the development of a twin turbo Viper

 https://nasaspeed.news/cool-rides/twin-turbocharging-a-dodge-viper-acr

I had a couple minutes to look through an apartment building parking garage... and was surprised to find a Viper, a Chevelle Malibu, and this sad Camaro. Poor thing needs some love

it's so odd to see a Viper in a parking garage... it shouldn't be, they are only worth about 40 k... 10 to 20k less than most new vehicles. Maybe there just weren't that many ever made, maybe that's why I rarely see them

a 99 Viper RT 10's owner commissioned oceanic artist Lassen to decorate it. Oddly, it didn't get a typical scene of whales, sea turtles, and dolphins, but tit

  Lassen in Hawaii, who contemplated the car’s transformation. He painted a raging inferno of flames that fire from the car's mouth and leach all the way to the back quarters. The flames start white, like the burning rock of a meteorite, and become gradually more yellow, orange, and red. He named the car Meteorite.

 To compliment the artistic interpretation of the car a signature Lassen ornate marine scene of two dolphins, under a beautiful Hawaiian sunset was added to the hood.

https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/17486/lot/21/custom-150000-paintjob-by-christian-riese-lassen1999-dodge-viper-rt10-chassis-no-1b3er65e4xv502964/

https://en.wheelsage.org/dodge/viper/ii/pictures/zk0rv3

https://www.orlandoclassiccars.net/vehicles/166/1999-dodge-viper-rt-10

there has been a Viper up on a sign over a Chrysler dealership in Henderson, Kentucky since 1996. For years, locals assumed that it was just a body shell or that it lacked a powertrain, but it's a fully functioning Viper

Jacob posted photos of the Viper being brought down from its perch on the Viper Club of America Facebook group and the years of sitting nearly 30 feet in the air weren’t kind to it.

Its red paint didn’t hold up well to tens of thousands of hours of sunlight, as its clear coat is peeling like a bad sunburn. Nature also decided to take over the Viper, as the driver’s side window looks like a terrarium and the engine bay is now a bird’s nest

the car was brought down for refurbishment 15 years ago. I wonder if that’s when it was given quite possibly the worst-looking set of aftermarket wheels ever fitted

According to Schreiber, the Viper is going to get cleaned up and painted. Once refreshed, Tristate Homepage reports that the Viper should return to its post in about a month or so

https://www.thedrive.com/news/real-dodge-viper-mounted-on-dealerships-sign-for-28-years-has-been-reclaimed-by-nature

Update on Harry Bradley post

I just learned that he sketched the designs for the entire original Plymouth Rapid Transit System Caravan

Harry Bradley was assigned the job of coming up with artwork for the customs. Since he didn’t have a real Duster to base his drawings on, he had to use sketches of what the stock Duster would look like. Plymouth had to sign off on Bradley’s work before his ideas were realized in lead and paint.

Bradley came up with another cool touch—large flip-style racing-type gas caps—one for each quarter. Since the Duster only had one gas tank, the second cap was a dummy. So, if a dummy gas jockey filled you up through the dummy cap, he filled the trunk, not the tank (big deal, gas was cheap back then.) The gas cap was the same piece used on the Ford Cobras, but it wasn’t a Ford original. The Blue Oval boys had borrowed it from its original application-on an English oil truck. The same cap, by the way, is used today on Vipers.

https://www.moparaction.com/2021/03/29/show-buster-duster/

https://www.mecum.com/articles/the-plymouth-rapid-transit-caravan/

one of the tv show cars from 'Viper" sold on Bring A Trailer for $145, this same car was listed at Mecum back in 2010, but did not get sold, even with a bid of $270,000. I bet someone still kicks themselves for missing that

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-viper-defender-tv-car/

I posted about it in 2014 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/08/believe-it-or-not-viper-from-tv-show-is.html

neglected Viper finally gets a bit of help

The owner says it was purchased brand new by his late brother who passed away in 2015, leaving him the Viper. Then the guy suffered a major heart attack and wasn’t able to work on the car

The owner says he has a nice spot cleaned out in the barn for it, to pass it down to his daughter,

https://www.motorious.com/articles/news/barn-find-dodge-viper

Chris Farley, 25 years later

On the set of Beverly Hills Ninja, he hosted a kid in the Make A Wish Foundation

1:28:44 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chris-farley-tribute-episode-part-2/id1603639502?i=1000590130223

Farley had a black 95 Viper he stored at the Beverly Hills hotel, it only had 5k miles when Farley died in 97. Ownership went to his parents, who ran a classified advertisement in a Madison newspaper to sell it, and the local Mopar dealership, Kayser Chrysler  of Watertown, bought it and displayed in it their show room https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/1998/11/30/tidbits.html

SRT

Street & Racing Technology is a high-performance automobile group within Stellantis North America. In 1989, a team known as "Team Viper" was put together to develop the Dodge Viper. It later merged with Team Prowler, the developers of the Plymouth Prowler, to become Specialty Vehicle Engineering

ain't no way the Viper's insurance company is going to believe any excuse.... play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Dayton Ohio... Integra vs Viper

 

really good looking for a 28 year old car

 
https://www.reddit.com/r/carporn/comments/p404d6/1993_dodge_viper_rt10/

factory race car... must have been cool to own one

https://jacdurac.tumblr.com/post/650853771951357952/viper

Road and Track says this about the Viper

 In 2000, the IIHS 's Highway Loss Data Institute revealed that the 1997 -99 Viper cost insurance companies more than any other vehicle, averaging 7 times the payout of a typical collision claim

And that legend has it that 30% of RT/10s were crashed on the way home from the dealership

R&T vol 4, page 41

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a36039737/what-made-the-original-dodge-viper-the-most-dangerous-modern-sports-car/

have you heard of the Viper R/T 10/ CS? Carroll Shelby and Fitzgerald Motorsports, made 19 Carroll Shelby Limited Edition Viper Roadsters... even though the plan was to make 50. Seems no one needed to waste more money on a Viper for minimal gains in performance over the stock factory Viper they could buy in a dealership

this is #5, and about 25 years ago, #16 was in the San Diego Auto Museum for about a year. 

18 1995/1996 RTs were built (16 white with blue stripes, 1 blue white stripes, 1 black with gold emblem on the hood) and one 1997 GTS Shelby S/C (Street Competition) which was red with gold stripes.

Modifications were a fresh air intake and better exhaust, plus a remapped ECU, helped bump power to around 500 Hp from the stock 415.

The car was also fitted with a 3.73:1 rear axle ratio in place of the stock 3.07:1 unit, along with racing harnesses for some extra safety.

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1996-DODGE-VIPER-RT/10-CS-CARROLL-SHELBY-LIMITED-EDITION-ROADSTER-211701

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1130796_world-s-only-dodge-shelby-viper-gts-cs-heads-to-auction

when sports cars and muscle cars are race track ready, then they're as great as they can be, and look it. Here's some of the cool cars at the Optima Challenge

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