What made you buy a Viper?

[slitherv10]

What made me buy a Viper was...

One sec....going for a spin and I will be right back with the answer

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

The styling and performance of the Gen 2 GTS made me buy my first Viper plus the stellar wins in factory works cars in ALMS and Euro racing back then. Had no problem in trading in my Corvette when I learned about the GTS.

 

[slitherv10]

Money

 

[Nine Ball]

I remember when the 1st gens showed up at the local Houston area shows. I thought they were cool, but overpriced and had no roof. The blue/white GTS is what made me really want one. I still like looking at the blue/white GTS coupes. Verts don't do much for me.

 

[Jog]

What made me buy my first Viper....In 1997 I saw the Viper up close for the first time at a used car dealership in Queens, New York City. It was a white Gen II GTS with Blue stripes. I remember the dealership owner telling me that the car was amazing, but he couldn't see spending 75k on a Dodge...That was the day I fell in love with the beast. The Viper has always been the Black Sheep / Out Cast of the Exotic Sports Car Community...That's what attracted me to the car. It's like a rebel, it stands alone; it's unique and filled with raw power ( Kinda the way I'd like to view myself...Lol ). I always thought this car was out of my financial reach, but on June of 2011, I purchased my first Viper ( Gen III Silver Bullet Convertible )....And I haven't looked back since........{ clap..clap...clap }

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

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

 

[Golfer15]

Loved the styling from from day 1. VIPERS are a rare breed !!! Just got home today after driving 40 hours to and from Florida, and did not see one VIPER, but the vettes were like Tim Hortons in Canada, one on every corner. Even if the lottery thing were to happen to me, my 2010 FE would be the only high performance vehicle in my garage, well maybe until I buy a GEN V.

 

[Mopar Boy]

Mike

I still like the car was yellow.


And holy crum that took a lot of work to rebuild! Nice to see it was part yellow back on the road too.