The Venus History
(Note: This page is best viewed with text sized set to "medium",
under the view column.)
It is difficult to tell the story of the Venus simply because so much is unknown, however there have been some significant developments since this story first appeared on my website. So, I'll start from the beginning and just do the best I can...thanks for your interest!
Back in the late 40’s and early 50’s, a 34 year-old Ken McLoad (my father), embarked on a venture to produce and sell a sleek, fiberglass-bodied sports car which he named the "Venus". It used a donor chassis and running gear from a '49-'52 Ford, though I suspect it would mount on almost any chassis. He began design work on the Venus while in Dallas. In 1950 or 1951, he took a job as an engineer at a geophysical cable manufacturing company in Houston known as Vector Cable. (He later became President and served in that position for 18 years before the company was purchased by Schlumberger.) Naturally, he brought the Venus project with him from Dallas. In the next few years, he built a complete full-scale "plug" of the car body out of wood (from which to make molds).
As if a full-time engineering job and raising 3 kids was not enough, he and two other guys formed a company around 1953 or 1954 called Ratio Mfg. Co. to build and sell this car. Mr. D.Y. Gorman set up the business and handled the management of the company; Mr. E.F. Rockett was the pattern maker; and my father handled all of the design work. One of Mr. Gorman's teenage sons, DeWitt, actually worked on the Venus bodies, applying additional sealing resin and making then ready for shipping.
They built a prototype (and probably several more), had it photographed, and a story was written in the May 1954 issue of Motor Trend. I suspect they sent the story and photos to Motor Trend, as opposed to Motor Trend seeking them out.
They offered the Venus fiberglass body only, and it was up to the purchaser to get the appropriate chassis, and to mount the body themselves. For $875 (plus shipping), you received the body, doors, gas filler lid, hood, grille, and interior. It did not come with instruments, bumpers, or lights. It is not known if the windshield was included, but I suspect it was since the windshield pillars were custom. To the best of my knowledge, no cars were ever sold complete w/chassis, but I expect they built a couple of complete cars just for promotional use. The one in the publicity photos (the prototype) stayed in our family for about 15 years. Below is the front and rear of the flyer they produced (click for full-size version):
What Things Cost in 1954:
According to my father (now deceased), they only built or sold about 10 of these bodies, maybe less. But whether or not a majority of them ever made it onto a chassis is quite another thing.
So even with the publicity of being on the cover of a national car magazine
such as Motor Trend (and a small mention in Popular Mechanics), why did they only build/sell a handful of the bodies? For
sure, the Venus was impractical to be used as a primary vehicle; there was no top
(folding or otherwise), no side door windows, and no internal door latch to name
a few of its’ shortcomings. Clearly, this was a "fair weather" kind
of sports car…but on the positive side, it didn’t cost an arm and a leg
either. Perhaps it was because of the sheer amount of work one had to do in
removing the Ford body (from a donor car) in order to mount the Venus
body….something that required a good deal of automotive know-how, tools,
enthusiasm, and persistence. No records remain to indicate exactly how many Venus bodies were
built or shipped.
(Click on thumbnails below for larger picture)
The car was clearly attractive for its day. If you look at the styles of cars in the early 50’s you’ll see that they are roundish, jellybean-shaped cars. Was the Venus too radical for its day? Below is a photo of a typical 1949 Ford and the Venus.
Perhaps the Venus failed due to the introduction of the Corvette in
1953 or even the Thunderbird in 1955, shown below.
It would have made more sense to purchase one of these production models, but
then again, they were expensive.
I would tend to believe that its focus market was extremely narrow; that
being automotive enthusiasts who had a spare $1,000 to begin such a project. I
assume that very few Venus bodies ever made it to the streets. I also don't
know how aggressively their marketing was. To this day, I have yet to find a
single magazine with a Venus advertisement in it. Since this was a
part-time venture, perhaps they didn't want the Venus to become a full-time
endeavor? Or perhaps a lawyer got to them about product liability? Who knows.
From reading a large stack of Venus letters and inquiries passed onto me by Mr.
