Guest Post by Eric Peters
The Corvette now reigns as America’s only supercar. But there used to be two American supercars – the second one being the Dodge Viper.
It was, arguably, more super.
More outrageous, certainly.
An 8.4 liter V10 (and 600 horsepower) rather than a 6.2 liter V8 (and 460 hp) paired only with a manual transmission. Not just anyone could drive a Viper. Almost anyone can drive a Corvette. And not just because it is available with an automatic. The Corvette you can drive to work, in traffic. It puts up with this sort of duty as agreeably as a Camry.
The Viper in traffic is like a Lipizzaner stallion forced to give pony rides to 10-year-olds at a birthday party.
Getting out of a ‘Vette, you don’t risk burning your calves on hot sidepipes – because the Corvette hasn’t offered sidepipes since the ‘60s. The Viper had them right through to the end – which was the 2017 model year.
Continue reading “How Uncle Killed the Viper”
