REAL VCA COUPE PICS!! (DIAL-UP BEWARE)...

[Austin]

Thanks, Chris (Firewater) for going out and taking these pics. These pics make me really want a red/white coupe.

 

[TCKTPLZ]

Is that the Finally Final Edition?

 

[Firewater]

 

[KMODStang]

WOW that is a lot of coupes.

 

[Casey 111]

I love that color combo! They just need to be lowered a little and they would all be perfect!!

 

[PDCjonny]

Stunning.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Those are so purdy!

 

[DSR207]

Great pictures...

 

[GoldenVenom]

Beautiful!

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

I don't understand why they do not continue the stripes through the license plate area?

The color combo looks great, but the 1st thing I would do is peel off the VCA sticker.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Anthony, I would sure suggest to you and everyone, not to remove the VCA sticker as it is very pricey to replace, and years down the road, many folks will want the car to be authentic. We wanted to get said sticker for some of the buyers of the Yellow Fever Edition SRT-10 and were floored with how expensive the decal is. Done in such small numbers , the pricing is near Platinum level, so probably a great idea to leave it on.

I do agree it would have been nice to do the stripes all the way through, but, who knows why it isn't being done?

 

[GoldenVenom]

I agree with Bill. The car worths more as is. If you do not like the VCA Edition, you could buy a red coupe then put on the stripes yourself.

My VCA raffle car has the stripes through the license plate area.

 

[snakebitdave]

The reason they skip the stripes in the license area is for economics; too expensive to mask that area.

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

The reason they skip the stripes in the license area is for economics; too expensive to mask that area.

Do you really believe that??

Lets say it took an expert painter 1 hour to mask the 1' truck area at say $100 an hour. Do you think anyone is going to notice $100 on a $90,000 car??

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Anthony, I would sure suggest to you and everyone, not to remove the VCA sticker as it is very pricey to replace, and years down the road, many folks will want the car to be authentic. We wanted to get said sticker for some of the buyers of the Yellow Fever Edition SRT-10 and were floored with how expensive the decal is. Done in such small numbers , the pricing is near Platinum level, so probably a great idea to leave it on.

I think with all the different "special edition" Vipers on such a low production car there is no real added value. We have had ACR Editions, Final Edition GTS's, White Momba Editions, 50 Yellow cars, VCA Red/White Edition, 1st Blue/White Coupe Editions and I'm sure there are others as well.

As far as the stickers go, it looks like we are headed down the path of the "special" Indy Pace Car Corvettes.

 

[DSR207]

..stripes all the way
and if you must have a sticker, I think this one is better...

You must be registered for see images

 

[Joseph Houss]

On the contrary, each and every VCA edition has been limited to ONLY 50 units, and the color combos have NOT been repeated, nor has the added little touches such as interior color combos, embroidery, decals, etc.

The current Red/White combo is especially significant as it was (and is) Dodge's Team colors (including our historic wins in ALMS). Many Red Gen2 coupe owners, in fact, have selected white stripes as their "stripes of choice" and paid aftermarket paint shops to do the work, and then of course, Dodge followed it up with the Final Edition series.

Add the fact that the VCA editions has two tone interior, and you've got yourself a really unique Snake!

SO, if you want something a bit different than the Viper parked next to you....

on the other hand, a corvette pace car is usually "exploited" to the point of it being built in the thousands (JonB is a pace car expert... so he may have some figures). Different animal when you're making thousands of a color combo.

 

[SRTJOE]

NICE!!

 

[Joseph Houss]

The reason they skip the stripes in the license area is for economics; too expensive to mask that area.

Do you really believe that??

Lets say it took an expert painter 1 hour to mask the 1' truck area at say $100 an hour. Do you think anyone is going to notice $100 on a $90,000 car??

Now... the real story:

In '96 there was a real dilemma, as all parts were painted prior to assembly, and even a small fraction of an inch differential between the bumper and the license plate area stripes, was causing a very visible misalignment of the stripe in the eyes of the assembler (and of course, Dodge's concern that owners would find it uncomfortable as well). It created a massive amount of extra time needed to get the bumper/rear valance just right... so all matched perrrfectly.

SO, in '97, they didn't stripe the license plate area.... and ****! Never an alignment problem, as there was no stripe present in close proximity from one panel to the next!!!

Whether this was thought about for our current generation of coupes... who knows, but it seems logical that it would present the same problem today, as it did WAY back in '96!

 

[Austin]

I think the stripes look fine not going all the way through the plate area. If I had one of those VCA Coupes, the sticker would be the first thing to go.

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

The reason they skip the stripes in the license area is for economics; too expensive to mask that area.

Do you really believe that??

