LE #003 With Carbon Fiber Exterior Package

Mamba52 said:

And who are you? 12 posts joined in 2013 get back to us when you have owned a Viper for a couple of years.

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Mamba52 said:

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is one of the top sports cars in the world. This world renowned, top caliber car that offers a maximum 563hp with functional gullwing doors is truly a representation of great German engineering. Though based on Iniside Line, their sources confirmed that the SLS AMG was actually designed to be the next-generation Dodge Viper.
Based on the information, while the Dodge engineers were in the process of designing the next-generation Viper, having already finished the aluminum chassis and completing the new suspension. Mercedes received news of their developments and reached a decision that the chassis would be the precise starting point for their forthcoming SLS. Apparently, Mercedes paired up with Chrysler for the project until Chrysler’s fund ran short, causing the Dodge team to concentrate its resources somewhere else. The conclusion was a brand-new SLS for Mercedes and a temporary halt in Dodge’s Viper lineup. Additionally, Inside Line supported their claims about the Viper turned SLS through spy photos of the early SLS prototypes having fitted with poorly assembled Viper sheet metal.
Though Mercedes owned Chrysler at the time, it’s hard to criticize the German carmaker for making use of existing engineering work for bringing the SLS to market at a lesser expense. Viper enthusiasts are still hoping that Dodge would finally feature the Viper aluminum chassis in their 2012 release.
Tagged with: Dodge Viper, SLS AMG

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Coloviper said:

Who cares if the Viper looks like an SLS. The SLS looks like crap, just as the SLR. MB has no understanding of beautiful proportions. I would not be bragging about MB for build quality. That is extremely laughable. MB electronics are a nightmare and that is coming from SL65 owners I know.

The new Viper is great for what it is. Everyone can have an opinion, but mine is if you don't like he Gen V interior, you will never be happy with any vehicle.

Many new and potential new owners here with only a few posts. Just cause someone as a few hundred posts, makes them a Viper expert o tell everyone who has a few to come back in a few years. That is laughable as well. The negativity on this board is out of control.

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VENOM V said:

You really should educate yourself before coming to such conclusions. Here's what I suggest: Go to a dealer, sit in a Dart and a Ram. Then sit in the new Viper. Compare. Then go out and buy the May Road & Track and read the comparo between the SLS and the Gen V. Ask yourself if the $231,000 AMG Mercedes beat the loaded $142,000 Viper in any category, or if the Viper pretty much bested the AMG flagship super car that costs significantly more. Then look up the Laguna Seca production car record. Then go to a Ferrari dealer and sit in a 458. Then jump in your 04 and compare to all of them. Then come back and see if you've changed your mind. If not, please don't bother buying a 14 or any other future year Viper.

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PeerBlock said:

Must have touched a nerve if your first response is bringing up post counts.



Aye, top sports car...not supercar...and that's still someones opinion. The hyundai genesis is also a sports car...and someone may hold the opinion that it is among the top sports cars. Neither will be mistaken for a supercar.

Seems like someone blew his *** on an SLS and is now disappointed that the only people giving him nods are other administrative assistants. Not the reception you were hoping for? Don't worry...there's no need to air your insecurities & buyers' remorse. Just admit you made a bad choice and deal with it. You should have ordered a 2013 viper instead of letting your wife talk you into a SLS. Oh, but the viper has "dart parts" so that makes it bad. GOOD THING YOU DIDN'T PULL THE TRIGGER ON THAT ONE! PHEW! It's like you DODGEd a bullet even though you're the one holding the gun.

I'd say see you at the race track...but it's more likely you'll be trolling the forums working on your post count or making a walmart run in your supercar disguised as a grocery retriever.

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PeerBlock said:

Must have touched a nerve if your first response is bringing up post counts.



Aye, top sports car...not supercar...and that's still someones opinion. The hyundai genesis is also a sports car...and someone may hold the opinion that it is among the top sports cars. Neither will be mistaken for a supercar.

Seems like someone blew his *** on an SLS and is now disappointed that the only people giving him nods are other administrative assistants. Not the reception you were hoping for? Don't worry...there's no need to air your insecurities & buyers' remorse. Just admit you made a bad choice and deal with it. You should have ordered a 2013 viper instead of letting your wife talk you into a SLS. Oh, but the viper has "dart parts" so that makes it bad. GOOD THING YOU DIDN'T PULL THE TRIGGER ON THAT ONE! PHEW! It's like you DODGEd a bullet even though you're the one holding the gun.

I'd say see you at the race track...but it's more likely you'll be trolling the forums working on your post count or making a walmart run in your supercar disguised as a grocery retriever.

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PeerBlock said:

Why are you so irascible, brother?



Well, I rode your wife while you were shopping for used cars on ebay.

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PeerBlock said:

Why are you so irascible, brother?



Well, I rode your wife while you were shopping for used cars on ebay.

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PeerBlock said:

I wouldn't buy a car like this new with miles on it. Once we're talking $100K plus my willingness to accept such compromises pretty much disappears.

