Ex-Employees Say Hennessey Is A Bigger Mess Than You Ever Imagined
05-31-2016, 11:37 PM
#1
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Ex-Employees Say Hennessey Is A Bigger Mess Than You Ever Imagined Didn't he scam a lot of viper guys back in the day?
http://jalopnik.com/ex-employees-say...ium=socialflow
http://jalopnik.com/ex-employees-say...ium=socialflow
06-01-2016, 01:25 AM
#2
I'm grew up about 5 miles from his shop when it was over near the intersection of ella blvd and TC Jester........then was 20 or so years ago. At that time, all anyone ever talked about was how much of a crook the guy was. However, he made himself a name in the Viper community and it just seemed like no one cared.
Later, he purchased the 1/8 mile race track (Lonestar Motor Sports Park), converted it to 1/4 mile and built/relocated all of his operations on to that property. Hell, he even went ***** out and had a professional motocross track built out there. Not sure if any of you remember that but it was a total flop. Not even sure it really ever officially opened.
Because of his move to Sealy, there wasn't as much chatter going on in my area as he was no longer there, but you could still find the occasional thread on the internet indicating that his shady business practices hadn't changed.
I just recently noted that the 55 acre facility that his shop and track is on is now partly for sale. He wants to sell the race track however keep privileged access to it whenever he wanted. I think the price he's asking is 1.2 million dollars (It's rumored he paid half a mill for the entire 50 + acre facility before it had buildings on it.
He's been trying to break into the hypercar market for a while now and from what I understand has not been very successful. Matter of fact, the article I read about the track being for sale was to help fund tooling up to produce more cars a year.
It blows my mind how the dude has done as much as he's done. Clients and Creditors just don't seem to care that the signs point to a failing business venture (which obviously keeps it from failing). I've also heard the dude is just a debt hound and if the true books were shown to the public you'd see that he operates not on his own money, from a business standpoint, there is is little to no cash being kept in the business. The dude lives off the debt created in the shop.
I've had this conversation with many people in the industry around Houston and it just blows our minds that the guy can **** off so many people, yet there is really ever any negative impact.
One jack *** on this site could buy a part from a Sponsor, and if he decided to slam them for whatever reason, it would grow like wildflowers. The dude just has a knack for operating that way.
It should be noted that all that I've typed above is based on living near his shop for several years (lots of talking rats on the stree) and talking to his customers. The rest, while hearsay, comes from pretty reliable sources.
Take it for what it is..........
Later, he purchased the 1/8 mile race track (Lonestar Motor Sports Park), converted it to 1/4 mile and built/relocated all of his operations on to that property. Hell, he even went ***** out and had a professional motocross track built out there. Not sure if any of you remember that but it was a total flop. Not even sure it really ever officially opened.
Because of his move to Sealy, there wasn't as much chatter going on in my area as he was no longer there, but you could still find the occasional thread on the internet indicating that his shady business practices hadn't changed.
I just recently noted that the 55 acre facility that his shop and track is on is now partly for sale. He wants to sell the race track however keep privileged access to it whenever he wanted. I think the price he's asking is 1.2 million dollars (It's rumored he paid half a mill for the entire 50 + acre facility before it had buildings on it.
He's been trying to break into the hypercar market for a while now and from what I understand has not been very successful. Matter of fact, the article I read about the track being for sale was to help fund tooling up to produce more cars a year.
It blows my mind how the dude has done as much as he's done. Clients and Creditors just don't seem to care that the signs point to a failing business venture (which obviously keeps it from failing). I've also heard the dude is just a debt hound and if the true books were shown to the public you'd see that he operates not on his own money, from a business standpoint, there is is little to no cash being kept in the business. The dude lives off the debt created in the shop.
I've had this conversation with many people in the industry around Houston and it just blows our minds that the guy can **** off so many people, yet there is really ever any negative impact.
One jack *** on this site could buy a part from a Sponsor, and if he decided to slam them for whatever reason, it would grow like wildflowers. The dude just has a knack for operating that way.
It should be noted that all that I've typed above is based on living near his shop for several years (lots of talking rats on the stree) and talking to his customers. The rest, while hearsay, comes from pretty reliable sources.
Take it for what it is..........
06-06-2016, 10:55 AM
#5
6600 rpm clutch dump of death Administrator
Back in 2001-2002 Hennesey ran into very similar issues the case that got the most press was Bill Walters (who went by the screen names of "No Mercy" and MANA) who was from Hawaii and his white Z06 which was sent to Hennesey, had issues with completion, and eventually taken to MTI where it got an MTI Z07 package.
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...l-is-dead.html
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...ys-thanks.html
You can read up on No Mercy's issues on this forum, Corvette Forum, Z06Vette, and elsewhere.
John ended up "turning over a new leaf" in 2003-2004 and a friend of mine (John Myrick) gave him the opportunity to do a H/C/Stroker package on his new GenIII Viper. That car ened up on the cover of C&D and ran a 10.77 on radials. That started the rise of his current operation which is now in the news again which is unfortunate.
In a strange turn of events Bill Walters ended up being a scammer himself and embezzled approximately $23M out of investors and ended up with 40 years in jail.
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/o...lems-mana.html
http://www.denverpost.com/2011/04/29...urities-fraud/
A former Lone Tree man who swindled millions of dollars from investors in Colorado and six other states has been sentenced to 40 years in prison and ordered to pay $9.5 million in restitution.
William L. Walters fled Colorado in August 2006 allegedly without repaying money he obtained from investors for his day-trading business. He was indicted by a state grand jury in May 2007.