Jack Kover (I will explain his role later), I have come to speculate that my
father and his partners were faced with a choice: either continue making the
Venus bodies or sell the manufacturing rights to someone else. Due to the
publicity from Motor Trend and Popular Mechanics, they received a large number
of inquiries about the Venus body. Clearly, people wanted this car. But my
father was a brilliant geophysical and mechanical engineer, having received
multiple degrees from
the University of Arkansas, and, had just been hired by Vector Cable Company.
With his career on the line, I suspect he choose to continue geophysical
engineering over that of producing Venus fiberglass bodies. He just couldn't do
both.
This guy was truly a genius; go to this link to see all of his geophysical
inventions:
http://www.google.com/patents?q=mcload&btnG=Search+Patents
Shown below is Ken McLoad at age 25. No doubt, he got hooked on automobiles and mechanics from his father. Grandad Burtus McLoad is shown in his speedboat "Buddy", no doubt terrorizing the inhabitants of some lake in St. Louis. Note the Jolly Roger flag! I think the guy in the hot-rod boat in the middle is someone else, but you can see how these guys spent their weekends!
For the longest time, the Venus prototype was in our garage (below), and I’m sure I banged into it a few times with my bike while growing up. In 1954, I was a mere 3 years old. I recall going for a spin with my Mom and sister, and the car stalled in the middle of Telephone Road right across from the Santa Rosa Theater (for you local folks). It was powered by a Ford V8 Flathead which has a tendency to develop vapor lock from time to time. Poor Mom; I don't think she ever drove it after that!
(Venus on the left in our carport in Garden Villas)
Then in ’61, Hurricane Carla came roaring up the coast, and our house and garage
were waist deep in water since we were three lots from Sims
Bayou in Garden Villas (by Hobby Airport). A recently found family photo
shows the Venus in the background with a watermark taped along the rear fender,
showing the height of the flood water. Also note this particular Venus had a
continental kit on the back, and a re-fabricated rear bumper to accommodate the
tire. The taillights are not those of the 1952 Packard either, and the paint is
two-tone.
The Venus prototype was eventually sold to an employee at Vector Cable, and who then moved to Louisiana. That’s the last I ever heard or saw of the "original" Venus prototype, or any other Venus for that matter. So all I had left were a few of the Motor Trend Magazines, publicity photos, and Ratio Manufacturing sales flyers. I guess Dad had thrown away all of the documents or passed them on to someone else.
Decades ago, I had often thought of the Venus as a restoration project and pondered the possibility of finding one, but the cost to advertise repeatedly in Hemmings Motor News with half-page photo ads was way out of my means, so I dispelled that idea. The Venus became just a 30+ year memory.
The final design of the Venus probably occurred in 1953, though my mom had said he had been working on it in Dallas before coming to Houston. Note that it was designed to mount on a 1949 Ford. The Venus uses headlight trim pieces from a 1953 Buick, however this headlight trim piece has been seen on some 1952 Buick Roadmasters. So I'd like to think that he was on the right track, and to an extent, the Venus was just a few years ahead of its time. In fact, I would dare say that this was a "concept" car of sorts. The car manufacturers were scrambling to design new vehicles for a post-war nation. It was entirely reasonable to hope that one of them would have purchased the rights to the Venus. Or better yet, that sales of the Venus body would have gone through the roof (move over, Tucker!). Unfortunately, neither happened. Nothing ventured; nothing gained. I'll give him credit for taking a shot at it....that's a lot more than most people would have done (including myself), especially at 34 years old.
And if your thinking that the rear deck of the Venus is somewhat ugly, here's a picture of an all-fiberglass bodied 1954 Olds F-88 concept car designed by famed GM stylist Harley J. Earl. The text in the Barrett-Jackson brochure reads "...and is the epitome of styling and forward thinking". So maybe there was something in the water back then. I think I like the Venus' lines better! By the way, the car below recently sold for over 3 million dollars at the 2005 RM auction in Scottsdale, Arizona!
Lightning Bolt: May 2003
In May of 2003, I receive a somewhat cryptic e-mail reading "I
know of someone who has a VENUS CAR for sale. Interested?".
It was like a lightening bolt out of the clear blue sky. Surely they had the
wrong car, as it had been over 50 years, and highly improbable that a brittle
fiberglass-bodied car could have survived. Naturally, I responded in the
affirmative, and they sent a digital photo of the car. Sure enough, there it
was....a circa 1953 Venus, and as far as I knew at the time,
possibly
the last surviving one.
