The Full Body of Work: Dodge Viper
Is the Dodge Viper the coolest car in the whole world or what? We think it is! And it’s in its last year of production so we just won’t see this beautiful handcrafted car rolling off the Dodge line ever again.
The Viper sports car first came out in 1991 when the pre-production model was the pace car for the Indianapolis 500. It became available for sale in 1992 and was known as the RT/10 Roadster. The body style was certainly unique and way sporty but the main attraction was its V8 engine, which was designed by Lamborghini, which was also owned by the Chrysler Corporation. Its block and heads were cast in aluminum alloy and weighed in at 711 pounds.
The body was a tubular steel frame with fiberglass panels and delivered a maximum speed of 165 mph and could hit 60 from a dead stop in 4.6 seconds, which made it a very fast car. Those speeds kept improving throughout the years and today’s 2017 model with its 645 hp 8.4-liter V10 engine can reach 206 mph and hit 60 from zero in about 3.5 seconds; quite an improvement. By the way, the 2017 model is technically called the Dodge Viper 1:28 because it set the lap record at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in Northern California.
This American icon comes with some nice standard features such as, four-channel antilock brake system, traction control, electronic multistage stability control, plenty of air bags, park distance control, brake assist and daytime running lights. The interior is comfortabl with no flash and very few frills but, hey, what are you interested in anyway, flash and bling or power, speed and knowing that your are driving one of the most famous fast cars ever built in this great country? God bless America and her Vipers!
Yes, we do tend to go a bit overboard when talking about this coolest of all American cars. Okay, the Rambler in its day was…sort of cool – Not..so we’ll just stick with our assessment of the Viper being on the top of the list in the annals of the greatest cars ever built in this country. Who’s going to argue with that?
We’re not sure if you can still order one of these automotive masterpieces but give Marlow Motor Company a call and they can fill you in.