Hello everyone,
I would like to share with you the story of my/our very first Viper (though I have been a fan since day one). My wife and I were looking for the perfect anniversary gift for one another....and Viper's took and early lead. Back a few months ago we checked out a white mamba and we loved it. I even had a test drive, very nice (I had some previous experience driving a '97 [******] Venom 550). Well, we went back and forth about various cars and we kept coming back to the Viper.
Now it's September and new white mamba's are getting harder and harder to come by (and used ones were being snatched up as quick as they appeared). I found a few left and picked one. Made my travel plans and took off for an adventure. You see I was planning on driving it back with my buddy Steve.
OFF WHITE
When we get there (Casper Wyoming) the car is not right, in fact, it has several paint touchups around the front fender and driver sideskirt not to mention an inch and half scratch on the nose. These somehow had escaped the dealer's attention as nobody (body shop mgr, service mgr, sales mgr) had a clue as I was the one showing them! And, very suspiciously, the rear tires had no "mold flanges" left, even though the car had only 34 miles. I suspected that a burnout or two had occurred, not good for a car that had supposedly been sitting on the dealer showroom since arrival! There were more things "off" about this car, so I decided to bail and get back to Denver for the night and decide which white mamba to go for next.
Well, on my way back I get a call from Bill Pemberton of Woodhouse (frequent visitor to these forums!) whom I had left a message with previously regarding a white mamba (#23) that their website showed as being in-stock. Bill was at VOI.8 and had brought the wrong cell phone charger and did not get my message - what timing he has!
Bill tells me the white mamba is history but he has a VCA Special Edition Yellow 2005 Viper coming in two days. I say "send me pics" and he does. I forward them to my wife and says "looks good, check it out" (we had not considered yellow...but, it works!). The next day Steve and I fly to Omaha where Bill puts us up for the night.
YELLOW 32
The next morning, Bill sends a driver (Dale) and off we go to the largest, most spread out dealership I have ever seen! As we pull in to the Dodge lot, we spy the orange Reliable trailer and low and behold, 4, count'm 4 VCA Yellow Vipers are being unloaded! One is Bill's, one is going overseas and one is off to the east coast and the other, well, here it is:
I quickly call my wife and we give it "go", I love the way she put it, she said, "the mamba brought us the special edition", that's perfect and I'm off to finish the deal.
Before you know it, Steve and I are in the driver's seat:
Car is sitting at 18 miles on the odometer as we head out to top off the tank for the ride home:
At 250 miles or so we stop to check the "tire mold flanges", guess what, we still have them! As we never exceeded 4000rpm and never smoked the rubber. Now I know that white mamba we first looked at had some previous powerful tire "smoothing" (who knows if it was on a cold motor/tranny). Just for grins, we still had some flanges left at 500 miles too.
Seeing how we drove off at 3pm, we are almost 500 miles into the drive back and we all needed a little dinner:
We made it to Oklahoma City and eventually landed at the airport as all hotels in town were sold out for the State Fair, some concert and Hurricane Ivan (lots of folks extending their stay). After a morning thunderstorm we made our way south:
Steve needed to head back east for some business activities so we drop him off at the Dallas Fort Worth airport:
Now I get to spend some one-on-one time and the tank needs topping off just north of Waco, the last pit stop before Austin:
Within minutes
we arrive into Austin and tally up the final trip milage at 923:
Not a bad little ride, what a great way to take delivery of a car, I highly recommend it!
The next morning, after a proper tiding up, the family is pleased beyond expectation!
What a trip, never know what you'll find!
signed,
One Happy Viper Family!
I would like to share with you the story of my/our very first Viper (though I have been a fan since day one). My wife and I were looking for the perfect anniversary gift for one another....and Viper's took and early lead. Back a few months ago we checked out a white mamba and we loved it. I even had a test drive, very nice (I had some previous experience driving a '97 [******] Venom 550). Well, we went back and forth about various cars and we kept coming back to the Viper.
Now it's September and new white mamba's are getting harder and harder to come by (and used ones were being snatched up as quick as they appeared). I found a few left and picked one. Made my travel plans and took off for an adventure. You see I was planning on driving it back with my buddy Steve.
OFF WHITE
When we get there (Casper Wyoming) the car is not right, in fact, it has several paint touchups around the front fender and driver sideskirt not to mention an inch and half scratch on the nose. These somehow had escaped the dealer's attention as nobody (body shop mgr, service mgr, sales mgr) had a clue as I was the one showing them! And, very suspiciously, the rear tires had no "mold flanges" left, even though the car had only 34 miles. I suspected that a burnout or two had occurred, not good for a car that had supposedly been sitting on the dealer showroom since arrival! There were more things "off" about this car, so I decided to bail and get back to Denver for the night and decide which white mamba to go for next.
Well, on my way back I get a call from Bill Pemberton of Woodhouse (frequent visitor to these forums!) whom I had left a message with previously regarding a white mamba (#23) that their website showed as being in-stock. Bill was at VOI.8 and had brought the wrong cell phone charger and did not get my message - what timing he has!
Bill tells me the white mamba is history but he has a VCA Special Edition Yellow 2005 Viper coming in two days. I say "send me pics" and he does. I forward them to my wife and says "looks good, check it out" (we had not considered yellow...but, it works!). The next day Steve and I fly to Omaha where Bill puts us up for the night.
YELLOW 32
The next morning, Bill sends a driver (Dale) and off we go to the largest, most spread out dealership I have ever seen! As we pull in to the Dodge lot, we spy the orange Reliable trailer and low and behold, 4, count'm 4 VCA Yellow Vipers are being unloaded! One is Bill's, one is going overseas and one is off to the east coast and the other, well, here it is:
You must be registered for see images
I quickly call my wife and we give it "go", I love the way she put it, she said, "the mamba brought us the special edition", that's perfect and I'm off to finish the deal.
Before you know it, Steve and I are in the driver's seat:
You must be registered for see images
Car is sitting at 18 miles on the odometer as we head out to top off the tank for the ride home:
You must be registered for see images
At 250 miles or so we stop to check the "tire mold flanges", guess what, we still have them! As we never exceeded 4000rpm and never smoked the rubber. Now I know that white mamba we first looked at had some previous powerful tire "smoothing" (who knows if it was on a cold motor/tranny). Just for grins, we still had some flanges left at 500 miles too.
Seeing how we drove off at 3pm, we are almost 500 miles into the drive back and we all needed a little dinner:
You must be registered for see images
We made it to Oklahoma City and eventually landed at the airport as all hotels in town were sold out for the State Fair, some concert and Hurricane Ivan (lots of folks extending their stay). After a morning thunderstorm we made our way south:
You must be registered for see images
Steve needed to head back east for some business activities so we drop him off at the Dallas Fort Worth airport:
You must be registered for see images
Now I get to spend some one-on-one time and the tank needs topping off just north of Waco, the last pit stop before Austin:
You must be registered for see images
Within minutes
we arrive into Austin and tally up the final trip milage at 923:
You must be registered for see images
Not a bad little ride, what a great way to take delivery of a car, I highly recommend it!
The next morning, after a proper tiding up, the family is pleased beyond expectation!
You must be registered for see images
What a trip, never know what you'll find!
signed,
One Happy Viper Family!
