Les Quam
Enthusiast
Although I met Bill P. and Woodchuck a little over 10 years ago at Viperdays I hadn't ever bought a Viper from them. Last fall I called Bill and ordered my 08, then after seeing the SSG convert at SEMA I asked Bill to change my order from black to green. The whole ordering process working with Bill was as easy and pleasant as humanly possible. This was my first new Viper since 1999 as all my others had been purchased on the secondary market.
The car was delivered to Woodhouse on Saturday and delivered to my door this afternoon. Bill had kept me apprised of the cars status almost daily from factory build to my door. Not once did I ever have to call to ask what was happening with my car. The car was immaculate and perfect upon arrival. The whole experience was really amazing in terms of the attention paid to this deal. Bear in mind this was my first car with them as I wasn't a repeat customer. Bill makes me feel like I was his only customer and doesn't seem to hold a grudge even though I had to show him the fast way around the Pahrump track the last time we were out there for Viperdays. LOL
The Woodhouse buying experience reminded me of growing up in Chicago and listening to Norm Krauss from Grand Spaulding Dodge talk about his customers and cars when he visited my fathers restuarant. Both krauss and Woodhouse are very customer oriented and truly enjoy what they are doing. Grand Spaulding was famous for selling heavily modified cars right off the showroom floor in the 60s as Woodhouse will do today. Both are heavily involved in racing and have close relationships with the factory. It also reminded me of a Chicago neighborhood friend who bought a big block Camaro from Nickey Chevrolet and had them modify it before delivery. Both Grand Spaulding and Nickey like Yenko Chevrolet in Penn. are legendary dealers from the golden era of muscle in the 60s.
I believe today we are living through another golden era of horsepower and performance, and much like the 60s I think this current era is rapidly drawing to a close. Three states now have the legal right to regulate their own emissions and soon emissions and gas mileage will be significantly higher than today. Whether or not you personally believe in man made global warming most politicians do and they are going to start implementing new regulations on the auto industry and soon. This I think will lead to the end of 600 HP street cars and as an example Bob Lutz has been quoted as saying he wanted to kill the new Camaro program but it was too far along to kill due to emission and mileage concerns.
When this era ends we will be left with the memories of current dealers like Woodhouse, Roanoke,Tator and a few others I forgot to mention including tuners like Cragin. I think these currebt dealers will be the dealer legends my kids talk about the way we talk about Mr. Norm ,Nickey and Don Yenko today.
So my thought is whenever we performance HP/muscle ******'s get the chance we should step back right now and reflect on how lucky we are to be living in an era when a manufacturer like Dodge is still building us 600 HP street legal ACR track cars and Comp Coupes for Racing and outrageous SSG 600 HP street cars not to mention planning the next Viper owner invitationals.
We should step back and enjoy todays good old days when you can pick up a phone call a guy like Pemberton and order a new handbuilt 600 HP Viper to your specs exactly the way you want it then have it modified any way you want it, then delivered right to your door. All without the dealer trying to gouge you or mark the car up like the Ford dealers are STILL doing for the Shelby GT 500s and the Chevy dealers are doing right now for their new ZR1. What a refreshing pleasure to call a dealer like Woodhouse on a low volume handbuilt 600 HP car and NOT have the dealer BS you about why you should pay over MSRP. I say we savor these moments because I think they never will come again.
The car was delivered to Woodhouse on Saturday and delivered to my door this afternoon. Bill had kept me apprised of the cars status almost daily from factory build to my door. Not once did I ever have to call to ask what was happening with my car. The car was immaculate and perfect upon arrival. The whole experience was really amazing in terms of the attention paid to this deal. Bear in mind this was my first car with them as I wasn't a repeat customer. Bill makes me feel like I was his only customer and doesn't seem to hold a grudge even though I had to show him the fast way around the Pahrump track the last time we were out there for Viperdays. LOL
The Woodhouse buying experience reminded me of growing up in Chicago and listening to Norm Krauss from Grand Spaulding Dodge talk about his customers and cars when he visited my fathers restuarant. Both krauss and Woodhouse are very customer oriented and truly enjoy what they are doing. Grand Spaulding was famous for selling heavily modified cars right off the showroom floor in the 60s as Woodhouse will do today. Both are heavily involved in racing and have close relationships with the factory. It also reminded me of a Chicago neighborhood friend who bought a big block Camaro from Nickey Chevrolet and had them modify it before delivery. Both Grand Spaulding and Nickey like Yenko Chevrolet in Penn. are legendary dealers from the golden era of muscle in the 60s.
I believe today we are living through another golden era of horsepower and performance, and much like the 60s I think this current era is rapidly drawing to a close. Three states now have the legal right to regulate their own emissions and soon emissions and gas mileage will be significantly higher than today. Whether or not you personally believe in man made global warming most politicians do and they are going to start implementing new regulations on the auto industry and soon. This I think will lead to the end of 600 HP street cars and as an example Bob Lutz has been quoted as saying he wanted to kill the new Camaro program but it was too far along to kill due to emission and mileage concerns.
When this era ends we will be left with the memories of current dealers like Woodhouse, Roanoke,Tator and a few others I forgot to mention including tuners like Cragin. I think these currebt dealers will be the dealer legends my kids talk about the way we talk about Mr. Norm ,Nickey and Don Yenko today.
So my thought is whenever we performance HP/muscle ******'s get the chance we should step back right now and reflect on how lucky we are to be living in an era when a manufacturer like Dodge is still building us 600 HP street legal ACR track cars and Comp Coupes for Racing and outrageous SSG 600 HP street cars not to mention planning the next Viper owner invitationals.
We should step back and enjoy todays good old days when you can pick up a phone call a guy like Pemberton and order a new handbuilt 600 HP Viper to your specs exactly the way you want it then have it modified any way you want it, then delivered right to your door. All without the dealer trying to gouge you or mark the car up like the Ford dealers are STILL doing for the Shelby GT 500s and the Chevy dealers are doing right now for their new ZR1. What a refreshing pleasure to call a dealer like Woodhouse on a low volume handbuilt 600 HP car and NOT have the dealer BS you about why you should pay over MSRP. I say we savor these moments because I think they never will come again.
