If You Haven't Bought One Already, Your 2017 Dodge Viper Dreams Are Almost Toast

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

It’s a great day for an automaker when it can say it sold an entire year’s worth of vehicles in less than a week. Things get less impressive when it’s the final model year of a niche vehicle.

Still, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is putting on its bragging pants and grabbing the megaphone after it sold every special-edition version of the 2017 Dodge Viper in a matter of days. So great was the response, FCA plans to offer one last version of the 25-year-old nameplate.

Orders for the final Vipers opened on June 24, and snake aficionados must have had their fingers poised over the keyboard.

According to the automaker, all 100 units of the GTS-R Commemorative Edition ACR and all 25 units of the Snakeskin Edition GTC sold out within two ordering days. The 31 units of the VoooDoo II Edition ACR were gone within two hours, and all 28 units of the 1:28 Edition ACR were snapped up in 40 minutes.

Enthusiasts with cash on hand clearly weren’t ready to let an opportunity pass by. With the model headed to the FCA gallows, collector value of the 2017 Vipers will be high.

Knowing they could sell out another special-edition version in a heartbeat, FCA executives immediately set about doing just that. The company now plans to offer 31 units of the Dodge Viper Snakeskin ACR, with orders starting in mid-July.

Inspired by the 2010 Snakeskin ACR (which also amounted to 31 units), the 2017 version comes in Dodge’s Snakeskin Green and features a snakeskin-pattern SRT stripe, Extreme Aero Package, carbon ceramic brakes, ACR interior, Snakeskin instrument panel badge and custom car cover. Because you want everyone — EVERYONE! — to know who you are, that car cover will have your name showcased over the driver’s door.

Owning a Dodge Viper is not an act of subtlety, restraint, or modesty, and Dodge knows it.

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Skor Skor on Jul 03, 2016

    The Viper was the 4 wheeled version of a Harley Davidson. Both the Viper and the Harley appeal to middle aged white men with more money than emotional maturity.

  • Jimal Jimal on Jul 03, 2016

    The Viper has always been primarily a halo car, and if it isn't doing its job of getting people to come into dealers and leave with lesser models, this is probably the right decision. The Viper has also always been an exciting car, but it has never been a particularly good car. FCA thought that upgrading the interior would make the car more appealing and maybe even take some sales from Corvette. Obviously that didn't work.

  • CoastieLenn I would do dirrrrrrty things for a pristine 95-96 Thunderbird SC.
  • Whynotaztec Like any other lease offer it makes sense to compare it to a purchase and see where you end up. The math isn’t all that hard and sometimes a lease can make sense, sometimes it can’t. the tough part with EVs now is where is the residual or trade in value going to be in 3 years?
  • Rick T. "If your driving conditions include near-freezing temps for a few months of the year, seek out a set of all-seasons. But if sunshine is frequent and the spectre of 60F weather strikes fear into the hearts of your neighbourhood, all-seasons could be a great choice." So all-seasons it is, apparently!
  • 1995 SC Should anyone here get a wild hair and buy this I have the 500 dollar tool you need to bleed the rear brakes if you have to crack open the ABS. Given the state you will. I love these cars (obviously) but trust me, as an owner you will be miles ahead to shell out for one that was maintained. But properly sorted these things will devour highway miles and that 4.6 will run forever and should be way less of a diva than my blown 3.8 equipped one. (and forget the NA 3.8...140HP was no match for this car).As an aside, if you drive this you will instantly realize how ergonomically bad modern cars are.These wheels look like the 17's you could get on a Fox Body Cobra R. I've always had it in the back of my mind to get a set in the right bolt pattern so I could upgrade the brakes but I just don't want to mess up the ride. If that was too much to read, from someone intamately familiar with MN-12's, skip this one. The ground effects alone make it worth a pass. They are not esecially easy to work on either.
  • Macca This one definitely brings back memories - my dad was a Ford-guy through the '80s and into the '90s, and my family had two MN12 vehicles, a '93 Thunderbird LX (maroon over gray) purchased for my mom around 1995 and an '89 Cougar LS (white over red velour, digital dash) for my brother's second car acquired a year or so later. The Essex V6's 140 hp was wholly inadequate for the ~3,600 lb car, but the look of the T-Bird seemed fairly exotic at the time in a small Midwest town. This was of course pre-modern internet days and we had no idea of the Essex head gasket woes held in store for both cars.The first to grenade was my bro's Cougar, circa 1997. My dad found a crate 3.8L and a local mechanic replaced it - though the new engine never felt quite right (rough idle). I remember expecting something miraculous from the new engine and then realizing that it was substandard even when new. Shortly thereafter my dad replaced the Thunderbird for my mom and took the Cougar for a new highway commute, giving my brother the Thunderbird. Not long after, the T-Bird's 3.8L V6 also suffered from head gasket failure which spelled its demise again under my brother's ownership. The stately Cougar was sold to a family member and it suffered the same head gasket fate with about 60,000 miles on the new engine.Combine this with multiple first-gen Taurus transmission issues and a lemon '86 Aerostar and my dad's brand loyalty came to an end in the late '90s with his purchase of a fourth-gen Maxima. I saw a mid-90s Thunderbird the other day for the first time in ages and it's still a fairly handsome design. Shame the mechanicals were such a letdown.
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