Who has been here since Day 1??

viperdrummer · Sep 3, 2009

Another recent thread about how many folks bought Vipers and did not like them prompted me to wonder how many folks have been here on the Board since day 1.

First off I don't recall when day 1 was except it being approximately mid 90s (maybe 94) . I remember back then we had a single run on thread (nice in some ways). I also recall that a guy in my club (Va/Md) had already taken viperclub.com so the Board used org.

I remember Jon B, Maurice and a few others besides my self who were there then and remain. Many have come and gone for various reasons. (I think I even re-registered a couple times)

So--who is a "charter poster"? And, who can remember the date of inception?

Paul S Lacey · Sep 3, 2009

I joined in 1997/8 after the first Uk cars arrived then I had a 94 RT/10. seems like only yesterday

Martin · Sep 3, 2009

I was around in the very beginning - when I think there were just about a dozen of us posting. Times sure have changed! It's nice to see that there are some die-hards around. That shows the quality of this site - most forums that I've contributed to went downhill at one point or another and turned into a mess that reminded me of what happened when CB radios got popular in the 70's. All of a sudden you have a bunch of people jabbering about nothing, and getting pleasure out of driving other people crazy. On this site, that's rarely happened, and when it did the perpetrators poofed pretty quick.

Thinking back, there are a few memories of those days: JonB was a travel agent, Fred Kinder was yelling at everyone to attend driving school, GTS Dean was having fun building new roads in Texas, and JayH was busy trying to keep the site together. I'm sure there are lots more, but those are all stuck in my memory.

dave6666 · Sep 3, 2009

I have enough posts to be a day 1'er.

plumcrazy · Sep 3, 2009

been here since then but didnt post till i bought one

slaughterj · Sep 3, 2009

I remember the rough forums before this one (maybe 2 steps back?), does that count? I believe I posted a little on them as I was looking for my first one back in 2001, then soon after, this forum format came to be.

JonB · Sep 3, 2009

Martin said:
I was around in the very beginning - when I think there were just about a dozen of us posting. ......Thinking back, there are a few memories of those days: JonB was a travel agent, Fred Kinder was yelling at everyone to attend driving school, GTS Dean was having fun building new roads in Texas, and JayH was busy trying to keep the site together. I'm sure there are lots more, but those are all stuck in my memory.

slaughterj said:
I remember the rough forums before this one (maybe 2 steps back?), does that count? I believe I posted a little on them as I was looking for my first one back in 2001, then soon after, this forum format came to be.

Exactly! In 1994 we had a "DODGE VIPER" message-board on the Car and Driver website, as well as the Road and Track website. I added the C+D Viper Club Of America forum with Gary Lashisnky and Ivan ** in late 1995 and was the moderator, working thru a C+D guy who had the controls. That became a lively place, challeneged by Porsche, Vette and Mustang guys, and lots of pimple-popping-teeny-boppers. Maurice, SteveF, DeanW3, Jay, and the CAAP manager were daily visitors....the CAAP guy was ingognito, and only a handful of us knew his true ID.......

JayH and Doug Azzarito approached us in 1997 and we agreed to abandon the C+D Forum and bring our message to an official site that they set up jointly..... THIS ONE...now in its 3rd iteration? I have had 3 screennames since 1994, starting with AVIPERGUY on the CD Board....and 1st VCA board.

viperdrummer · Sep 3, 2009

JonB - PartsRack said:
Exactly! In 1994 we had a "DODGE VIPER" message-board on the Car and Driver website, as well as the Road and Track website. I added the C+D Viper Club Of America forum with Gary Lashisnky and Ivan ** in late 1995 and was the moderator, working thru a C+D guy who had the controls. That became a lively place, challeneged by Porsche, Vette and Mustang guys, and lots of pimple-popping-teeny-boppers. Maurice, SteveF, DeanW3, Jay, and the CAAP manager were daily visitors....the CAAP guy was ingognito, and only a handful of us knew his true ID.......

JayH and Doug Azzarito approached us in 1997 and we agreed to abandon the C+D Forum and bring our message to an official site that they set up jointly..... THIS ONE...now in its 3rd iteration? I have had 3 screennames since 1994, starting with AVIPERGUY on the CD Board....and 1st VCA board.

Damn, your memory is good. Now I even recall you as AVIPERGUY and remember when the other guy owned partsrack. At least I was close on dates. Lots of characters back then like Biff and aspman (the guy who registered viperclub.com)
Then there was the guy who had the demolition business in Md and had a Viper for every year back when having multiple snakes was radical.
We were bada$$S because we had this 400HP car which was unheard of in the day. Memories..........................

SquadX · Sep 3, 2009

I was around, just not around here. Does that count.

ViperGTS · Sep 3, 2009

I have print-outs from 1997 but joined not before 2001 when I was looking for my first Viper (a GTS, silver, 1999 - R.I.P.) ... good times ... good memories ... saw a GTS for the first time in reality on the road going to a FIA GT race in Austria in the late 90's ... still smiling when I have a look into my garage now.

GREAT CARS. THX DODGE. :2tu:

Neil - UK · Sep 3, 2009

the old BBS forums are still saved by the VCA, i remember going on them a few times

click on the link below and just open the files for a read
Viper Club of America

Tom F&L GoR · Sep 3, 2009

I joined Thanksgiving 1998 after driving my new '94 home from Montreal (actually from the customs impound area which was a beer distributor warehouse in Champlain) in snow flurries. Daily driver since Day 1.

