1992 Viper Prototype | Retro Review

Diablo Mike

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The headers sticking out of the fender on the show car were awesome.

I remember my first ride in an R/T 10....just a tire destroying beast. 1-4 gears up in smoke, even with giant 345 steamrollers. Awesome cars.

Later had a chance to drive a GTS hardtop, and rode in a 3rd Gen ACR for a few Saturday nights on the street, what a beast.
 

CobraBob

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Now that took me back to the day. I remember being at Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, CT getting a personal tour before they started entering a ton of their mods in my '94 Camaro back in 1995. There was a Viper there getting some mods so I got to look at it pretty well. Including the undercarriage when it was on the lift. It was crude in so many ways, like it was hand built by someone in their well equipped garage. But, what a beast at the time. This was the first Viper I had seen up close, and I was really impressed despite the crudeness of much of the construction. A legend had been born. Still is a legend!
 

SecondhandSnake

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They really are such insane cars, and what struck me most is they do not feel or act at all like you would imagine. They're just big, obscenely overpowered go-karts. They're drastically more nimble and responsive than you'd think at first glance. And the V-10 feels so much more powerful than you'd expect on paper. Then their interior is just the same low budget Chrysler plastic of the day. They're just all about business, purely purpose built. A real spiritual successor to the Shelby Cobra.

Can't wait for this 'rona bullshit to be over so I can go back to hunting for one.

Now that took me back to the day. I remember being at Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, CT getting a personal tour before they started entering a ton of their mods in my '94 Camaro back in 1995. There was a Viper there getting some mods so I got to look at it pretty well. Including the undercarriage when it was on the lift. It was crude in so many ways, like it was hand built by someone in their well equipped garage. But, what a beast at the time. This was the first Viper I had seen up close, and I was really impressed despite the crudeness of much of the construction. A legend had been born. Still is a legend!

It amazed me after spending some time on the high volume production side of things just how crude and labor intensive most cars we think of as "high end" are. They fall in this weird gap of moderate volume where they don't have the advantage of volume and mechanized assembly like the big companies, but have too high volume to spend the attention to them that one off shops do. And yet they command the big money, when even your average economy car is going to have more precision and quality put into it.
 

blk02edge

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The headers sticking out of the fender on the show car were awesome.

I remember my first ride in an R/T 10....just a tire destroying beast. 1-4 gears up in smoke, even with giant 345 steamrollers. Awesome cars.

Later had a chance to drive a GTS hardtop, and rode in a 3rd Gen ACR for a few Saturday nights on the street, what a beast.
Must have been on hockey pucks, 1-2 gens with good rubber will hook first gear! (some wheel hop on poor roads) Even with the monster bottom end. No way in hell are ya spinning 3rd/4th
 

SecondhandSnake

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Must have been on hockey pucks, 1-2 gens with good rubber will hook first gear! (some wheel hop on poor roads) Even with the monster bottom end. No way in hell are ya spinning 3rd/4th

You'd be surprised how many are rolling around with 10+ year old tires, or even original ones.
 

blk02edge

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You'd be surprised how many are rolling around with 10+ year old tires, or even original ones.
My dad has my old gen 2 sitting on exactly 10 year old tires. I still take it around the track occasionally. It's garbage on the road course but still hooks pretty good in a straight line
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Diablo Mike

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Must have been on hockey pucks, 1-2 gens with good rubber will hook first gear! (some wheel hop on poor roads) Even with the monster bottom end. No way in hell are ya spinning 3rd/4th
It was a friends Dad's car. We took it out of the neighborhood behind a shopping center and he let it rip from a dig. Dumped the clutch in 1st and lit them up and proceeded to just rip through the first 4 gears and the car never hooked up. It was the first (and probably only time) I ever felt a car blow through the tires all the way into 4th gear but I promise you, it happened. Tires may not have been brand new but weren't junk...
 

03Sssnake

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Love it! I think Clarkson made a comparison to the Viper is like that crazy mate of yours, one moment you are having a pint and the next he's trying kill you with a chainsaw!
 

offroadkarter

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Love it! I think Clarkson made a comparison to the Viper is like that crazy mate of yours, one moment you are having a pint and the next he's trying kill you with a chainsaw!

That was with the third gen which for some reason I can't find that on youtube (damn BBC!)

I did however, find these from old top gear


 

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