I could not believe that I was looking at an actual, existing Venus car! Things had been added and/or changed, but the body looked to be in good shape! From that point on, the thought of possibly acquiring a Venus got me really interested. My Jaguar E-Type was finished for all practical purposes, and I was in need of another project car (like another hole in the head!). I could not think of any better than a Venus....and here it had been laid before me (for a price). (Note that in the above right photo, the rear deck is elongated by the camera lens)
I replied to the person who sent me the e-mail that it was indeed a Venus, and I asked where it was, and the asking price. I didn’t hear anything for a solid day. I finally sent another e-mail to this person asking that the owner get in touch with me to discuss the car. Finally a lady called who introduced herself as the owner. We talked about the Venus for awhile and I explained how my father had designed it, but she already knew that. Obviously, she had seen the images and short story on this website (of course, not this expanded version). The car was in Massachusetts; 1800 miles away. I had never conceived of a Venus being that far north!
To make a long and very involved story short, this person (and her Dad, the actual owner) made it both difficult and expensive for me to obtain this broken-down Venus. It took four months of waiting while she pursued other avenues to get the asking price up as high as possible. That is unfortunate as I would have liked to included them as contributors in the restoration of this classic, one-of-a-kind car. Her claims of being "attached to the car" fell short...sentimentality or the actual worth of the car had nothing to do with it. It was all a matter of top dollar...just like everything else is I guess. No, I wasn't expecting them to give it to me either. Just a fair and reasonable price was all I had hoped for. I will have to at least give these folks credit for keeping the Venus, and not having it towed to the junkyard where most of them probably ended up. Had they not held on to it, it would not now be in my possession. I'm thankful to them for that at least.
So, on Sept. 5th, 2003 I traveled to Fitchburg, Massachusetts to purchase the car as well as to see it up close and personal.
As I approached the car for the first time, I still couldn’t believe that a 50-year old Venus had turned up so far away from Texas. She had brought along her Dad, who in reality, was the previous owner of the car (but not the first, original owner). Funny, he went on and on about the car being restored not long ago, and I asked "which part had he restored, 'cause I sure couldn't see it!". (You'll see what I mean a bit further down).
So, around noon, the tow truck with the roll-back bed showed up to haul the car away. Since this transaction was wrought with distrust, I was not about to leave it in the driveway after paying for the car. I made arrangements to have it shipped enclosed to Houston through Intercity Transport, a first-class operation whose specialty is transporting valuable and rare cars. For all that this car has been through over its 50 year lifespan, it certainly deserved to be hauled in an enclosed carrier. To subject it to 2,000 miles of rain, rocks, and road grime just didn’t seem right….call me crazy. It was taken to a storage warehouse that is owned by InterCity Transport, not 20 miles away from where the car sat. Having this storage facility so near by easily saved me $500. This was indeed a very momentous occasion...the Venus was coming home!
I finally got the call from the driver that he was going to deliver the car the next day. Rather than bringing the car to a narrow residential street, I met him out at the huge Katy Mills Mall, and had a roll-back wrecker standing by to take the Venus to my storage place.
Condition of the Car
The body looked okay except for some additional trim above the
front wheels, which was easily and immediately removed. Naturally
the body will require
new paint. However, the worst damage
is that the once-sleek air scoop on the hood
had been heightened. It will have to be completely reconstructed, and should only be
an inch or so high.
After doing some research, I have come to learn that the engine (below) is a Ford flathead V8 which is correct for the car, however, this engine is out of a Mercury, possibly a truck. Of course, the fact that the engine is not original is something the Massachusetts folks failed to mention until after I had made the trip up to Fitchburg. As you can see, this is quite a mess...no organization whatsoever.
The tallest part on this particular engine was the Holley carburetor. Sure, it fit just fine under the huge hood of a truck, but it didn't clear the Venus hood. As a result, they heightened the hood scoop, making it look like something from a "Mad Max" movie! If he had just asked some Ford flathead expert, he would have found a lower-profile carburetor that would have solved that problem without butchering the fiberglass. In fact, a dual Holley 94 set-up is what was on the original prototype, seen below (I will install dual Stromberg 97's). I have not been able to identify the hood hinges in this photo. The hinges on the Ma. Venus are mounted in the nose and has caused what appears to be a lot of stress cracks. I may revert to the hinges mounted back on the firewall.
