RT VIN 00002 Engine reunited with car

[viperdrummer]

Almost a year ago I purchased VIN 00002 from Bob Lutz. He told me at the time that shortly after the car was built in 92 , like many early Vipers, it has excessive oil consumption . Being that he was President of the company, Team Viper simply took his car back to the factory and replaced the engine.

When I put the car on my lift I noticed a true oddity --there was a VIN plate on the motor but it was blank. We think they left it that way so the original VIN could be reinserted which it never was.

Bob sold the original motor to an engine collecter. A few months ago, I located him and he agreed to sell me the motor. Of course I will not put it back in the car but I wanted to have it for originality. It arrived this week and sure enough it has VIN 0002 stamped on it.

A bit of Viper folklore for those that are bored.

 

[BlknBlu]

That is a great Story. You need to submit that to the Viper Magazine with lots of pics. Opportunities like that rarely present themselves.

Congrats
Bruce

 

[ViperGTS]

Good job!

 

[Mopar Boy]

Thats awesome! Being from the muscle car background that type of story is what we all dream about!

Congrats!

 

[QUICKSRT10/SRT8]

wow very nice

 

[gb66gth]

...a car collector's dream come true.

 

[ACRSNK]

Great story!!! That pretty much happens...well...never.

You really lucked out!

 

[AviP]

That's awesome. So how much did the engine cost? C'mon everyone's dying to know!

 

[BlackSnake99]

very cool story. Adds to the legend of the car without a doubt.

 

[TAXIMAN1]

What Im dying to know is. Where are you storing said engine? On stand? In garage?

 

[AV108U]

I would love to see a pic of the motor vin plate....Thats cool !!!!

 

[01sapphirebob]

Agreed!!!!

That is a great Story. You need to submit that to the Viper Magazine with lots of pics. Opportunities like that rarely present themselves.

Congrats
Bruce

 

[Ricketts]

That's pretty cool! Glad you were able to get it back.

 

[viperdrummer]

On price--rather not say. I can say there were months of negotiation, with others helping including the Editor of a popular Car Mag. When the seller knows he has a matching number, one of a kind engine, and the buyer has the car it was built with it does not help the buyer's leverage.

On where it will go , my wife has that same question. Right now it is in a crate sitting between 2 vipers. I am thinking of making a coffee table out of it. Suggestions welcome.

 

[TAXIMAN1]

On price--rather not say. I can say there were months of negotiation, with others helping including the Editor of a popular Car Mag. When the seller knows he has a matching number, one of a kind engine, and the buyer has the car it was built with it does not help the buyer's leverage.

On where it will go , my wife has that same question. Right now it is in a crate sitting between 2 vipers. I am thinking of making a coffee table out of it. Suggestions welcome.

I was going ad your "wife" into that question. I know mine thinks I am insane sometimes, for car related purchases...


How is the current conditon? Good,Average,Above average? Does it display well, or look like a used engine? And does it still have all the accesories on it?

If so(and the reason I ask), I think it would look great just on a nice shiny red engine stand, to be honest. Maybe do it up nice with a SP emblem and some VCA logos,etc. I would talk to some lubrication specialist's (Tom, hint,hint) as to how to properly store the engine. did they ship with fluid? Is there a safe fluid to inject some form of lube, into the spark plug sockets to preserve?

Interesting stuff.. Will make an awesome conversation piece when your garage opens, for sure.

As for the comment on price. Yes, you were not at the best leverage point to nego. sale. Unless the guy thought your interest was only partial. My father had this exact same thing happen about 20 years ago with a Big Blovk 67' vette. Purchased the vehicle with NOM. The seller contacted him years later stating he had (or located) original block. Which was going to bump the cars value $40k. Needless to say, it didnt come cheap.

 

[white out]

We need some pics of the engine next to the car.

Make a table out of it. I did that with a left over WRX engine I had.
- However, you have to do a lot of cleaning to ensure that it doesn't smell like oil.

You must be registered for see images

Nick

 

[past ohio]

I would like to see a picture of the vin plate on the engine as well....thanks good story, as cars age and MAY go up in value, matching numbers has always been drilled into my head AND all paperwork, documentation can add thousands to the value....like to also see the new engine...