Martin · Sep 3, 2009

Neil - UK said:
the old BBS forums are still saved by the VCA, i remember going on them a few times

click on the link below and just open the files for a read
Viper Club of America

How funny. I looked through Volume 1 and saw some posts I wrote way back then. Hard to believe it was about thirteen years ago - seems like just yesterday. Strangely, I clearly remember where I was and what was going on in my life when I was writing each of those posts. I guess I had a lot more time on my hands then than I do now - or I was still young enough to multi-task

When I first got the GTS, I had all kinds of wild ideas about modifying the heck out of it. In hindsight, I'm really glad I just did the basics - had I gone the route I thought I was going to go, I think the car would be a mess now. Thanks for digging up that archive!

ViperGTS · Sep 3, 2009

Volume #19 has a problem ...

Martin · Sep 3, 2009

Not to derail this topic, but what kinds of life changes have people from way back in the beginning gone through (and I'm not talking about the blue pill...)?

In the beginning, I was a bright-eyed ambitious Aerospace Engineer for NASA and had just gotten done doing engine dynamics research for the Auto industry. I had all kinds of wild ideas about building my GTS engine into an 8500 RPM screamer (for me, having an engine hold together and be reliable at high RPM's was the holy grail back then).

Now, I'm so far from the Aero/Auto industry it's sad - and I haven't done anything in the engineering field for over ten years and have been trying to find a way back to my roots. Seems kind of ridiculous to spend over ten years in college and grad school and leave it all behind.

Joseph Houss · Sep 3, 2009

Late '96 I believe. Owned a gorgeous black '95 RT/10. Drive down the street with the roof and windows in and have every kid on the block scream "BATMAN!".

An amazing experience... to this day.

And it couldn't have been as good without all those that were around back then!

In no particular sequence and please allow me to apologize if I have forgotten someone:

Maurice, Ivan, Jay, Jon, Gary, Doug, Steve, Biff.... and more!

GTS Dean · Sep 3, 2009

I've been hanging on the Viper bbs services since the days of the Car & Driver board - 2 previous to this one. I'm within the first 200 posts on the Archive Vol 1.

GTS Dean · Sep 3, 2009

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

GR8_ASP · Sep 3, 2009

Also on the C&D site so many years ago. Damn signs of age are all around. Only old timer I don't see listed is WingKing. Pretty sure he was on back then too.

As to Jon I hate to say ity but I cannot recall my screen name back then. I think it was Dr. Speed but not 100%.

JonB · Sep 3, 2009

GTS Dean said:
I've been hanging on the Viper bbs services since the days of the Car & Driver board - 2 previous to this one. I'm within the first 200 posts on the Archive Vol 1.

Since the archives have proof of your early 1998 entry, maybe someone can change your "join date" <<<

Dean and I have been here so long, we both remember when Bob Woodhouse was a bone-stock novice rookie! Dean and I debated privately whether we should tell Bob ALL our secrets or hold back, because we knew he would be driving against us some day. We told him anyway.

And he kicked our butts as expected

1BADGTS · Sep 3, 2009

Joseph Houss said:
Late '96 I believe. Owned a gorgeous black '95 RT/10. Drive down the street with the roof and windows in and have every kid on the block scream "BATMAN!".

An amazing experience... to this day.

And it couldn't have been as good without all those that were around back then!

In no particular sequence and please allow me to apologize if I have forgotten someone:

Maurice, Ivan, Jay, Jon, Gary, Doug, Steve, Biff.... and more!

I have also been around since the mid 90s (off and on )some guy who used to live in Old Bridge ,(since moved to Colts Neck )got me to join.

Y2KACR · Sep 3, 2009

I've been a lurker since 1998. Finallly signed in in 2000. Still lurk more than post (as you can probably tell from the number of posts).

viperdrummer · Sep 3, 2009

There was a lot of excitement/anticipation back then. Things like who has the best new aftermarket hardtop, and real windows. The 96 wheels everyone was putting on their Gen 1s (mine like many broke)

Of course the attention the car was getting was a hot topic. Amazingly, after 17 years that is still the case thanks to low production.

I was 39 then (45 now

) . My kids were tiny --now up to 6'8" and 1 outta college, 1 in and one in 8th grade. One wife--amazingly after 16 sports cars-several more costly than snakes. I was a "young partner" in my law firm and now the senior partner that I used to hate.

I was one that thought Gen 3 would be the end of exclusivety and swore never to own one. I have had 2 Gen 3s and 1 Gen 4--never say never.

Ray W · Sep 3, 2009

1995 were good times. Viper owners from Texas and Fla talking smack and helping each other learn from their mistakes. Biff and others creating parts that no one else would. Back then the racer to poser ratio was easily 90/10.

2001 GTS · Sep 3, 2009

I remember looking at the OLD board and trying to figure out just how to make sense of it...haha.

Newport Viper · Sep 4, 2009

I think I started posting in 1998. Got Viper thanks to that original VCA board and guys like JonB

InjectTheVenom · Sep 5, 2009

Not exactly since day 1, but I faintly remember joining somewhere around 2001 on the board's 2nd volume.

Chuck 98 RT/10 · Sep 5, 2009

98 or 99 I think. It was the old forum format. I was a lot more diplomatic in those days.

past ohio · Sep 6, 2009

I guess I will admit as well being here from the beginning, this started out as a great way to get some quick tips, "how to" advice, and we had Dodge's ear at all times.....the VOI's were the hot topic and several people including Jon, and Gary helped the "newbies" to get their feet wet...and share the experience....hope this continues....best to all....and good health....

Who has been here since Day 1??

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Former VCA National President

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