Your 16-year-old son would probably be happy lighting incense in front of it and inviting his friends over to worship
Your 16-year-old son would probably be happy lighting incense in front of it and inviting his friends over to worship
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Few cars in the history of the American automobile have captured the imagination of car enthusiasts like the Dodge Viper. What started as an outrageous concept car at the 1989 Detroit auto show led to a bold corporate experiment, with a street-legal production car readied in just 32 months. A factory-backed racing effort soon followed, which led to the GT-2 Le Mans and FIA Championships and the Championship in the American Le Mans Series.
Roy H. Sjoberg was named to head up the Dodge Viper Project team in 1989. Sports car racing had been in his blood since he pit crewed for his brother in the mid-1950s. This developed into SCCA car preparation and race driving, including an IMSA stint at Mosport. One of Sjoberg’s most memorable activities was the three years he spent as development manager for his long-time friend, Zora Arkus-Duntov, the father of the Corvette, and the man who nicknamed Sjoberg “Father Viper.”
After he retired, Sjoberg decided to build a GT-3 class Viper, a project that had been designed by Dodge but was never built due to budget constraints. The design is basically a GT-2 Viper, but built with the production chassis and engine designed to meet FIA requirements. While many SCCA/IMSA race cars are home-built in private garages by well meaning amateurs using mail-order performance parts, the Dodge Viper Race Car on offer here was actually designed, engineered and built by the ex-factory chief engineer.
At a cost of over $150,000 to duplicate, this car is race ready and suitable for SCCA amateur events or serious pro racing in the Grand Am Cup Series. Upon its completion, the vehicle was raced at several Viper Challenge venues for developmental purposes. With no questionable engineering, haphazard workmanship, or incorrect parts to be found on this fabulous yellow Viper “GT-3” roadster, a purchase within its catalog estimate of $55,000-$85,000 would make good sense to a Viper enthusiast.
