The Challenge, at the bottom of this news letter is a quiz for anyone who thinks they can identify classic cars!
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RECENT EVENTS:
THE JCNA AGM, yes we did it!
Your club successfully hosted a national JCNA event! The reviews and comments from the JCNA AGM have been overwhelmingly positive. To the many volunteers who worked long hours before and during the event, the club says thank you. JCOH owes a special thank you to John O’Quinn for allowing us access to his outstanding car collection for the Friday night social event. During the Saturday night banquet, JCOH presented its first Outstanding Sponsor awards. The 2006 JCOH Outstanding Sponsors are LoneStar Vintage Restoration and Momentum Jaguar. Later that evening, our nominee for JCNA Dealer of the Year, Momentum Jaguar, received the award as 2006 JCNA Dealer of the Year. Let’s all take a moment and be proud of our achievement.
However, we have many more fun events planned in the second quarter of 2007. The LoneStar Vintage Restoration Spring Slalom is April 21st.at Sam Houston Race Park. This is a not to be missed fun event – ask anyone who participated last November. Our English Tea social event will be April 29th at the St. Regis Hotel.
May brings the 12th Annual Keels and Wheels Concours d’Elegance, plus a track event with the Lotus Owners of South Texas at the brand new Grandsport Speedway in Hitchcock. On June 2nd, we have an indoor show and shine event in the Champions area to celebrate the Grand Opening of the first GarageTown Texas location. This event will raise funds for the club’s Jaguars Helping Jaguars Program. On June 3rd, the club will hold another Time/Speed/Distance Rally.
The JCOH event calendar now offers a wide variety of fun events for you and your family to do with your car. Mark your calendar and join the fun.
“JCoH Concours Documentary Receives Prestigious Production Award”
The documentary “The 2005 Jaguar Club of Houston Concours d’Elegance”, produced by JCoH member Patrick McLoad, recently took a Bronze Award at the 27th annual Telly Awards competition. The Telly Awards is a widely known and highly respected national and international competition and receives over 13,000 entries annually from all 50 states and many foreign countries. Earning a Telly Award is a significant creative achievement. Based on the ratio of winners over the past several years, approximately 7 to 10% of entrants are chosen as Silver Telly Award winners. Historically, Bronze Telly Award Winners typically have represented about 15% of entrants. Winners are chosen based on the content of their piece; there are not a set number of winners per category. Judges evaluate entries to recognize distinction in creative work….entries do not compete against each other….rather, entries are judged against a high standard of merit.
Each Telly statuette is hand made by the craftsman at RS Owens, the same firm that produces the Oscar and the Emmy Awards honoring a diverse pool of entries. For more information on the Telly Awards, go to www.tellyawards.com.
The Barn Find Update
From the Barn find Project, the intense tear down and inspection has moved to a slower pace as this is the season our Troll does a lot of traveling. Small communities from the coastline of the North Sea, through to Greenland, Canada and parts of the US North East seaboard have been alerted.
Life in your Garage can be so much less complex, there you only have Lucas wiring and a car that just wants you to make it better!
Ano
ther Project!! (Excited? You should be)
The restoration of the Famous Venus!!
Part 1: The Venus…..A Brief History
Imagine yourself deciding to tackle the complexities of designing and building a full-size, one-piece car body out of fiberglass. In order to do this, one has to build a “plug” or model upon which to lay the fiberglass and resin. This is what my father, Ken McLoad, decided to do at there mere age of 32. For approximately 3 or 4 years, he slaved over building the plug out of wood, metal, and fiberglass. You see, my father was an alpha-male with near-genius intelligence. He received two concurrent degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering over a period of six years from the University of Arkansas, and his average grade-point over those six years was an “A” (or 4.0). He went on to become a leading geophysical engineer; receiving numerous patents for his inventions. | View website »
So realistically, the “Venus” as he called it, was only a scratch that he needed to itch. He really had no intention of entering the automotive design business. He was working for Magnolia Oil in the late 40’s and was offered a job in Houston as Chief Engineer at Vector Cable Company (the same Vector Cable that is now owned by Schlumberger). With assurances that he could pursue the Venus project while working at Vector, he moved the family to Houston.
