Dodge SRT V10 Viper Gen 4

This Saturday I went to the Cars and Coffee event which happens the first Saturday of every month where thousands of car enthusiasts gather at the Classic BMW of Plano to see some of the most exotic vehicles in north Texas.  You are sure to find classic vehicles from the ones that are being eaten up by rust to the ones restored with such craftsmanship that is a joy to see.  And then you have the sports vehicles, and concepts with each having a little extra which makes them unique.

This was my second time to one of these events and left somewhat as frustrated as the first time but Joe save the day. If you are like me, wanting to make photographs of some of these amazing vehicles, you must get there really early -before 7am during daylight savings time.  Otherwise you will end up with walkers and their shadows in your images.  I hope that someday I hookup with  some of these vehicle owners and have a photo session of just them.

So, how did Joe save the day? Joe is a proud owner of a SRT Viper V10 Gen 4 and I had the opportunity to talk to him about his vehicle.  In this interview, Joe talks about how he became the owner, the hard decision of selling his previous ride and things he likes about his SRT V10.

Sal: So, when did you purchase your Viper?
Joe: I bought it a couple of years ago. Ugh, literally, two years ago.

Sal: Did you purchase it used or brand new?  My lack of knowledge about this car showed up immediately with this question for obvious reasons.
Joe: I bout it from a guy that had it on the east coast and he had it since new.  He showed it, and baby it, he was a Viper club president, fanatic.

Sal: So, did  you fly all the way to the east coast or drove all the way back and forth to bring it over to Texas?
Joe: I looked for a long time for the right one. In fact, I’ve wanted one for about 7 years.  But I had a Vette that was really good, and it was impossible to let the Vette go -it was such a great car. And finally I decided to make that leap and so in the end I did. And I came across this car which was unbelievable low mileage and in show condition. I talked to the guy in length on the phone, flew over there to check it out and we did a deal and then I had it shipped.  I wasn’t going to drive it from the east coast.  This isn’t the kind of car you want to drive across country, it will beat you up.

Sal: What are the things you like about your car?
Joe: I love the sexy lines, first and foremost. I love the muscle heritage on it.  I love the 8.4 liter V10. It is a basic muscle car. It is almost like a dinosaur by today’s standards. You know, it’s got its 600 horse power but it does it without supercharger or turbo charger, it is just brute force.

I will tell you one thing that is interesting about this car that I did not see coming. I loved my Vette and it was a well all around car, and then I bought this car.  And the first thing I noticed, is like a Vette on steroids, oh yeah! Night and day difference from the moment you turn on the engine, to hitting the gas, it is all that. And then you begin to realize this car is very narrow focus and then… The Vette is a great street car that you can take on the track, the viper is really a track car that you can put on the street -that is the difference.  I mean, when you ride this thing, the suspension will beat you up, really, you could make it your daily ride but you will get abuse a little bit.  The Vette is a fantastic daily driver, so those are the differences I noticed right off the bat.

Sal: What about under the hood, is there anything you like?
Joe: Signed by the Viper development team, the guy that made the engine, the guy that was at the head of the program, the CEO of the Viper program Ralph Gilles.  The guy who used to have this car was dabbling with all these people and will get photos.

Another interesting thing is the color viper violet metallic fair coat which was introduced at the end of the production year (2008 – 2009) so there were very few violet cars that came out and that was the only year that it was produced.