thedistrict84 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Today I learned of the Venus sports car made right here in Houston (thanks to a post on Reddit). As a native Houstonian and gear head, it is a bit surprising that I hadn’t heard of it before. A total of 10 were apparently built. Although the running gear was from an earlier Ford, a lot of the components were custom made for the Venus, including it’s fiberglass body. This was presumably done at their building located at 930 S. 75th St. in the East End. The Pinterest page linked below was set up by the son of the designer and shows some really interesting historical photos of the vehicles, as well as a few articles. https://pin.it/qz2dalwkojyzc7 One of the pictures features the vehicle in front of the building on S. 75th St. Using Google maps, it looks similar to the building now located at 926 S. 75th St., which is an auto repair shop. I doubt that the address would have been changed however, so I presume that the building was torn down some time ago. If anyone happens to remember that part of town from the 1950s-1960s, I’d be curious to know if it’s the same building. Thought I would share. Enjoy! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkultra25 Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 I assume you saw the other site the designer's son has, in addition to the one linked on the Pinterest page: https://mcload.wordpress.com/ In particular, I was fascinated by this photo from that site depicting a Venus in the driveway of the designer's family home in Garden Villas in 1955. I've always been a fan of that neighborhood, and wonder where the house was located. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernie5823 Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 "Today I learned of the Venus sports car made right here in Houston (thanks to a post on Reddit). As a native Houstonian and gear head, it is a bit surprising that I hadn’t heard of it before." I too am surprised I had never heard of the Venus. I grew up between 4 & 5 miles from the 75th Street address, but didn't know anything about specific area. Although a few years from being (legally) able to drive, I was very interested in cars & had a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine by 1956. By 1961 I had a '35 Ford with similar engine configuration - a '49 Merc with Edelbrock heads & 2 Sromberg carbs. I saved both links to spend some more time researching. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Ditto, never heard of them, but if they only made 10, there were probably a thousand such companies that made bodies and interiors for existing chassis back in that era and earlier. If they weren't in Southern California in the Hotrod scene or near the OEM's in Detroit, 50's media probably never caught wind of their existence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morris Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 You can see the Venus Co above the pocket. My dad was a member of the Rebel car club. I have a picture of the club out in front of the Venus building. I assume they kind of sponsored the club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morris Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 This is the Rebel Car Club in front of the Venus Car Co. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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