ghengishahn
Viper Owner
A posting like this would likely get jeers on Viper Alley and I hope not here. And why is it so wrong to express the euphoric feeling of a dream come true with a group focused on one really sweet vehicle.
You have to first understand that my passion for cars starts way back in 1970 (yep I am an old guy), with my first new purchase as 19 year old.....A 1970 Dodge Challenger 426 Hemi Dual Quad, 4 Speed, 4.10 Diff Super Track Pack. It was Hemi Orange with a white top and longitudinal stripes. (Got the picture in your mind?) To me this for its day was the equivalent owning a Viper. It was an undisputed street racer. Faces blushed at the site of the hood emblem 426 Hemi. Need it say more! Most succumbed to defeat at the stop light at the mere reading of those numbers and letters. Others had to test their metal to their shame. In today's world when the word HEMI is plastered on every Dodge vehicle, a youthful reader will not grasp the magnitude of importance or respect those 4 letters commanded in the 70's.
So when you fast forward to 1992, Dodge had one upped my youth vehicle and I had found my new love. There was no need to announce the value of the engine under the hood though I loved the idea of V10 with raw power. The lines clearly communicated striated muscle on every inch of its physical body. The styling put lump in throat.
But my kids and their upbringing kept me on the sidelines. In 2002, I toured the Detroit Auto Show (NAIAS) and there was the 2003 Viper Gen II in Red. My twin sons and I slobbered over the car. I must have taken a hundred pictures through the throngs' people around it. But ownership was still not to be.
Now the kids are gone and I am thinking what am I waiting for…. arthritis? The adventure of seriously looking for my own Snake kept me awake at night. I had been bitten and was running a fever. There was no antidote.
Surprisingly, in only a month of looking I found my love and it was a copy of the Detroit auto show car, 2003 Red with only 4312 miles without wrinkle or blemish. She will not be my garage Queen. She deserves seeing the open road, the beaming sun and at times breath heavy and fast as she was so ably designed to do.
Words barely express my exhilaration of driving and ownership. It can even make an old guy semi cool. By reading this, I hope you too are reignited to appreciate your Viper as one of the truly iconic and original sports cars ever built.
You have to first understand that my passion for cars starts way back in 1970 (yep I am an old guy), with my first new purchase as 19 year old.....A 1970 Dodge Challenger 426 Hemi Dual Quad, 4 Speed, 4.10 Diff Super Track Pack. It was Hemi Orange with a white top and longitudinal stripes. (Got the picture in your mind?) To me this for its day was the equivalent owning a Viper. It was an undisputed street racer. Faces blushed at the site of the hood emblem 426 Hemi. Need it say more! Most succumbed to defeat at the stop light at the mere reading of those numbers and letters. Others had to test their metal to their shame. In today's world when the word HEMI is plastered on every Dodge vehicle, a youthful reader will not grasp the magnitude of importance or respect those 4 letters commanded in the 70's.
So when you fast forward to 1992, Dodge had one upped my youth vehicle and I had found my new love. There was no need to announce the value of the engine under the hood though I loved the idea of V10 with raw power. The lines clearly communicated striated muscle on every inch of its physical body. The styling put lump in throat.
But my kids and their upbringing kept me on the sidelines. In 2002, I toured the Detroit Auto Show (NAIAS) and there was the 2003 Viper Gen II in Red. My twin sons and I slobbered over the car. I must have taken a hundred pictures through the throngs' people around it. But ownership was still not to be.
Now the kids are gone and I am thinking what am I waiting for…. arthritis? The adventure of seriously looking for my own Snake kept me awake at night. I had been bitten and was running a fever. There was no antidote.
Surprisingly, in only a month of looking I found my love and it was a copy of the Detroit auto show car, 2003 Red with only 4312 miles without wrinkle or blemish. She will not be my garage Queen. She deserves seeing the open road, the beaming sun and at times breath heavy and fast as she was so ably designed to do.
Words barely express my exhilaration of driving and ownership. It can even make an old guy semi cool. By reading this, I hope you too are reignited to appreciate your Viper as one of the truly iconic and original sports cars ever built.