A company was formed (Ratio Manufacturing) and a small group of guys started making Venus bodies out of fiberglass and resin. For anyone who has ever worked with fiberglass, you know it is an unpleasant task. Add the heat and humidity inside a metal-clad warehouse, and it’s a wonder that anything got made during those summer months.
Below is a photo of my father (with glasses) with the Venus plug and the guys that did the work. Release compound is being sprayed on the plug to make the first mold.
The first public debut (local) of the Venus was held at the “manufacturing facility” on Long Drive, March 20th, 1954. However, the Venus received national attention when it appeared as the cover story of Motor Trend Magazine in May of 1954.
The Venus was granted a US Design Patent [view website] and a modest sales flyer was printed. Clearly, the Venus was a “fair weather” car and had zero practicality. But on the flip side, it was a way for an auto enthusiast to have a radically designed sportscar for a mere $1,000…a far cry from the cost of a new Corvette (1953) or Thunderbird (1955). Although several…perhaps 5….Venus cars were built complete (body and chassis), it was actually sold as a kit car where someone bought the body (only) and mounted it on a donor vehicle, preferably a 1949 Ford.
The MT article prompted many letters from the US, Mexico, and Cuba of all places, each asking to open a dealership for the Venus. But by this time, my father had tired of the Venus can-of-worms, and wanted out. He sold the manufacturing rights to a group of guys who had grandiose plans to manufacture the Venus body on a large scale, using the name “The Venus Corporation”. According to documents in my possession, this group was trying to raise a half-million dollars to purchase and outfit a large manufacturing facility. An article in the Houston Chronicle dated April 22, 1956 claimed they would be making about 1,000 bodies annually. This article also made some very wild claims such as 65 grand being spent on Venus body “improvements” and that “17 bodies had been sold”. The person making these statements are nowhere to be found in the legal documents, and one “famous” person listed as an investor is simply a lie. When they were unable to get this money, the Venus project was scrapped, and to the best of my knowledge, not a single body was ever made by this group, much less 17.
Unfortunately, poor records were kept, and nothing was done to assign serial numbers to the Venus bodies or to record who received Venus bodies. The only documentation of “sales” comes from individuals who had received partial shipments or who were having problems with the fit of the body. Some of these guys were really peeved, and understandably so. Reading the sales flyer, you get the impression that the Venus body will fit a number of different chassis and engine configurations….no problem. But no two make/model of cars have the same body mount points, so some type of modification was needed, however this was never mentioned in the sales flyer. One would think that a set of instructions was included with each body, but there are neither records nor copies of these instructions. (Too bad as I could sure use them now!). According to my father (now deceased) and another fellow who used to work as a 16 year-old making the bodies (in white t-shirt above), no more than 10 or 12 bodies were ever made…and that may be a stretch. I only have photographic proof of 5 different bodies mounted to chassis, and letters from 2 persons who received a body.
Finally, in an annual report dated Sept. 17th, 1957, the Venus project was officially closed. No one knows what happened to the original Venus plug, but it was offered for sale for 25 hundred dollars…there were apparently no takers, and I assume it ended up in a junk yard, fodder for the termites.
But what I don't understand is why the Venus was abandoned altogether. Just because a million bucks couldn't be raised to make them on a mass scale is no reason to give up. Actually, had the Venus Corp managed to get that kind of money, chances are good that the Venus would have failed big-time against the Corvette and T-Bird. The Venus was clearly in demand, but by a very small market. A smarter move would have been to produce one or two Venus cars in a month; sell those, and then make another couple. As the popularity of the Venus grew, so could the operation...but if it failed, then there wasn't much to lose. I really don't know why the Venus got mired in such grandiose plans, or for that matter, who initiated the plans....but by doing so, they sure put up a lot of roadblocks to overcome. Hindsight being 20/20, how cool would it have been to have a little operation back in the fifties making and selling these sportscars on a custom, as-ordered basis?! So the Venus adventure came and went in just a few short years. And for me, a 50 year-old memory. And so it goes.
(More detailed information and photos of the Venus’ history can be found at www.mcload.com).
Next: Part Two… A Venus Body Found
The Quiz, name this car.
If you think you have it email me as soon as you get it and I will announce the winner.
Last Month was Patrick McLoud, who not only answered in about 1 hour of publishing but pointed out that the car was a Replica! It was a 1957 Jaguar ‘D’ Type.
So this Month …Year, Make, and model please….