Someone did a poor if not hasty job of installing a cheap 8-track player/radio as well as a set of switches/breakers on the instrument panel (below). I can only assume that this Venus does not have a fuse block, and that most components are hard wired. Most of the gauges appear to be a mixture of sorts, but again, gauges were not included with the car (the prototype used Stewart Warner gauges). The gauges, circuit breaker, and radio will be removed and the panel return to "blank" for a matching set of instruments (preferably Stewart Warner "Wings" version, with speedometer and tachometer).
I have come to learn that the grille on the Massachusetts car is from a '55 Chevy. An original version will have to be made from scratch. I would possibly back the original grille components with a black mesh or fencing of some sort just to mask the radiator. Also note the bumperettes on the MA car. These will be removed in favor of the original look. Note the 4-blade electrical fan just behind the grille...no doubt, cooling was a problem!
The car in Massachusetts is a gun-metal gray with a crushed red-velvet interior. There's no accounting for some people's taste, and I guess to each their own; perhaps it looked good at one point. I will repaint the car back to a very light blue with a clearcoat. The seats and backs would need to be restored to the original Navy blue & white rolled and pleated upholstery.
The prototype had a column shift, but the MA car had been
converted to a floor
shift that was a Mickey Mouse installation.
I have purchased a complete steering column w/shifter off of EPay, along with a
new turn signal kit ($$$).
Whether or not I keep it a column shift or try to do a conversion to a 5-speed
floor shift remains to be seen.
A positive aspect is that the body is fiberglass and replacing rusty panels
will not be an issue. That’s half the battle with any old car. I’ll just
have to inspect the chassis before I decide to do a frame-off on it. Removing a
50-year old, one-of-a-kind fiberglass body can be very risky without adequate
support and trusses everywhere.
But how ironic that one of the last VENUS cars came back home where it all started, exactly 50 years later? And what are the odds?
It may not be a D-Type Jaguar or an old Corvette "barn find", but it’s an interesting car to say the least…and one that deserves to survive, even if it is only a small, insignificant piece of automotive history. The Venus would not be quite as extensive or difficult as the XKE…more fun than anything else. I also realize that even if the car was restored to its former stylish self, the market for this car would be somewhat limited, so it would be wise not to invest a lot of money in it. But then again, many auto collectors are "upside down" with their cars and will never get back what they’ve put into it. They do it for the pleasure and for the hobby. I will not be restoring this car just to flip it for a profit…I expect to show it as well as drive it.
With exception to some mechanical features and body parts, there really is no "right or wrong" in regards to originality on a
Venus.
They were designed to be custom cars for the owner to do with what
he pleased. So without straying too far away from early 1950’s technology and
appearance, I will highly customize the engine compartment…after
all, that’s part of the spirit of the Venus!
Also of note, the Venus is listed in the prestigious Beaulieu
Encyclopedia of the Automobile, a massive 3-volume
set listing every manufacturer/car of note that was ever made.
Too heavy to scan, the entry reads as such:
Venus (US) 1954 Venus, Houston, Texas.
"The Venus was a fibreglass-bodied sportscar. It was a large body, intended to
fit onto a
full size American sedan chassis, usually the 1949-51 Ford. It was a convertible
with only
two seats and long fins on the rear mudguards, a bonnet scoop, and exposed door
hinges.
The prototype was powered by a 1949 Ford with high performance heads, intake
manifold,
and exhaust system. It was built and designed by K.W. McLoad, D.Y. Gorman, and
E.F. Rockett.
The Venus was to be sold as a simple body shell or a complete kit ready for
installation. (HP)"
I would like to believe that being listed in such a fine and exhaustive catalog
lends a certain
amount of credibility to the Venus, despite its seemingly humble beginnings and
quick demise.
Very near the time when manufacturing rights were sold to another group, my father applied for and received a US Design Patent on the Venus body.
One other interesting side note: can you believe that the Nomura Toy Ltd. of Japanese
actually made at least three versions of a "Ford Venus" toy car?
I kid you not!
