At $42,000, Could This 1994 Dodge Viper RT/10 Get You To Bite?
While electric yellow, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Viper is described by its seller as being ‘mint.’ Let’s find out if it costs a mint to get behind the wheel of this legendary brute of a sports car.
My First Car: Danny and Lucy DeVito Discuss the Family Fleet
“Curiouser and curiouser!” cries Alice upon each encounter with the strange and ever-more off-kilter inhabitants of Wonderland. “Off with her head!” demands the Queen of Hearts at Alice’s unintentional insolence. The 1989 Honda GB500 we looked at yesterday was a curious bike, with its retro style and thumper single for an engine. It had also once had its head off, allowing for the installation of a big bore kit in the cylinder below. It was described as being in museum condition, but unfortunately for the seller, most of you thought one would have to be mad as a hatter to pay the $11,500 being asked for the bike. That was obvious in both comments and the 83 percent No Dice loss it suffered.
Alice never comes across any snakes in her misadventures in Wonderland, but she is decried as being a “serpent” by Mother Pigeon owing to her long neck. Here in the real world, we have plenty of snakes, and a lot of audacious cars named after them. This 1994 Dodge Viper RT/10 is one of those, and it is just as crazy a car as anything Alice might encounter down the rabbit hole.
Most everybody knows the history of the Viper: it was a specialty halo car designed by a small team at Chrysler, following the suggestion of the company’s then-president Bob Lutz. It was originally intended to leverage a cast iron V10 truck engine, but Chrysler was able to wrangle subsidiary Lamborghini to completely redesign the 8.0-liter monster mill in lighter aluminum. The result was a 400-horsepower beast that served as the centerpiece of the original Viper’s raw-edged and unabashedly dangerous persona.
This one looks to be mostly original, with the notable exception of a buffet tray mounted to the boot lid. It does have the wonderful Cuisinart-style three-spoke factory alloys and those have been fitted with new tires. That’s a chunk of change right there. Equally original but less attractive are the factory-fitted fabric roof and side curtains. Those fit about as well as a party-goer’s toupee after a night on the town.
On the plus side, the car appears otherwise to be in great shape, and the Dandelion Yellow paint is one of the rarer color choices for the car. The interior seems to be in decent nick as well, although the cheap plastics that Dodge’s penny pinchers saddled the car with are painfully evident and none the better with age. The stereo is an aftermarket unit with an amp in the boot, but if you’ve ever experienced a Viper, you’ll know that’s pretty much a waste of time since these are exceptionally loud cars.
The engine bay is just as clean as the rest of the car and shows off its aftermarket air cleaners and a peek at its new ignition leads. According to the seller, a tune-up and fluid change was recently completed on the car. That must have been one of the car’s first, as it only has 24,000 miles on the clock. It also comes with a clean title and an asking price of $42,000.
What’s your take on this screaming yellow zonker of a car and that $42K asking? Does that seem like a deal to get your hands on one of the most unique and potentially life-threatening cars on the planet? Or does that price poison the deal?
You decide!
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