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Once Bitten, Twice as Fast

By: James Retych

Ever since I saw the very first Dodge Viper concept car at the International Auto Show back in 1989, I have been in love with the styling of the vehicle and dreamt of the day that I would own one. On April 27, 1997 at 2:00 pm, my dream came true and I bought a green 1995 Dodge Viper RT/10, one of the last 300 Gen 1 cars produced. I decided on this model and year because I loved the removable top and felt that the side exhaust was a Shelby Cobra throwback that I couldn't live without on a performance car. The RT/10 came with 400 horsepower from the factory, which, back in 1997, was not as commonplace as it is today. That beautiful car was a member of my family for 9 years and still lives in my neighborhood — we still love the car and I smile every time I see it on the road!

Snake in the grass — a 1995 Dodge Viper RT/10.

So why did I sell it? Well, because I planned on making additional upgrades and entering the Silver State Classic (www.sscc.us) in September 2006. For that event, the added safety of a fixed roof in the Viper GTS seemed like a good idea. Of course, that meant I couldn't put the top down during parades or during those "sun breaks" we enjoy in Seattle. My clever solution: I convinced my wife we needed a Viper SRT-10 convertible too! Now with two newer Vipers in the garage, one for nice days and one for racing events, it made sense to sell the RT/10 since three Vipers for a family of only two drivers was arguably a little excessive.

Keeping it in the family: GTS, RT/10, and SRT-10.

During the 9 years of owning the RT/10, each winter saw the Green Viper take its hibernation and receive a few Christmas presents (i.e., modifications), as well as some cosmetics like the carbon fiber dash, but mostly performance-oriented to keep up with the horsepower race in the car industry. The majority of the work was performed by Cam of Maltby Motorsports, from routine maintenance to performance upgrades and even custom hold downs for the rear wing. As I got the RT/10 ready to sell, I wanted to move the performance enhancements from the first generation Viper over to the second generation 1999 Viper GTS. As you can imagine, not everything was straightforward to install or worked on the newer car. After several conversations and planning meetings with Cam of MMS, on top of a lot of research, I set a lofty goal of having a street-legal car that could be driven daily and capable of using over 500 rear-wheel horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque.

The research led to many interesting trade-offs between various vendors equipment, evaluation of tuners and discussions with people who had tried various modifications and packages. With Cam's assistance these trade-offs were evaluated before installation, instead of after, as this was in an attempt to reduce the cost and total downtime. After reviewing the plan with my wife Lori, she suggested that rather than continuing my yearly modifications and then getting the car re-tuned and re-assembled again at additional expense every winter that I look a little further into the future into what I might want for next year too. WOW, what an eye opening suggestion. So back to the drawing board I went, wondering to myself what else I needed to make more power beyond the typical bolt-ons?

// Next: Snakes on the road... //