Lets say it took an expert painter 1 hour to mask the 1' truck area at say $100 an hour. Do you think anyone is going to notice $100 on a $90,000 car??

Now... the real story:

In '96 there was a real dilemma, as all parts were painted prior to assembly, and even a small fraction of an inch differential between the bumper and the license plate area stripes, was causing a very visible misalignment of the stripe in the eyes of the assembler (and of course, Dodge's concern that owners would find it uncomfortable as well). It created a massive amount of extra time needed to get the bumper/rear valance just right... so all matched perrrfectly.

SO, in '97, they didn't stripe the license plate area.... and ****! Never an alignment problem, as there was no stripe present in close proximity from one panel to the next!!!

Whether this was thought about for our current generation of coupes... who knows, but it seems logical that it would present the same problem today, as it did WAY back in '96!

Ummmmm Joe, the trunk lid is one piece.

 

[ViperLB]

Wow, those look good. I don't care for the stripes though, just not my style.

Does anyone else notice the orange peel? I would have hoped the 3rd gens were painted a little better than the 2nd gens, but I'm not so sure. Maybe its the camera.

 

[DSR207]

This should help explain what Joe was talking about. stripes on the trunk don't line up with the stripes on the bumper, by leaving a space in between, it's hard to notice they don't line up(cheap fix)...........

You must be registered for see images

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

The reason they skip the stripes in the license area is for economics; too expensive to mask that area.

Do you really believe that??

Lets say it took an expert painter 1 hour to mask the 1' truck area at say $100 an hour. Do you think anyone is going to notice $100 on a $90,000 car??

Now... the real story:

In '96 there was a real dilemma, as all parts were painted prior to assembly, and even a small fraction of an inch differential between the bumper and the license plate area stripes, was causing a very visible misalignment of the stripe in the eyes of the assembler (and of course, Dodge's concern that owners would find it uncomfortable as well). It created a massive amount of extra time needed to get the bumper/rear valance just right... so all matched perrrfectly.

SO, in '97, they didn't stripe the license plate area.... and ****! Never an alignment problem, as there was no stripe present in close proximity from one panel to the next!!!

Whether this was thought about for our current generation of coupes... who knows, but it seems logical that it would present the same problem today, as it did WAY back in '96!

Ummmmm Joe, the trunk lid is one piece.

That's not the issue, and if you read his post that's not what he said. It's the alignment between the BUMPER and the rear valence in the case of the GTS or the BUMPER and the hatch in this case. It would be even more difficult with this hatch as there are hinges to align for perfect fit. So if it were hard to align the GTS bumper and rear valence without any hatch issues, it would be even harder to align this hatch and the rear bumper.

 

[sween]

looks great

 

[GR8_ASP]

Joe - the alignment argument does not hold water when they paint the stripes AFTER the car is built. Certainly did in 1996 though.

 

[KenricGTS]

Love the color combo! I just wish Dodge would have used the full Mamba inside with the red bottom.

 

[RS27J9A]

Joe - the alignment argument does not hold water when they paint the stripes AFTER the car is built. Certainly did in 1996 though.

Incorrect. All panels showed up at the factory striped for gen 2 cars. This has been the case since 96, I in fact have pictures of hoods and roof panels sitting in racks at CAAP that are striped from 1996. The stripes were originally done through the plate area although it was discontinued as keeping the stripes lined up was proving to be quite difficult. This then went on to be one of the unintended unique factors of the 96 GTS along with the more brilliant shining wheels. Due to not painting the stripes through the plate area from 97 up, the dimensions were slightly different. I am not 100% sure if the SRT-c's are the same way or not.

 

[C.Thomson]

On the new cars, the stripes are painted after assembly. I have been waiting on my Black Coupe to be striped since the end of December. My car is built, but was pushed to the back of the line for striping since they have to get the VCA coupes finished.

At least this is what they are telling me. All I know is, I want my car NOW.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Joe - the alignment argument does not hold water when they paint the stripes AFTER the car is built. Certainly did in 1996 though.

Incorrect. All panels showed up at the factory striped for gen 2 cars. This has been the case since 96, I in fact have pictures of hoods and roof panels sitting in racks at CAAP that are striped from 1996. The stripes were originally done through the plate area although it was discontinued as keeping the stripes lined up was proving to be quite difficult. This then went on to be one of the unintended unique factors of the 96 GTS along with the more brilliant shining wheels. Due to not painting the stripes through the plate area from 97 up, the dimensions were slightly different. I am not 100% sure if the SRT-c's are the same way or not.

I was talking specifically about what they build now (SRT) and they are striped after assembly, with the exception of the yellow VCA cars I believe. That is why the alignment argument no longer applies.