in the corner of his shop and never touched it again"

"Come on! Isn't it obvious to everyone out there yet? Hennessey scams the little guys and the out of staters who are less likely to show up at his door with a bat and sucks up in a major league way to the magazines. They're free advertising for him! Of course he builds great cars for the reviews"

"This point is almost not worth talking about anymore, but since it was brought up here goes. I have found John to be a crook, liar and have the worst customer service I have ever witnessed in any company. Can he build a fast car? Of course. With a competent staff most shops can. Does he have his customers best interests at heart? Just listen to so many of his former customers and you will know the answer. Does he know how to get his face in the mags? It's the one thing he's personally good at. Hopefully due process will take over and HMS will be a thing of the past."

Hennessey Has Customer Arrested:
"This tops it all Viper fans.... I'm the customer of John Hennessey's that paid for a Venom 650 package plus Brembo Racing brakes, a Penske 2 way suspension , and roll bar but only received about $11,000 of a $38,000 order in an 8 month span. I know you all are tired of the posts but please read on, it gets pretty interesting.
I planned a trip to California for pleasure on a private jet and was told we had to stop in Houston for fuel so I thought I might stop in at HMS to see for myself the man that ripped me off and what his plans to settle up were face to face. I called ahead of time and left a message under a different name as a new customer so John would show up, when we got there his mechanic said to come back in an hour so we went for lunch and came
Back. I brought a video camera so I could get the meeting on tape, when John showed up he saw new customers and $$$$$ so he put on his "Good Ole Boy" smile and welcomed us in. Once inside he notice the camera and asked me to turn it off , I said no and then told him who I really was and that I wanted a straight up answer what he planned to do. You should have seen his face, like deer in headlights he had nothing to say except get out or he would call the police. I refused and demanded an answer but John just stood there like a gutless man and would not talk and called the cops for trespassing. So after repeated non-threatening attempts to get him to talk he asked me and my brother-in-law if we were gay , I replied "Yeah and I'm gonna throw you over that car and f*ck you up the azz like you have been f*cking me for 8 months" , little did I know that comment would be considered a "TERRORISTIC THREAT" , (one of John famous claims) anyway we decided to wait for the police so I could report him for theft , we waited 40 minutes for the cops to come and when they finally came I ran out of tape in the camera and missed the most unbelievable part. The cop listened to John’s side of the story first and said he would hear us after, that didn't happen once John told him about the so-called "Terroristic Treat" within minutes we were both in cuffs in the back of the police car under arrest for trespassing and terroristic threat. The cop would not hear our side and told us we were going to jail and wouldn't even watch the tape, we tried to reason with him but his last name was Walker and he thought he was Chuck Norris Texas Ranger," you’re in cuffs, in my car, I'm writing, and you’re goin to jail". After sitting outside HMS in cuffs for over 30 minutes we were on our way to the Houston City Jail, my camera was taken by the arresting office and we were sent to booking. Two white boys from Florida with a Bull**** arrest , we were shuffled around , stripped of our belongings , finger printed and sent to a holding cell full of non- white- non Florida boys that were all under arrest for real crimes , drug dealers , buyers , thieves , assault , and a murderer to top it off. After 10 hours in jail and a few phone calls later we posted bail for $1,500 and back on the street at 2 in the morning with an impounded rental
Car, no change of clothes and no bed. It is now 12:30 pm and we are in flight to California looking back at the day and planning our next trip back to Houston. We went from the Penthouse to the ****house in less than 3 hours but now were back in the Penthouse and Hennessey bought some time but the fact remains Johnny still owes $27,000 and if it costs me 10 times that in lawyer fees I will make sure Hennessey gets the same smelly *** cell that I got.

P.S. "Mr. Crack sellin Murderer what do you do when a fat little red headed Viper tuner thief gets put in YOUR holding cell? (In my best Chris Rock voice) The first thing I do is make ‘em TOSS MY SALAD!!!

What do you prefer John? Jelly or Syrup..?????"

Go to Viper Club of America and type in Hennessey in the search and read all the stories...If youre thinking about getting this Hennessey turbo kit Id definitely read up on some of these stories...