Just look at the pictures below; especially the
grille, the '53 Buick headlights, and rear-end, and compare it to the real car. I think it is extremely remarkable that the
Japanese made a toy car from a vehicle as remote and obscure as the Venus.
Little did the toy rep realize when he went back to his company (with an issue
of Motor Trend?) that the "Venus" was just a kit car that would have a
production "run" of only 10! After many months of waiting, I finally
purchased the blue one below, and a mint red-colored version. There is a third
turquoise version, but I have not been able to purchase it just yet. But is this cool or what?!
(These are just about as rare as the real thing!)
I recently discovered a short bit of 8mm home movie film footage, and had it transferred to a professional video format. Playing around with my Final Cut Pro editing system, I threw together a little music video that contains this footage as well as shots of the "Massachusetts" Venus being loaded onto a roll-back trailer. As you can tell, I was trying to stretch it at the end just to complete the song. The guy driving the Venus is DeWitt Gorman who used to assemble these car bodies back in 1953-1954.
Click On Photo To Watch Movie!
(Please be patient for the download which could take up to a minute depending
on your modem/cable speed)
(The music used in this little movie is "Route 66" by Asleep at the Wheel)
DeWitt and Rod Gorman
With the acquisition of any collector car, one
should perform research to learn facts and figures about the
car. In the Motor Trend article, two guys are mentioned in addition to my
father; a Mr. D.Y. Gorman and a Mr. E.F. Rockett. Since my father’s name had been
misspelled in the article, there was a good chance that the others had been as
well.
Regardless, I set out trying to find out if any descendants were still in the
Houston area. I enlarged the small photo of the 3 guys in the article, and
composed a letter asking if they knew of either of these gentlemen. I sent out
well over 120 of these letters to every Gorman and Rockett in the Houston phone
book.
I hit pay dirt as one day I got a call and the voice said “I probably know more
about the Venus than anyone, cause I used to work on them”. It was DeWitt
Gorman, one of the sons of D.Y. Gorman. We have had several conversations about
the Venus since that phone call, though mostly from me asking about this and
that. As a 15-16 year old, DeWitt used to work on the Venus bodies, making them
ready after they came out of the mold. He has been a great help in piecing
together the puzzle. Unfortunately, he can’t remember which windshield was used
in the Venus. DeWitt also said his brother, Rod
Gorman, had some additional photographs of the Venus. I called Rod and asked
if he wouldn’t mind my borrowing these images so that I can make copies.
Soon after receiving the slides, I was amazed that I now had photos of a Venus
body coming out of the mold, as well as the actual “plug” from which all of
the molds were made. DeWitt told me that the molds would occasionally break and
they would have to make another. The plug was handcrafted entirely out of plywood by my dad, and no doubt
took years to shape and form. Whether or not this positive exists somewhere in some dark
warehouse somewhere is unknown.
Some of the amazing photos I got from Rod Gorman are shown below. Let me say
here that I greatly appreciate their help, and I hope that someday they will
both be able to see the restored car.
Kenneth McLoad (2nd from left) & DeWitt Gorman (t-shirt) Here a worker sprays release compound on the "plug". Note the lack of a respirator!
After covering the plug with fiberglass, the negative is removed from the This is a photo of two Venus cars that I did not know about.
form. This negative is then used to make Venus bodies. With this photo, I now have photographic proof of 5 different cars.
Note the lack of a hood cavity. The blue car on the left has vertical slats in the radiator.
This is an interesting 3/4 frontal photo of a Venus (photo by DY Gorman) Here is a photo of DeWitt Gorman with old Warwick Hotel.
By far, the best discovery was an unknown color publicity photo taken by the professional photographer. It was a large-format piece of film, but the years had removed the entire layer of magenta. As a result, it took a professional lab several hours to bring the colors back into spec. This is almost identical to the Motor Trend Cover shot, however, in this photo, the model is looking at the camera. I had a 16 x 20 print made of this photo and it is awesome! Now THIS is what my Massachusetts Venus will look like when I'm finished!
The Kovars: Another Venus Found!