Walters, 46, was tracked down by the FBI in Argentina after his passport was flagged by Interpol. He was returned to Colorado in August 2010.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said Walters ran an elaborate Ponzi scheme and collected $23 million from victims in Colorado, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
"This sentence underlines our commitment to vigorously pursue and prosecute cases of financial fraud that victimize Coloradans," Suthers said today. "Our thanks to the FBI for helping us to ensure that justice delayed did not result in justice denied for Mr. Walters' victims."
Walters' Colorado clients lived in Arapahoe, Douglas and Adams counties, according to the indictment.
Walters owned and operated Samurai Capital and Mana Trading Co.
According to Suthers, Walters used his clients' investments for his own personal expenses and to make "interest payments" to other investors.
Walters solicited day-trading investments from his victims between January 2001 and July 2006 by promising 10- to 40-percent rates of return.
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...l-is-dead.html
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...ys-thanks.html
You can read up on No Mercy's issues on this forum, Corvette Forum, Z06Vette, and elsewhere.
John ended up "turning over a new leaf" in 2003-2004 and a friend of mine (John Myrick) gave him the opportunity to do a H/C/Stroker package on his new GenIII Viper. That car ened up on the cover of C&D and ran a 10.77 on radials. That started the rise of his current operation which is now in the news again which is unfortunate.
In a strange turn of events Bill Walters ended up being a scammer himself and embezzled approximately $23M out of investors and ended up with 40 years in jail.
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/o...lems-mana.html
http://www.denverpost.com/2011/04/29...urities-fraud/
A former Lone Tree man who swindled millions of dollars from investors in Colorado and six other states has been sentenced to 40 years in prison and ordered to pay $9.5 million in restitution.
William L. Walters fled Colorado in August 2006 allegedly without repaying money he obtained from investors for his day-trading business. He was indicted by a state grand jury in May 2007.
Walters, 46, was tracked down by the FBI in Argentina after his passport was flagged by Interpol. He was returned to Colorado in August 2010.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said Walters ran an elaborate Ponzi scheme and collected $23 million from victims in Colorado, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
"This sentence underlines our commitment to vigorously pursue and prosecute cases of financial fraud that victimize Coloradans," Suthers said today. "Our thanks to the FBI for helping us to ensure that justice delayed did not result in justice denied for Mr. Walters' victims."
Walters' Colorado clients lived in Arapahoe, Douglas and Adams counties, according to the indictment.
Walters owned and operated Samurai Capital and Mana Trading Co.
According to Suthers, Walters used his clients' investments for his own personal expenses and to make "interest payments" to other investors.
Walters solicited day-trading investments from his victims between January 2001 and July 2006 by promising 10- to 40-percent rates of return.
06-06-2016, 09:33 PM
#6
Funny, Bill lived out in Hawaii and was a member of the car club EFI Unlimited that I was in while there. He had a speedway white Z06 that he sent to Hennessey and we heard all the issues he had. He was using the car club to some extent to find prospective victims. Being in the military he never approached me because he knew I was broke 
But we had guys in the club with Lambos and such, so I think he may have duped them.
He claimed to be a former Marine and told me he was into day trading. He also had a pretty rare BMW Z8 (I think) that he drove around.
But we had guys in the club with Lambos and such, so I think he may have duped them.He claimed to be a former Marine and told me he was into day trading. He also had a pretty rare BMW Z8 (I think) that he drove around.
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06-07-2016, 03:39 PM
#10
I really loved working at W2W. Too bad it went under when GM started having trouble. That was my dream job for sure. I was actually offered a position there as a tuner/dyno operator right after leaving the military in 2004. Instead I took a chance to go to work in Texas for HPE (Chuck Anders). That turned out to be a disastrous choice. I was lucky to get a second chance from Kurt about 18 months later.
A far cry from Hennessey I would say. So many top notch people worked for W2W.
A far cry from Hennessey I would say. So many top notch people worked for W2W.
06-07-2016, 07:43 PM
#12
I really loved working at W2W. Too bad it went under when GM started having trouble. That was my dream job for sure. I was actually offered a position there as a tuner/dyno operator right after leaving the military in 2004. Instead I took a chance to go to work in Texas for HPE (Chuck Anders). That turned out to be a disastrous choice. I was lucky to get a second chance from Kurt about 18 months later.
A far cry from Hennessey I would say. So many top notch people worked for W2W.
A far cry from Hennessey I would say. So many top notch people worked for W2W.
I heard nothing but good things about W2W.
A job working for a performance shop would scare me when thinking long term. I guess it all depends on your situation at the time.
06-07-2016, 07:44 PM
#13
TECH Enthusiast
This car is for sale because of the original owner's troubles with Hennessey... he got fed up with dealing with the BS and sold it to the used car dealer
http://choiceautosalesonline.com/5898241/Photos/Details.aspx
Too bad all this media attention fails to mention that fact...
http://jalopnik.com/some-glorious-lu...t-o-1759660344
http://triblive.com/news/westmorelan...rettger-choice
http://choiceautosalesonline.com/5898241/Photos/Details.aspx
Too bad all this media attention fails to mention that fact...
http://jalopnik.com/some-glorious-lu...t-o-1759660344
http://triblive.com/news/westmorelan...rettger-choice
06-11-2016, 02:38 AM
#14
The one part of the whole Hennessy story that boggles my mind is the fact that the dude has never been "on the up and up". To add to that, this has been going on for the last 15 years at least.
With social media exposure what it is today and how it has grown over the last 15 years, I have one simple question. How is the guy still generating business?
With social media exposure what it is today and how it has grown over the last 15 years, I have one simple question. How is the guy still generating business?