(from Car & Driver, 2002. this was before Hennessey changed his companies name from Hennessey Motorsports to Hennessey Performance)

There is, of course, no place in the world where talk is cheaper than on an Internet message board, and a few lurid posts hardly constitute proof of wrongdoing. So I went to the Web site of the Houston Better Business Bureau (www. bbbhou.org) and searched for Hennessey Motorsports. The BBB reported 12 complaints filed against Hennessey in the past 36 months, of which seven were in the past year. Of the 12 complaints, only one was listed as resolved. To put this performance in context, I ran checks with the local BBBs of every participant in our Supercar Challenge. Just one other complaint turned up, against AutoThority, and it was described as "resolved."

Then I went to Dun & Bradstreet, the financial research firm, where for $117 I purchased a comprehensive report on Hennessey Motorsports. For comparison, I also purchased a report on the well-known Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. The report indicated that LPE was financially sound, with no liens, lawsuits, or judgments pending against it. In contrast, the Hennessey report revealed that courts have four times ruled against the company and that there are 10 lawsuits currently in various stages and three liens. The D&B report also provided a "Financial Stress National Percentile" rating, measured on a 1-to-100 scale, with 100 being the best possible score. Hennessey's company had a rating of one. (LPE had a 79.)

(screen name Jefe[formerly 03AZRoush])

This all started today on CherokeeSRT8.com forums. My buddy with the Jeep has been asking me to check out superchargers and turbos for his SRT8. He said he was really interested the Hennessey turbo kit for $10,000. This was probably a month ago. I started doing some research and found all these claims made by people about Hennessey Motorsports and told my buddy to stay away from them. Well I sign on to the SRT8 website today and theres a post from a user named "John Hennessey" and he says they are basically testing out this new kit for the Grand Cherokee SRT8 and they will post vids soon.
After reading these claims that this guys has been ripping people off I decided to post a questions asking if all the claims were true, and so on. You can read the rest if you want.
Jeep SRT8 Turbo Road Testing - Cherokee SRT8 Forum

Short Story: John Hennessey has threatened to sue me for my post on CherokeeSrt8.com...and now Ive screwed him out of thousands of $$$$

(and an update on the threat)

Nothing ever happened with Hennessey. He never filed suit against me or anything. Last time I check the thread about it on the 300cforums had over 125,000 views. That was only one site, it was on 100+ different forums. Since then, everyonce noticed the Jeeps he was working on are on ebay. Looks like there all gone now. I think I saw one of them listed at $75,000 haha. Theres one guy on the SRT8 forums that lives in Houston and got the turbo kit and is claiming 0-60 in 3.7 seconds....Just ran the 1/4 mile in 12.5. Seems like a waste of $70,000+.

There's video on the first link of the Jeep. The second link is his 1/4 mile run
Jeep SRT600 Turbo videos - SRT8 Forums and Owners Club - 300C - Charger - Magnum - Cherokee
12.51 @ 110.48 - SRT8 Forums and Owners Club - 300C - Charger - Magnum - Cherokee

also, here are some threads:
hennessey loses it
Efool Gets Punked On His Own Board - Chrysler 300C Forum: 300C & SRT8 Forums
word gets around to the vette' forums
JOHN HENNESSEY self destructs! - Corvette Forum
word even makes it to the nissan forums
Hennessey Motorsports owner gets "owned" in own thread : General Chat
SVTP
Hennessey Dispute - SVTPerformance

and if anyone is wondering when the last time hennessey was over here on SVTP...
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/search.php?searchid=10147619
...he came in pretending not to be "john hennessey" under the screen name "carmelSRT". he was discovered pretty quickly and his stupid ass was owned by numerous people and banned within 28 posts.

 

[slocum1946]

on the "Efool Gets Punked" thread (among other places linked in post 32) someone mentioned that that thread would be mentioned for the next 20 years...I loved that comment...and here we are, 6 years later...

 

[AlanSVT]

Go with van and I'm sure you spend that kinda money with van he can get a metal limited edition tag for you to make your car rare.


Swyped while swerving