The first series production 1993 Dodge Viper RT / 10 finished in black went to Chrysler design ace Tom Gale. The second came in the garage of Jay Leno, who despite the color of the Viper could not be happier about that purchase in 1992. In the first full year of production of the car, the plant of the New Mack Assembly built only 285 Vipers.
After wowing the audience at the Detroit Motor Show in 1989, company president and vice president Bob Lutz felt compelled to make the Viper a reality, after which the 85-member “Team Viper” worked. to speed up the complex development process. With a composite body over a tubular frame, the Viper was despite its 810-liter all-alloy V10, which sent 400 horsepower and 465 pound-torque torque via a BorgWarner T56 six-speed manual gearbox. Since no drivers, proper roof, side windows or even door handles in sight, the first Vipers were also no gas nozzles and air-conditioning, and yet came with the most expensive front clamp housing America had ever seen.
The pride and joy of Leno, the now 27-year-old representative of a modern Shelby Cobra is perhaps the most impressive halo car Chrysler has ever made. As you might expect, the ’93 Viper RT / 10 in Leno’s garage is also a very well maintained model with less than 10,000 miles per clock, and it has discrete upgrades such as a rear end of 3.77 ratio for improved acceleration and better intact and exhausted with courtesy of John Hennessey.
The RT / 10’s factory accessory package includes a tonneau cover that still looks hilarious, but practicality would be damned if a car offered this much performance at such an affordable price. Chrysler’s two-valve-per-cylinder V10 is a statue of reliability, and the rest of the car remains just as easy to maintain to this day. Sure, the plastic of the interior can be less, even if you have never used what should be the most useless ashtray in the sector, yet the Viper Club is always there to help with tips and parts.
Jay Leno suggests that if you can find a nice early Viper for the right amount, it might just be a good idea to grab it, because not that many are made and the presence, sound and speed of the RT / 10 easily makes it a modern classic that will only get more expensive. As early as 30, the first Viper just didn’t turn out to be more desirable.
