Dodge Viper The full story of the world's first V10 sports car

by Zatz, David

• ISBN13: 9781787117495
• ISBN10: 1787117499
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-04-20
• Publisher: Veloce Publishing

Summary

Now in Paperback! The Viper stunned Americans by showing that Dodge, whose cars were all front-wheel drive (and mostly powered by four-cylinder engines), could make a raw, brutal, V10-powered car that could run with the best. Team Viper went a step further at Le Mans, proving that an American car could handle turns, too; so well that it won its class, repeatedly, at a fraction of the cost of the cars it beat.

This book covers the transition from a concept to a rough and brutal rocket to a world-class supercar, and includes every generation. The story also tells of the rough times when the entire Viper business could have been sold to the highest bidder, and considers alternative paths the 2013-17 Viper might have taken.

This is not just a gushing tribute to the Dodge Viper, the author provides an objective view of the full story, using business, historical, and enthusiast perspectives. The book looks at the business case for each generation, the development stories and their outcomes, and describes some of the issues owners may have to watch out for, particularly in the early models.

Author Biography

David Zatz started writing about AMC/Jeep and Chrysler vehicles in the mid-1980s, with articles in college publications and trade magazines. In 1994, he started playing with the nascent World-Wide Web and created the site that would become allpar.com—the world’s most comprehensive source of information on Chrysler and AMC/Jeep. From 2001 on, Allpar became his full-time job, and his former career in organizational research and change took a back seat. He sold Allpar.com in 2018 to focus on other projects, including writing and teaching at Fairleigh Dickinson University. David has also written for Hemmings Daily, Quality Digest Workforce, and HRMagazine; he has written chapters for the Encyclopedia of Management and the Business Strategy Book of Readings. His first book was Unlikely Icon: Creating and Remaking the Minivan (originally dubbed Mopar Minivans). David has two children, and is married to Dr. Katherine Zatz. He still maintains the acarplace.com web site and his personal site, dave.zatz.us.

Table of Contents

1 History of Dodge Performance
2 The Dodge Viper prototype
3 Putting Viper into production
4 First Generation: 1992 to 2002
5 Starting Over: 2003 to 2007
6 Last Run: 2008-2010
7 Surprise Return: 2013-17
8 Vipowertrain
9 Factories
10 Racing Vipers
11 Viper Truck and Motorcycle
12 Chrysler V-10 concepts
13 Plantmate: Plymouth Prowler
14 Selected Specifications