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The Venturi story goes back to the 1984 Paris Motor Show where nestling in a corner under an unknown 'Godfroy' banner stood a beautiful coupe. The Ventury (with a 'y') featured a space-frame chassis with Peugeot 205 McPherson suspension, wrapped with a two-tone metallic grey glass-fibre body work. At the rear was a humble 120bhp VW Golf GTI engine. It went down a storm with press and public. The Ventury was the brainchild of two passionate car designers Gerard Godfroy and Claude Poiraud. Both had been working with the major French car manufacturers and had become colleagues at Heuliez, the design company. 
Though MVS, Venturi and later Venturi Paris S.A. have been producing Venturis for a mere decade and a half, they have secured their place in the sports car history. Born from the dream of two men, the modest Ventury prototype has evolved into the brutal 400 GT and refined Atlantique 300. Like many a sports car manufacturer, Venturi's path of life is characterised by joy and despair, success and drama and above all frequent changes in management (many of which have not been dealt with here). The mad 1992 F1 adventure undoubtedly jeopardised the chances of a sound future. But the most important reason for Venturi's bad luck have been the slowing sales figures, explicable by the Coueron's company history - or rather its lack of history. For anyone challenging Stuttgart's or Modena's finest needs a thorough pedigree and proven track record in order to attract more than just the odd individualist looking for an exclusive sports car. 
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