Bob Lutz loved driving his Cobra replica. Rumor has it that his enjoyment of the 1980s roadster inspired the Viper, albeit with an eye to bettering the Cobra’s performance. Fortunately, Lutz was working under Lee Iacocca at Chrysler: if you wanted to take an innovative approach to product, no better boss could be found. From Lutz’s idea to the Viper’s debut at Detroit’s 1989 North American International Auto Show took only about one year. Production required another few years, but in 1992, the Viper landed in showrooms – crude, rude, and fast. The car was only available as a roadster, and I mean that in the most rudimentary sense: side curtains, no outside door handles, a canvas top stretched from front to rear of the cockpit. The next generation did not bring much more civility, though a hard top became available. In 1996, a coupe was introduced. All the way along, horsepower was The Thing: it ranged from 400 to over 600 by the time production ceased in 2017. Here on craigslist is a 1999 Viper, available in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, from a seller who prefers that you simply show up to see it rather than making any inquiries whatsoever. Priced at $53,000, the car has travelled 56k miles. Thanks to Curvette for the supercar tip!

Aside from the iconoclastic styling and lack of civility, the Viper was born with a V10. Not many engineers leap at the chance to equip cars with V10s. For one thing, internal vibrations are endemic and must be combatted by counterbalance weights. And of course, gas mileage is atrocious. The Viper’s engine was derived from Chrysler’s Magnum V8, with help from Lamborghini, which had been purchased by Chrysler in 1987. It was not the most technologically advanced motor of the era, but it did manage 400 hp in its first iteration. By the time the coupe was introduced in 1996, output had increased to 450 hp. The transmission is a Borg Warner-sourced six-speed manual. This car has been tuned and fitted with new tires.

The finer things in life were seeping into the cabin by the time this car left the factory – namely, roll-up windows and air conditioning. External door handles and front-facing airbags were standard now. Unfortunately for American supercar fans, it was US insistence on side airbags (as well as the car’s low sales) that eventually killed the model: management elected to pull the plug on the Viper rather than redesign the body for safety features. Only 32,000 Vipers were sold from 1992 through 2017.

These are not touring cars, and most are not well-travelled. Any day of the week, a prospective owner can find a low-mileage example of a Dodge Viper. While niche-y performance versions will sell well into six figures, run-of-the-mill cars like this one have been wallowing around $50k for some time. The asking price is fair, but not a deal. If you wanted to own a Viper, how much would you pay?