Winding the clock back to around 2000.... was working across the border, commuting from Windsor at Chrysler in Auburn Hills. I had a job teaching CAD to design and engineering. An opportunity came up in our group, asking who wants to work in the Featherstone facility to teach CAD (CATIA V5) to the Viper folks, and I aggressively volunteered.
After a few weeks of working at Featherstone supporting Pete Gladyzs' team, they had an issue with the CAD model for the Gen 3 engine block. The CAD file was corrupt, and IT didn't have a back-up of the previous file. To redo the CAD file for the engine block would have taken months... They sent the file out to various compaines to repair it, but no luck. I asked to give it a try, had some tricks up my sleeve, and within 20 minutes I fixed the file.
The powertrain group was extremely happy about this news, so the first thing I asked.... can you ask Pete if it's ok if I can take a Viper home for the weekend? Sure enough, answer came back, just fill out this form, and drive safe! There was nothing like being handed the keys, going out to the parking lot to find the car myself, getting in, driving down I-75, crossing the border, just having the chance to take out that beast, and it was modified a bit too, had some race parts on it, they just said to put some miles on it, as it's being evaluated for durability. No problem, I had a great time, having being used to old musle cars, after driving them hard there may be a leak or overheating, but that Viper took any and all abuse, and that's when I fell in love with the dang car, and why I have a RT/10 still to today.
Here's a couple pics from back then of the car that I got to take home when living in Windsor, washed it, took it out all over the place, had a great time, one of the most memorable times in my career.
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Cheers,
Mike