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Mister Viper said:

Gents

Yes, VIN 300003 does have ~ 170 miles, and there is a story, but it's a good story. Here's the truth of what happened with this unique Launch Edition car:

Before we begin production of customer cars, we build 'Pilot' cars, for our internal testing and occasional media use (the car magazine guys). And in the Pilot phase, our engineers would routinely drive cars out of the plant to test various systems. And as we shifted into building customer cars, a few folks at Conner and in Engineering made the mistake of driving this customer car over the road to test the audio system performance. They put all the miles onto the car. It was an innocent mistake, and the car was never driven hard at all.

At the same time, Howard Coopmans (Body Engineering Manager) had received the very first carbon fiber exterior pieces (4 brake duct intakes and the large rear applique across the back of the car) and we wanted to try the parts out to see how they fit. So, Steve Sharples from SRT called Randy Dye at Daytona Dodge to tell him the bad news about the accidental mileage, and to offer a win-win: if we put the carbon parts on VIN 003, this would become a unique and special car (the first and only carbon Launch Edition). On top of that, Randy drove a hard bargain and asked us to ship him a second set of tires for the car! (The tires on the car are brand new and still have the little nubbies on them), but we all laughed, and agreed to ship him a second set of tires (so this car comes with 2 sets of brand new tires).

So VIN 003 does have a little history, but it's a good story, and this is the only Launch Edition car with the carbon parts as built by the factory, and it even comes with a second set of tires. If you're a buyer looking for a Launch Edition car, and if you're a driver like me, I'd totally call Randy Dye and make him an offer. The carbon parts look awesome, and this car has only been gently broken in by an SRT engineer listening to the radio.

That's the straight truth guys. (Thanks for listening).

Now, you can all get back to complaining about SLS styling, and Viper prices, which is what this thread seems to have drifted off to lately!

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Mister Viper said:

So VIN 003 does have a little history, but it's a good story, and this is the only Launch Edition car with the carbon parts as built by the factory, and it even comes with a second set of tires. If you're a buyer looking for a Launch Edition car, and if you're a driver like me, I'd totally call Randy Dye and make him an offer. The carbon parts look awesome, and this car has only been gently broken in by an SRT engineer listening to the radio.

That's the straight truth guys. (Thanks for listening).

Now, you can all get back to complaining about SLS styling, and Viper prices, which is what this thread seems to have drifted off to lately!

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Mister Viper said:

Gents

Yes, VIN 300003 does have ~ 170 miles, and there is a story, but it's a good story. Here's the truth of what happened with this unique Launch Edition car:

Before we begin production of customer cars, we build 'Pilot' cars, for our internal testing and occasional media use (the car magazine guys). And in the Pilot phase, our engineers would routinely drive cars out of the plant to test various systems. And as we shifted into building customer cars, a few folks at Conner and in Engineering made the mistake of driving this customer car over the road to test the audio system performance. They put all the miles onto the car. It was an innocent mistake, and the car was never driven hard at all.

At the same time, Howard Coopmans (Body Engineering Manager) had received the very first carbon fiber exterior pieces (4 brake duct intakes and the large rear applique across the back of the car) and we wanted to try the parts out to see how they fit. So, Steve Sharples from SRT called Randy Dye at Daytona Dodge to tell him the bad news about the accidental mileage, and to offer a win-win: if we put the carbon parts on VIN 003, this would become a unique and special car (the first and only carbon Launch Edition). On top of that, Randy drove a hard bargain and asked us to ship him a second set of tires for the car! (The tires on the car are brand new and still have the little nubbies on them), but we all laughed, and agreed to ship him a second set of tires (so this car comes with 2 sets of brand new tires).

So VIN 003 does have a little history, but it's a good story, and this is the only Launch Edition car with the carbon parts as built by the factory, and it even comes with a second set of tires. If you're a buyer looking for a Launch Edition car, and if you're a driver like me, I'd totally call Randy Dye and make him an offer. The carbon parts look awesome, and this car has only been gently broken in by an SRT engineer listening to the radio.

That's the straight truth guys. (Thanks for listening).

Now, you can all get back to complaining about SLS styling, and Viper prices, which is what this thread seems to have drifted off to lately!

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ACRucrazy said:

Are the carbon parts on the window sticker ?

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PeerBlock said:

That's a good story, although I have no way of knowing if it's anything more than a story or a factual recount of events. Since you seem to have some kind of inside info, let me ask you this: If a production car is being taken out for testing isn't there some kind of logbook that needs to be signed by the person driving the car, the date, the time and their stated reason for driving the car? I can understand driving the car to test it but 170 miles is a very thorough "test", especially if it's just the stereo. Having done several full stereo installs in the past that involved stripping the car down to its bones, rewiring everything, and then re-assembling it I can say that most of the testing can be done while the car is parked and/or with electrical testing tools prior to final assembly (you want to make sure all the connections are right before putting the car back together).

If the seller could provide a copy of said logbook that explains why a new car has so many miles on it, I think it would hold more water than the story alone and may help assuage skeptics who would say that those 170 miles are really just some manager at the dealership joyriding while waiting for a buyer to come along.

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VENOM V said:

Graham,

Thanks for the back story. It's interesting to hear the behind the scenes happenings in the Viper world.