Dewitt Gorman had told me that the manufacturing rights had been sold to a Mr. Eddie Kovar. So just as I did to find DeWitt and Rod Gorman, I sent out a letter to all Kovars in the phone book. I soon got a phone call from Jack Kovar, one of Eddie's sons, and he himself had a Venus not far from Houston! We spent a lot of time on the phone discussing the "treasure trove" archives of Venus documents and letters in his possession.
In June of 2005, I finally got an opportunity to see his Venus and to meet the Kovar brothers Jack and Gary, and their wives. They are a great bunch of folks and were very hospitable. Jack and I first went through some of the pictures and documents in his possession. There was far too much of it to delve in at that particular time, so Jack was gracious enough to let me take the entire box for me to scan into my computer.
Jack bought his Venus around 1965, having seen it advertised in an AutoTrader magazine. The body seemed to be in great shape, and it had the later-model grille insert. The engine and tranny were missing, but I could tell it was a Ford shoebox frame with a few modifications. Different motor mounts had been installed as well as a rear transmission cross-member. It was clear that the last engine had been something other than a Ford flathead...more than likely a Chevy short-block. The windshield on his car was broken, but obviously a wrap-around style, and I don't recall seeing the windshield pillars. Click on the thumbnail images below for a larger picture. Admittedly, these photos aren't very good as the car was in a dark barn and I didn't have adequate lighting instruments with me. I hope to take better pictures on my next trip.
I was very envious of his original hood; it hadn't been modified like mine had been. Jack was gracious enough to let me borrow his hood for a body man to use as a guide (discussed in "Restoration" section). Although his Venus didn't help answer any questions in regards to my own Venus' restoration, I was very glad to see this car and I'm glad it exists. It sports the later-style '55 Chevy grille, so that lends credence to the notion that a design change had occurred at some point in time.
In addition, the box of documents in Jack's possession yielded some very interesting photographs that I had not seen.
The first photo is of a two-tone Venus in a Galveston parade. Eddie Kovar (Jack and Gary's Dad) sits in the middle flanked presumably by models (I'd be smiling too!!). Note the chrome strip surrounding the grille, and the addition of a little grille in the hood scoop. I would have never advised or allowed 3 people to sit on the fiberglass, but I guess they were made strong enough. The second photo is a hastily framed shot of the same two-tone Venus with a convertible top. Note the small "Venus" emblem on the side. This is also the first I had heard of the "Venus Corporation" as shown on the sign. (The identity of the people in the photo is unknown). The third photo is a beauty shot of a Venus by the Battleship Texas. Note that this is two-tone as well, yet opposite of the Venus in the first two photos. It also has a "three-bar" grille as opposed to only two that were used on the prototype. This Venus also has a convertible top, and either a 1953 or 1955 Texas license plate. I DO like this photograph!
In 2008, I had met a guy in Norway (on the Jalopy Journal website) who had a fantastic website of old cars, and, regularly worked with Adobe Photoshop. I was interested in having one of the photos restored to the way it should have looked had the photographer done a better job of framing. His name is Rik Hoving and his website is http://www.rikhovingkustoms.com/RHK1/Home.html
He is still working on the photo at the time of this posting, but here is a before and after of what Rik has done so far. I'll replace this with the final when he gets it done. Looking much better!! This particular Venus is the same one that was photographed beside the Battleship Texas, and, was the only one that had a custom convertible top. It is not a "new" one, just an old one that had been re-sprayed. I do not know who the people are in the photograph.
The Venus' Final Chapter
So what happened to the Venus and why weren't more bodies made after my Dad had sold the manufacturing rights? The answer is not black and white as I had hoped. As mentioned above, Jack Kovar had a great deal of letters, memos, and legal documents in his possession which he allowed me to copy. (I'm not about to start putting these on this site for scrutinizing...if your eyes aren't glazed over by now, they soon would be had I posted legal documents!) Although I have read each document, the major players are no longer with us for their input. As a result, I can only speculate on what happened, and this is my opinion only.
It was clear that there was a lot of interest in the Venus once the story broke. There are many inquiries from all over the US, South America, and Cuba (believe it or not) from people wanting to become Venus distributors, but at that time, the new "corporation" had no bodies to ship nor a workforce to make any. It can also be said with some certainty that many came right after the Motor Trend article, and my father just didn't want to mess with the whole thing. Most of the inquiries went unanswered by both Venus companies.