 

[Asp Man]

Great stoty, but not to be rude, just help me understand why wouldn't you put it in the car? Did it not get fixed for oil consumption? To me, and I'm sure a few will agree, the value of "matching numbers" is having them together...in the car! You've got at least three Vipers (per your avatar) so I doubt the Gen I sees much road time, esp. considering the history of the car.

Swap the motors and put the other one on the stand.
My $0.02.

 

[Red Snake]

Not to be rude, just help me understand why wouldn't you put it in the car? Did it not get fixed for oil consumption? To me, and I'm sure a few will agree, the value of "matching numbers" is having them together...in the car! You've got at least three Vipers (per your avatar) so I doubt the Gen I sees much road time, esp. considering the history of the car.

Swap the motors and put the other one on the stand.
My $0.02.

^^^^THIS!

Put it in the car where it belongs.

 

[TAXIMAN1]

Not to be rude, just help me understand why wouldn't you put it in the car? Did it not get fixed for oil consumption? To me, and I'm sure a few will agree, the value of "matching numbers" is having them together...in the car! You've got at least three Vipers (per your avatar) so I doubt the Gen I sees much road time, esp. considering the history of the car.

Swap the motors and put the other one on the stand.
My $0.02.

I would probably do this as well. Leaving it out and not being able to run, will destroy it... Did you know the car was NOM when purchased?

 

[viperdrummer]

Thanks for the responses, and White Out I like that table. I will try to answer

--yes, I knew a replacement motor was in the car and was not surprised since most of the very early ones were bad.

--before buying the car, i spoke to a lot of "experts" including well known car mags execs, collecters, and guys who do high end auctions--to a person they said the real value in the car is that it is number 2 AND that Lutz owned it. Bob put over 90 % of the 7000 miles on the replacement motor. Some experts say the "story (ie engine put back with blank plate at Bob's direction etc) makes the car more interesting. I have full documentaion from Bob about ALL changes to the car and the reasons. This is THE most documented Viper you will ever see.

--the replacement motor is stout and you can bet Team Viper did it right knowing who the owner was. I had Gen 1 cars, and this is the best one I have ever driven. (Bob had TV add some Henessey parts as well which I had John document)

--Bob called the original motor "junk" and said only a fool would put it back in the car. I am sure it could be fixed but I doubt I would bother

--I bought it (engine) to have it--period. I have seen a number of vintage cars (not that an 18 yr old car is vintage) sell and the original motor though not in the car was provided at the time of sale.

Thanks

 

[snakebitdave]

Neat story!!

I find it strange that Bob sold the engine rather than keeping it with the car. He knows what that means to a collector. Maybe he didn't have the space to store it; ha, ha.

 

[viperdrummer]

Neat story!!

I find it strange that Bob sold the engine rather than keeping it with the car. He knows what that means to a collector. Maybe he didn't have the space to store it; ha, ha.

He has so many cars, (planes and coptors) I don't know how he keeps up. Originality meant a lot less to him than us. I suspect it was in the way.

The guy he sold it to is an "engine collector" . I could write a book about him. The whole story is utterly fascinating (maybe only to us gearheads) between my documentation, working with Bob (who has become a friend) and dealing with the motor. I buy a lot of toys but you could not make up this story.

PS Lutz retired today at 78!! Google it.

 

[viperdrummer]

As requested, motor, VIN on motor and VIN on car (bad background refections on latter)

 

[DodgeViper01]

Very unique story. Good job on locating the motor.

 

[BlknBlu]

Try calling Mr Lutz and see if he can pull some strings with the SRT crew and go thru it for you. You will have it car worthy while sitting on a stand with a great story.

Bruce

 

[Red Snake]

Try calling Mr Lutz and see if he can pull some strings with the SRT crew and go thru it for you. You will have it car worthy while sitting on a stand with a great story.

Bruce

That would be cool. Having Engine #0002 refreshed and then put back in the car would be worth looking in to, IMO.

 

[Sellshomesdrivesviper]

Viperdrummer, great story, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[AV108U]

Thanks for the pics.....What a great history you have on your car....Congrats

 

[Mopar Boy]

Awesome pics! Would do the same thing. Keep it out of the car. Never have to worry about damaging it.