How many 92s here?

99VPRGTS

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DAMN! You have the second one in production?!??!! Thats awesome man! How many miles are on the car? Got any pics? Sorry for the excited post but I thought that the first two were in the museum.
 

sdaddy

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Aw, you should have bought the GTS-R instead. Did Mr. Lutz deliver it personally, drive you around in it and take you to dinner like the ad for the car promised?
 

Vic

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Damm, that's some sacred early Viper history right there! Awesome collector piece.
 

sdaddy

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i just bought a 92 . Never had one before--my earliest was a 95. Any other 92 owners here? Thanks

That is a real collector piece. Does Iacocca have the first 92?

If you do see Bob Lutz ask him why they put the sunroof in the 96 GTS Pace Car he drove at the Indy 500. There has to be some obvious reason.
 
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viperdrummer

viperdrummer

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Yes, I am told 1 is with Iacocca family. 2 has 7300 miles. But, getting back to question at hand it does not sound like there are many 92s on the Board. Thanks.(RT 99--I may need you to open some photos I will post soon of car's arrival earlier this week -thanks)
 

past ohio

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My 92 is on the lift in my garage right now, 138 is the number.....when I got mine they didn't even have the tops ready and that was UPS'ed to me after I got the car,,at the time Reliable delivered right to my front door, I also have all paperwork and many 92 Viper stuff....good luck, I did see the #1 when a bunch of Chrysler dealers BOUGHT the car for Lee Iacocca....Le in turn sent out a plaque to each dealer as a thanks ...FYI....
 

alpine7822

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That is a real collector piece. Does Iacocca have the first 92?

If you do see Bob Lutz ask him why they put the sunroof in the 96 GTS Pace Car he drove at the Indy 500. There has to be some obvious reason.

I asked that questiong when I was at CAAP last summer. They said it was due to Indy regs that said the driver of the pacecar has to be able to see completely behind them, so they put in a sunroof so the passenger can poke his head out if necessary to see.
 

VardaMan

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I'm the IVR Registrar for the 1992 & 1993 Vipers. I am also the original owner of a 1992 & 1993 Viper. I still have both cars and have made a hobby out of tracking down as much information that I can find on these great early Vipers.
Chrysler had promissed that the production Viper would go from concept to reality in 3 years. At the time, there was a lot of publicity about Chrysler's use of the cross functional Viper Team. One of the claimed benefits was to greatly reduce the time required to develop and launch the first production Viper. Since the 1989 Concept Viper was shown at the Detroit Auto Show in 1989, the Team needed to start the production of the 1992 Vipers within the 3 year time frame and prior to Janurary 1992. The first 3 Vipers, #001, 002 & 003 were actually built in December of 1991 and therefore, the 3 year commitment had been met. This also provided real 1992 production Vipers for Chrysler to show to the world at the new car Auto Shows starting in Janurary, 1992. The actual MDH build date for these 3 Vipers is Janurary 10, 1992. Over the next 4 months, only 14 more Vipers were built until VIN # 018 was shipped to the first retail customer in April. These first 17 Vipers were used by Marketing and Engineering however a few may have slipped out to others.
I hope that you find this of interest.
Pat
 

SylvanSRT

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spring of '92 here is a car my brother's father inlaw brought home for us to use for a long wknd very early build these pics were taken in very early '92

viper911.jpg


viper012.jpg


viper914.jpg
 
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Les Quam

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Pat,
I have #135 and was wondering from your research and knowledge of the 92s if you can shed some light on the engine problems found on so many 92s? What was the specific issue and if they ever got it resolved during the 92 model year? I have 470 miles on mine and was wondering if putting more miles on it made it more likely to have the engine problems or not? I think it was an oil consumption issue? But I am not sure? My car was built on July 28 1992. Thanks for any information.
 

Mad Max 93 RT10

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Pat,
I have #135 and was wondering from your research and knowledge of the 92s if you can shed some light on the engine problems found on so many 92s? What was the specific issue and if they ever got it resolved during the 92 model year? I have 470 miles on mine and was wondering if putting more miles on it made it more likely to have the engine problems or not? I think it was an oil consumption issue? But I am not sure? My car was built on July 28 1992. Thanks for any information.

Oil consumption issues are due to bad valve guide seals. Same problem on my early 93. Tator answered that for me when I called two weeks ago.
 

Les Quam

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I have heard valve guides and also bad rings. I can't believe it was just valve guides because most owners didn't get their original blocks back when the warranty work was completed since the dealers sent the entire engine back to Dodge or Arrow or wherever they sent them including Bob Lutz? Why would the block and not just the heads be involved for valve guides??
 

VardaMan

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Les Quam,
I have talked with Charlie Brown about the problem. He said that the wrong rings (hardness) were used and prevented the rings from properly seating in the block. He said that this would result in high oil consumption. I don't know if this problem was present on just the early 1992's and I don't know when the problem was found and corrected. I do know that Chuck Tator, "The Wizard" has repaired this problem on several 1992 Vipers. I would suggest that you give Chuck a call. I am sorry for not being able to provide a complete answer for you.
Pat
 

Les Quam

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Thanks Pat. I have also never been able to get any definitve answer in all these years as to what 92s or 93s this problem affected? Or when it was discovered and corrected? The most common answer has related to the rings not seating properly.

My 92 runs fine and I haven't seen any signs of excessive oil use although obviously it has very low miles. It still has the sticker on the window and I am afraid to try to remove it at this point. Its just a garage queen.

Thats really neat that you are the original owner of both a 92 and 93. I remember walking into a Dodge showorom in suburban Chicago in 92 and trying to buy a new 92. The dealer wanted over 100K and wouldn't budge I never did find out what it sold for?

The original engine block for Lutz's #2 car resides with an engine collector. Hopefully the new owner will find it and unite it with the car for the future?
 

Vipers4fun

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Wow #2 that’s assume. I have #115 and it has 3200 miles on it, bought new in 94 from the dealers showroom. Sold my 2003 but I will keep the 1992 till the end.
Enjoy the history that comes with the first year!
Pat
 

past ohio

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If #002 has a different engine in it, then it wouldn't qualify as a "number's matching vehicle " ??
 

Les Quam

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#002 does not have the original block in it. The original is on a collectors stand somewhere. The car has about 7300 miles on it. Its my understanding Bob Lutz knows who has the original block so it shouldn't be too difficult to find it and buy it. Its amazing to me that in 1992 that Dodge didn't understand the importance of returning the original blocks when they rebuilt the engines??? The original engine, numbers matching craze was in full swing by 1992.
 

Viper #53

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I own Viper 10000053. The engine was returned to Chrysler to deal with piston ring recall. They sent the original block back and it's still in the car. You can see my original window sticker and dealer mark up to $253,299 on page 10 of Marucie's Viper's Buyer's Guide book. I bought the car in early 1994, 6 months after the son of Amdahl's CEO stacked his other car, a Ferrari F40. He was still in a cast when I purchased it from him for MSRP. The car had 150 miles on the odometer!

James
 

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