In March of 1955, The Venus Corporation was formed, with Frank Schulgen as President, Eddie Kovar as Chairman, and probably a few others. My father sold the mfg. rights to the Venus Corporation on June 13th, 1955 for one dollar. The Venus Corporation then attempted to get registered with SEC in order to sell stock; whether or not they ever did is another thing.
Another item of interest is a newspaper article that appeared April 22, 1956 (see thumbnail below). The article quotes a Mr. H.D. Atherton who claims to be Sec./Treasurer of Venus Corporation. I mean no disrespect, but quite frankly, a lot of what he states is pure fantasy. The suggestion that "17 car bodies have been made and sold" is very doubtful. Plans for "1,000 bodies annually"...wishful thinking. Last but not least, he states that $65,000 (in 1956 dollars) "had been spent perfecting the body design". I'd certainly like to know exactly WHAT changes were made that amounted to 65 grand!! The grille? The folding top? Gimme a break! No doubt, exaggerations to try to pump interest and investments into what was becoming a losing proposition.
However, an interesting entry is in this article:
"The
Houston firm...is headed by Charles Markle Knipe, Houston steel firm executive
and auto enthusiast.
His collection of classic cars is
considered one of the finest in the country"
"...the firm is headed by Charles Markle Knipe...".
First of all, what firm? The Venus Corp? I can find no reference to Mr,
Markle Knipe in any of the legal documents. As a kid, I recall a large steel
fabrication place near downtown just off I-45. It had a big animated neon sign
of a guy on an I-beam waving his arm, under which was the name Markle Steel. So
no doubt, Markle was a player in Houston during that time, but what did he have
to do with the Venus? You can't just nonchalantly mention a prominent person's
name in the newspaper without there being some truth to it. So was Markle the
one pulling the strings in the background? Perhaps he was considering
underwriting the venture at the time, but then got cold feet? An Internet search
found nothing about Mr. Markle or his car collection. Did he own a Venus? Very
curious.
Additional internet research shows that a Mr. John Brooks Williams as the owner of Markle Steel. Mr. Williams was very wealthy and gave millions to local parochial schools. So if Mr. Williams was the owner of Markle Steel, then who was Charles Markle Knipe?
Eddie Kovar was also running Fiberglass Enterprises, Inc., but I am not sure how his company was involved with the Venus Corporation. Perhaps the Venus Corporation contracted Fiberglass Enterprises to produce Venus bodies? The most noteworthy document is an annual report prepared by Eddie Kovar for Fiberglass Enterprises dated Sept. 17th 1957 stating that for all practical purposes, "the production of the Venus fiberglass sports car has been abandoned". (Compare this with the optimism of the above newspaper article)
Apparently, Eddie Kovar, having been put through
the ringer with the Venus Company, left that operation and
started Fiberglass Enterprises to build boats and all other things fiberglass.
But for some reason, it states that he kept the Venus body molds….why did he do
this? Had the Venus Corporation gone belly-up by this point? Probably so.
According to his annual report, there had been numerous opportunities and
inquiries, but the Venus Corporation needed a large manufacturing space (his
little shop for car repairs was way too small). There is a document that
mentions trying to raise a million dollars to purchase a building, tooling, and
employees, but when the investment capital didn't materialize, plans to build
Venus bodies and cars apparently faded away. Again, note that he states
"production...was abandoned". Reading between the lines, I dare say that
production was never started either. There is no evidence in any of the
documents that a single Venus body (much less 17) was made by the new
corporation. It is unfortunate that no one (including my father) bothered to
serialize and document each completed Venus body in some sort of master list.
DeWitt Gorman told me that he/they made no more than 10 bodies, and even that
may be a stretch. I recall my dad saying "less than a dozen".
In January of 1962, Ed Kovar gave power of attorney to Mr. Paul Tyler to sell the Venus mold and/or patterns for $2500. What ultimately happened to these items is anyone's guess. 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?! But then again, working with fiberglass and resin all day in a hot warehouse doesn't sound all that great either!
So the Venus adventure came and went in just a few short years. And so it goes.
Due to the amount of ever-increasing information and updates, I
decided to put the story of the Venus' restoration on a separate page.
For
information on the restoration of the Venus, click on this link:
The
Venus Restoration