Gorgeous car, too bad its a Chrysler product.
I have a good friend that has owned 5 of these and raced them professionally. Very difficult to drive them fast. But they sure are sweet to look at.
In 1982, I had the opportunity to take a customers DP935 for a drive - and he didn't mind because he was NUTS in more ways than one.
Water cooled heads, air cooled block, twin blowers, REALLY wide BBS rims. It was the first time I'd ever seen a 35 series tire. Being young and bold (stupid!), I got her pointed in a straight line, let out the clutch with caution and once rolling, pressed the peddle to the floor. Tremendous turbo lag in those days. Initially unimpressed that such a wicked looking car would feel so similar to a 911, I was about to mumble something disparaging about the car when without warning, the turbos spool up. Left front wheel almost left the ground & before I could move my foot off the gas, the speedo was approaching 60. I'd never seen a speedometer needle move so quickly - faster than most tachs!
When I did slip a foot off the gas, weight shift to the front end was an unfamiliar sensation – not sure what to do I got back on the gas. Mind you, still in first gear - cuz I’m too stunned by all the activity to be changing gears…. turbos were right there. Now the ass end wants to swap places with the front. By this time, I'm breaking a sweat and running out of road. This ride also became the first time ABS was clearly felt in my feet. The brake pedal kicked like a mule (or so memory says). Somehow, the car stopped without incident. I swear I heard an evil laugh coming from inside my head. For the ill-informed/unprepared driver, high power/high torque rear engine Porsche's are definitely difficult to drive. Bob Bondurant took the edge off my inexperience a few years later.
Same customer brings me a Purple XJ12 with fat rims all around. It rumbled into my garage. This was certainly not a politely tuned, well-mannered British 12 banger. A 600cu in Keith Black Hemi had taken its place. He let me take that car to the Del Mar Grand Prix where my company had a demo booth for the entire weekend. On the way back to the shop Sunday after races, I'm southbound on 805 just past the 5 split. It was dusk. A NatZ buzzes up next to the Jag - lurching and lagging as we maintain ~60. The Z sounds like a bumble bee - driver looking my way in challenge. The Jag was automatic, so what could go wrong? I stomped the gas - next thing I know, the headlights are illuminating the "Mira Mar Road 1 mile" off ramp sign positioned ABOVE the freeway on an overpass. NatZ was in the rear view mirror. .
That car was easy to drive.
Same customer eventually brought in a 917, 246 Dino, BB512 and a wild Cadillac DeVille with a Rat motor and 4 Recaro Ideal Seat C’s. For a guy with money, he sure didn't seem smart about who he would let drive his cars!
Years later, he ended up in prison for reasons we can guess at. A great car guy but a questionable human being, perhaps.
From what I’m told, the 2016 Viper SRT puts 650HP down at the wheels. Pretty impressive in my book. If materials, construction and appearance count for anything, the Viper sure looks like it could walk the walk. I hope buyers with the $ to buy these things have the brains to learn how to drive them. With that, as I looked closely at this Viper, I couldn’t help but think about its future value. What brought that to mind was the production progress dots painted on the front/rear upper control arms, and the hand scratched #’s, and the alignment paint. If mileage is kept low and she remains stock, those little color dots can make mega dollar differences to collectors looking for factory originality.
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Weird thought to have – the car is meant to eat the road and I hope she does. Her builders would want it that way.