I've got a GTS on order, but don't want to delay the build so I didn't try to add the carbon aero package. Can it be retrofitted later? I have some machining and fabrication experience, so I'm not intimidated by modding my car. But I've done very little with carbon fiber. Can you drill into the carbon without damaging it? Or does the rear hatch come with threaded inserts to mount the rear spoiler?

I will be tracking my Viper quite a bit, and my home tracks are Laguna Seca, Sonoma and Thunder Hill. Laguna Seca strikes me as a fast enough track that the aero would make a noticeable difference, do you think it's worth retrofitting on?

I'll be at the ALMS race at Laguna Seca, the SRT hospitality suite and at the driver's dinner Friday before. Hope to see you there. I paid for a slot in the SRT Corral, but it doesn't look like my car will be built by then. No big, just looking forward to watching the Vipers kick some *****!

Todd

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ViperSmith said:

I think the beauty of it is, you can virtually build out a GTS from the base SRT.

I wish they would have had just the one model, the GTS starting at the SRT price and had the Chinese menu of options. There are things in the GTS I wanted that aren't in the SRT. There are wheel options in the GTS I wanted that aren't in the SRT. It should have been the "Ferrari" experience where you can build a car as expensive as you want.

I don't think the option prices are too terribly out of line, lets be fair, this is a limited production vehicle. You are going to pay a premium for any option you want. I do think the CF options are priced a bit high (but then again, look at F car CF option price tags), and you will be able to get them aftermarket for a good bit cheaper.

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PeerBlock said:

That's a good story, although I have no way of knowing if it's anything more than a story or a factual recount of events. Since you seem to have some kind of inside info, let me ask you this: If a production car is being taken out for testing isn't there some kind of logbook that needs to be signed by the person driving the car, the date, the time and their stated reason for driving the car? I can understand driving the car to test it but 170 miles is a very thorough "test", especially if it's just the stereo. Having done several full stereo installs in the past that involved stripping the car down to its bones, rewiring everything, and then re-assembling it I can say that most of the testing can be done while the car is parked and/or with electrical testing tools prior to final assembly (you want to make sure all the connections are right before putting the car back together).

If the seller could provide a copy of said logbook that explains why a new car has so many miles on it, I think it would hold more water than the story alone and may help assuage skeptics who would say that those 170 miles are really just some manager at the dealership joyriding while waiting for a buyer to come along.

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Mister Viper said:

Engineers test radio antenna performance from different locations, over the road, just as you would assess the performance while you are driving the car. This involves station reception count from multiple locations.

And I'm not interested in engaging in a debate with you about the history of VIN 003. The car had 167 miles on it when I last saw it before it was shipped out from Conner Avenue (Daytona Dodge has not been driving the car). If you don't believe what happened, then buy another car.

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Mister Viper said:

Engineers test radio antenna performance from different locations, over the road, just as you would assess the performance while you are driving the car. This involves station reception count from multiple locations.

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And I'm not interested in engaging in a debate with you about the history of VIN 003. The car had 167 miles on it when I last saw it before it was shipped out from Conner Avenue (Daytona Dodge has not been driving the car). If you don't believe what happened, then buy another car.

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chorps said:

I hate to attack the messenger, but if you would bother figuring out who is saying this maybe you wouldn't go into inquisition mode so quickly.

IOW, do your research instead shooting from the hip.

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supersnake said:

Hey Mister Viper, I noticed in some of the factory pics that there was a Blue car with #28 hanging off the mirror, This car had no stripes and different wheels than the other LE's but I found it strange it would have a # and in the line up with the rest of the LE's. Please advise if you know the story on this one.

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PeerBlock said:

No, I'm not going to "research" who some random guy on an internet forum is. If he works for Dodge/SRT then he should have chosen a username that reflects that, and gotten some kind of confirmation from the operator of this website. On the net, anyone can be anybody.

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PeerBlock said:

Either way, I can't really fathom how you'd get to a point in your life where you can afford $100K+ cars and simply take people at their word when participating in large transactions. You must have been extremely lucky. For me, documentation > a good story when large sums of money are involved. If you want to give people the benefit of the doubt, more power to ya.

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FrankBarba said:

All i can say is......I'm glad i still have my FGT.

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chorps said:

This website is slightly less wild than most other forum. Members must have a VIN to register, and while that registration doesn't remove all anonymity from the people on the forum, the website administrators know who the members are. Generally, if someone who is a paying member makes a claim about being anything more than an owner (Chrysler engineer or vendor etc.), someone would know whether that is true or not. Lies tend to get found out rather quickly here.

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chorps said:

Lets see...non member...joins less than 2 months ago...18 posts...knows everything and trusts no one. Good on yah.

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chorps said:

It's not like the other posters are selling YOU anything... if you want it, go and verify all you want but stop trying to be the boss of everyone...either you trust what he's saying or you don't. Buy the car or don't, it's not like Mister Viper has an internet car dealership to sell Gen V Vipers from...you're going to a dealership anyhow.

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I can totally fathom how you're not making much headway here though...if you can't figure how I got here that's your problem, not mine, because I'm happy with my $100k+ car.

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