Competition is a good thing. Steve at Autoform has been building products for Vipers from just about the beginning of Vipers existence. Steve was building hardtops for Gen 1 and 2 Vipers long before I and when I introduced my version, it was much different than what was available and gave a completely different option for customers. Steve was also first to introduce a SRT hardtop, but in my mind I saw something different of how I wanted a SRT top to look and accent the car, and so I offered something that was my vision. Both Steve and I have invested our passion, long hours, tons of development money to create and sculpt, construct tooling and bring to market. Healthy competition.
To take someones hard work and investment risk and splash an exact copy is (to say it in a nice manner) cheating. The carbon fiber top shown here is clearly tooled up from my hard work, without my permission. I'm sure the person who did this will deny in some way, but I know my product, and that's it (the rear window attachment has been modified). I'm simply going to call foul and make the Viper community aware of the business ethics.
Some of my designs like the Street Serpent and the Falcon are inspired from many things that have already been created. Almost all designs are inspired from something and a new hard top on the market that is inspired from my design is a form of flattery and can promote healthy competition. An exact replica tooled from my efforts, that skips all of the hard work, vision, and investment that comes with introducing a niche product is stealing. The product can then be turned around and sold cheaper because those costs do not have to be recouped. I'm not impressed.
For those of you coming to Austin for the roundup, it will be there on display. Thanks to Steve for staying on "top"
