Just imagine…You’re looking at purchasing a 65,000-mile Dodge Viper. You climb in for a test drive and turn the ignition. The 500+ horsepower 8.3L V-10 comes to life and you pull out onto the street. Suddenly, the tires lose traction and you slide sideways into a tree. That’s a brief recap of what happened to this car. It can be found here on eBay with a current bid just over $3,000. Being offered by LTC Motion Inc. in Addison, Illinois, it’s unclear if the car was wrecked on a test drive while the current dealer owned it, or if they are just flipping it. Either way, hopefully, this car can be a donor for another project.
Here you can see just how far the tree intruded into the passenger compartment. The door panel is pushed so far in, it’s nearly touching the console! I hope the driver was okay, but looking at the damage, they surely suffered some lower leg injuries at the very least. Clearly, not too much of the interior is usable, but there may be some bits and pieces that are salvageable.
According to the ad, the engine starts no problems and has no leaks. Same for the transmission. The clutch is said to work as well, although I’m not sure exactly how that was tested? The wheels and tires are upgraded and said to be in good condition. I guess if you had a Viper that needed a new drive train or you had a project that you wanted a unique engine for, this would be a great car to buy. I don’t think it will be rebuilt as-is, but you never know. What do you think of this car?
Sometimes I start to get interested in seeing pics of wrecked cars, especially high performance cars. But then I see cars like this, and see the intrusion to the driver’s space, then I decide it’s probably not a good idea to dwell on said pictures.
We’ve all probably heard of high performance cars wrecked on test drives, or when the owner let a friend drive it, or similar circumstances. It must happen all the time. For me, I have only had this opportunity a few times, and to be honest I was half scared and took it very easy. But, I can see where ego/ manliness/ overconfidence/ lack of experience/ bragging/ testosterone can get in the way of common sense.
Thank you Montana.
Wrecked Muscle Cars and Classics.is an open FB group to check out !
Thanks for the site info…actually found my car from 6/2017.and accident wasn’t my fault.Did manage to rebuild her.
I worked at a dealership and one day a Viper came in on a flat bed with mud cakes in engine compartment as well as every opening on underside. Grandson decided it would be fun to take Grandpa’s Viper out for a ride. Needless to say a bean field after a rain not the best place to do donuts!
Safe to say that the driver probably never walked again. Some things you do only once in a lifetime!
Pull the engine, tranny and wheels –swap them out to the Chrysler wagon two posts below.
Or put the engine and tranny into the Muskeg, and take it out onto the highway.
Wonder if that beast will fit in my 66 Tbird????
I am leaning more towards the Grumman!! LOL
I like that it has a keyless entry system, sure does. Lol
A cautionary tale, for sure. One can only hope that the injuries sustained were not life threatening and that the driver will walk again.
On the other hand there is a bit of morbid fascination with supercar wrecks and totally illogical curiosity. Could it be fixed?
Years ago I heard an apocryphal speculation that if you had an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of typewriters (Keyboard inputs to word processors, for those of you who are younger – much younger) that they would eventually write all the great literature ever written.
So following this line of reasoning, an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of hammers would eventually knock all the dents out of this Viper and it would be drivable again. After all, we know the clutch works.
Makes sense to me. Got monkeys?
Funny you should mention monkeys….. eyewitnesses reported seeing the monkeys from Jumanji scattering in every direction immediately after the crash….
….Wonder if it then qualifies under the “act of God” insurance coverage clause….
5 minutes on a frame machine and it will pull right out.
2004 Vipers with similar mileage in good condition seem to change hands between $25,000 to $30,000. Based on that alone, this is a parts car. As for an engine donor, the V-10 doesn’t have the same luster now that so many Chrysler Hemi’s are available on the secondary market. It doesn’t make sense for a swap, but does for a different Viper with a bad engine.
Steve R
Ad says car was crashed on a test drive.
Has anyone ever made a hot rod 32 Dodge Brothers roadster using this drive train ? My boss drove a 32 Ford to Cali. with a Ferrari V12 in it for a customer. Had to pull over and fill floorboards full water to cool off. He said at a 128mph it dried out fast. I still think that Woolworth carpet shrunk. Oh yeah, that was 1979.
Uh yeah, Dude… Thanks.
Wonder if that beast will fit in my 66 Tbird????
Sure, drops right in.
You already asked that.
Of course it is a parts car.
What has me scratching my head is how on earth a driver with legs could have been extricated without using the Jaws of Life to cut away part of the car. How on earth could someone have been pulled out of that vise?
Something which really bothers me:
“Clean title comes with the vehicle, no total loss or anything.”
How in the HELL is that possible? Smells bad, very bad. Theoretically at least, the car could be “repaired” and sold off to an unsuspecting suc… eh, buyer.
Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he’s got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.
You can’t fix this, Spicoli…!!!
There’s a realistic chance that the legs or feet are still in there. I’m not having you on- I used to work at a wrecking yard, and have seen some very serious wrecks.
