Used Car of the Day: 2005 Dodge Viper

by Tim Healey

Published: April 6th, 2023

We haven't featured Dodge Vipers in the space often, for a variety of reasons, but it's always cool when one comes up for sale.

This 2005 Dodge Viper is Race Yellow and it's on its second owner.

The car has 35,000 miles and change on the clock and the seller is asking $54,000 for it. The seller claims the car is in good condition save for some minor exterior issues, such as paint chips from normal driving and underbody scrapes from driveway entries.

This Viper appears to be stock, including in terms of navigation and radio, save for a Corsa exhaust. The seller claims the car was never raced and that the tires and battery are new.

Check it out here.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

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9 of 12 comments

28-Cars-Later on Apr 06, 2023

This is probably worth consideration. Although I am not personally in touch with the market for these, a dear friend picked up a '94 last summer under 20K otc for 44 and change - and the first generation has a removable hard top only in lieu of true convertible while also being totally impractical as a DD. This one can at least put its roof back up if you're out and about and rain appears.
Another fun fact about these I learned is the tires are some odd size which only exists for Vipers (on the gen 1 at least) and thus they are pricey as can be. If I recall it was something like they were hand made custom orders or something to this effect, so good tires actually are a real selling point vs saving you a few hundred bucks.

3 Reply
- See 5 previous
- Ajla on Apr 06, 2023
  
  On Tirerack they only have one brand of street tires listed for the '05 and they are shown as not in stock until September.
  
  1
- Redapple2 on Apr 07, 2023
  
  I cant imagine owning a car with rare, near impossible to get tires. With this in mind all the time, the weekend car would get even less use.
  
  Like
- FreedMike on Apr 07, 2023
  
  Wow, I hadn’t even considered the tire issue. Talk about First World Problems…
  
  Like
- SCE to AUX on Apr 07, 2023
  
  Hard-to-find tires - I didn't know that. This was a problem for 79 Mustang TRX metric wheels, and BMW i3 EVs, also.
  
  Like
- 28-Cars-Later on Apr 07, 2023
  
  @all
  
  I would have never thought tires would be an issue either, evidently neither did my friend until he was told this by the previous owner.
  
  @redapple
  
  I think he's put 200 miles on it in the past nine months. The gen 1 is about two steps from a prototype, it's literally aimed to be a car you leave from your garage and then return the same day. No ABS, A/C, no airbag, no outside door handles or door windows (top and windows physically attach separately, its not really intended to have them).
  
  As much as DD isn't my favorite (my friend's looks identical):
  
  y_outube.com/watch?v=mZ8rhpxVpqs
  
  Like
- MaintenanceCosts on Apr 09, 2023
  
  You can get Michelin Pilot Sport 4S today in the correct front tire size and only 10 mm wider than stock in the rear. It'll freak out the purists but it will fit and work fine.
  
  Like
MaintenanceCosts on Apr 09, 2023

Corsa exhaust? The V10's ugly UPS-truck sound is the worst thing about the Vipers that came with roofs from the factory. Why make it louder?

Like Reply
- 2ACL on Apr 09, 2023
  
  If I ever spot the Viper I rode alongside two days ago, I'll be sure to ask its owner. I don't know what kind of exhaust he had, but I'm familiar enough with Vipers to know that it wasn't stock. From idle to ~45 mph, it emitted the most godawful sound I've heard of any vehicle seemingly in good mechanical condition.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

MaintenanceCosts We need a $15k EV, probably a tall hatch, that satisfies US safety standards with reasonable comfort and durability and a warranty. That would actually be affordable to the median wage earner.
Calrson Fan I'll take a simple over cheap. Although that should equate to cheap or at least cheaper. I'm so over all the useless & intrusive tech. common in today's cars & trucks. Which is why I drive older stuff. We need more vehicles geared towards simplicity and longevity, like the Slate. if that ever makes it to market. As I once heard on American Hot Rod, less is more. Isn't that the truth!
28-Cars-Later Maybe it will eventually change but as of right now even if you spend the money to build these stations everywhere, if the electricity sold is 100%+ of what its sold for in residential rates it will never take off. To a degree a convenience charge amount (of not 100%) could fly but smart owners will understand the trade off and limit their use of it. Those without home charging capabilities simply won't continue to pay through the nose on electricity - a utility of which has skyrocketed even wholesale and I suspect will continue to do so.
KOKing Need and want are definitely different, especially today. Not only are relative expectations different from 40-50yrs ago, but used cars' value/features/quality probably make them more attractive options than a couple generations ago. I suspect for the same $21k as a Hyundai Venue, a lot of people would choose a ~5yr old Ford Explorer instead. Today's gas prices might make some think twice, but a lot of the same people probably won't think as far as repair costs.I think something interesting to look at in other global markets where historically cheap, small cars continue to be available, where cheap Chinese cars are becoming available, whether the latter end up quickly displacing the former in the low-cost segment long-term (I suspect yes).
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