The Dodge Viper Is a Radical Outlier With a Bark as Ferocious as Its Bite

Prior to the Dodge Viper, Chevrolet’s Corvette had pretty much been the lone star on the American sports-car stage since the mid-1950s. There were interlopers in the ensuing years, but none had more than supporting roles, until Chrysler announced a radical concept in 1989 at the North American International Auto Show. The Viper was promoted by then-Chrysler president Bob Lutz, and was based on Chrysler Advanced Design Studios’ concept presented the year before.

Positioning the Viper as a modern-day Cobra, chief engineer Roy Sjoberg developed the car for series production, proof that Mopar was finally bearing its fangs. (Herpetologists will look askance, as vipers and cobras are two distinct families within the order Squamata, and related only by their chemically dissimilar venomous attributes, but we digress.)

By 1991, the Viper was in production, a radical outlier among American offerings that made Chevy’s Corvette seem as refined as grandpa’s Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. The first generation (1991 through 2002) grew marginally more civilized over a decade, but the initial cars were essentially ragtops with no airbags in sight, no air conditioning, and flimsy plastic side windows in the hair-shirt tradition of the original Shelby Cobra.

The striking GTS coupe, introduced in 1996, could be considered the high point of Viper design, and recalls the purposeful profile of Shelby’s Daytona Coupe, designed by Pete Brock for serious motorsport competition in 1964. Second generation Vipers (2003 through 2010) feature “modern” touches like ABS brakes (added in 2001), included long after other manufacturers had universally adopted them.

By 2013, Dodge needed some sales juice and put the Viper under the SRT (Street and Racing Technology) division, where the Viper remained the brand’s most potent model. The third generation (2013 through 2017) was positively refined by comparison to its predecessors, although drivers still had to stir their own six-speed gearbox and work a massive clutch pedal. But in an era of multiple cupholders and automatic transmissions, the Viper—vehemently rejecting both—didn’t stand a chance of making a profitable contribution to Detroit’s bottom line, and production ceased in 2017, with about 32,000 examples made throughout its 26-year run.

Today, the Viper is an exciting alternative to the plastic-fantastic ’Vette. The Viper has composite bodywork too, but is entirely unique among American cars, with a naturally aspirated V-10 engine whose bark is as ferocious as its bite. Over the course of production, displacement ranged from 8.0-liters to 8.4 liters, while output grew from 400 hp to 645 hp, with impressive zero-to-60 mph sprint times ranging from 4.5 seconds to 3.5 seconds, depending on the model variant. The ACR coupes could top 200 mph, so the Viper was no poseur.

In the spartan cockpit, be prepared for an expanse of plain vinyl and cement-mixer levels of noise. Cars made until 1996 had side pipes running under the doors that get dangerously hot: upon exit, warn first dates to grab your hand and not a scorching exhaust. The Viper is an acquired taste, made for those who want a car that eschews some creature comforts in exchange for a rousing driving experience.

The model’s reliability is good, and there are no real landmines for would-be owners, who can be confident that they are acquiring an honest-to-goodness sports car in the best American tradition. Pre-1996 examples, without a real roof, range from about $35,000 to $85,000, depending on condition.

Coupes command about 50 percent more, and special editions like the track-focused GT2 and ACR can sell for more than twice as much. But, in those cases, you won’t be chillin’ with A/C, because purpose-built race cars don’t have it. Ultimately, the Viper evokes emotion, and is a reminder that a love for some cars—as with some partners—is not necessarily rational. Yet they make us fall for them, nonetheless.

Click here for more photos of this 2002 Dodge Viper GTS Final Edition.