Isn’t “salvage” determined after an insurance adjuster writes off the vehicle? I think it’s got a “clean” title only because insurance wasn’t involved in the same way it would be for you or me… the Viper was owned by the dealership at the time, maybe they didn’t get their insurance involved for fear of a liability spike (or cancellation) of the dealership’s insurance? Either way, it makes me uncomfortable as hell.
Hope this isn’t a violation of BarnFinds rules, but I’m posting the VIN here in case someone is searching for it in the future, and the eBay page has been lost to time: 1B3JZ65Z04V101893 .
Also, did anybody else notice five instances of odometer misreadings on the autocheck report? They were all minor, and one or two misreads in 15 years is no big deal, but FIVE odometer mistakes?
Coparts has thousands of new cars. Teslas, Vipers, Ferraris, Lexus, and on n on. People today cant wait to wreck new cars.
How many do you want?
Be home Friday afternoon. Dang it, I have an empty trailer from Florida.
Test drive? I wonder how a sales person or a private owner, who must have (or should have) accompanied the prospect buyer, would have permitted the speed needed to do this much damage? What is fairly obvious is that the prospective buyer/driver is unlikely to still be in this world.
That was a very bad hit. And a clear title suggests no insurance, therefore no claim which means no salvage title. A sad mystery.
That’ll buff right out.
Hope the driver made it out alive! How did they manage to get out of that ? Appears untouched Or does it come with an extra pair of legs.
I work in the industry and have talked with Mopar guys, who gush about what a difference this powertrain makes in classic Chargers, etc. Sounds like a plan. And I’m taken aback by the condition of the driver’s area; the injuries would have been tremendous, if even survivable. Just read about Jessi Combs dying yesterday too, hits home. We talked a handful of times. Life is fragile man. Each day is a gift, let’s be grateful for it.
Lizzie May can’t drive. Canadians, especially those in British Columbia, will get this !!
ouch!
Say good-by to the drivers legs. Very sad.
When I was but a young mechanic, I “test drove” a clients Corvette after a repair. While doing roughly 90mph (on a side road) someone decided to pull out in front of me. My oversteering spun that Vette around like a top. After slamming into an embankment, I crawled out of the car bleeding and wondered, how am I going to fix it before I return to the shop! Moral of the story is: I was speeding-it was MY fault and I’m very lucky to be writing this right now! (And I’m very lucky the shop had insurance!!)
I have driven a couple of Vipers. (stock 2004 & a Hennessy 550) Both cars were incredibly forgiving cars when pushed. It would take a person with no brains and/or no driving experience to do this. Both cars were a blast to drive. The stock 2004 would do 80 mph in second gear with no issues. That leaves you 4 more gears to play with! I was too busy driving to look down at the speedo on the Hennessy. The acceleration on the 550 was just a blast!
However the torque is very deceiving and the speed is on you in a hurry.
Actually, from what you just explained, it sounds like you need quite a bit of driving experience / expertise at speed to drive a Viper safely.
that’s sobering to look at. But on closer inspection, no dark stains anywhere, and no airbag deployment, makes me wonder if this happened while the vehicle was stationary and without occupants maybe. I sure hope so.
greg v.
It’s possible the driver was ejected before the major dammage occurred. That would explain why the air bags didn’t deploy. My guess is that the driver wasn’t even wearing the safety belt.
All I know, is we had one in our shop some 17 years ago, and yes, it was a handful to drive – especially in the city, if you weren’t careful or experienced.
Sad, indeed. If the driver survived this crash, he (or she) probably wishes he hadn’t.
Hard to imagine – I have driven an early Viper ACR coupe on track…once. Absolute kick in the butt. Biggest thing I learned that day was you really had to do as much throttle steering as you did wheel input. Balance on input was everything. I never came close to spinning it, but I also had the owner riding shot-gun as my student. I had spent a day and a half as shot-gun teaching him. So I had a pretty good feel for how to drive the car.
I had similar questions come to mind on the lack of airbag deployment. Its possible because there was no frontal impact. Since the AB didn’t deploy its not an automatic total.
On the footbox – my daughter had a similar impact with a Suburban once in her Honda. Door was crushed to the middle of the wheel area. She had no leg damage other than a lot of glass shards. Her knees went up under the wheel at impact. The FD and Paras work with her for about 5 minutes to wiggle her legs out.
Has anyone swapped a V-10 into a Miata yet?
If you do not respect something, it will not respect you.
I’ve just been through my second knee replacement surgery and I know how much that hurt. So I can say with all honesty that the driver of this car has suffered plenty for his mistake. This reck makes me wonder why we allow cars like this on the street. Other than the autobahn in Germany I know of no roads where its legal to go as fast as this car will take you. Cars like this should be restricted to track use.
Please remember CMark, this is also a very good handling car and a joy to drive. Because someone is not intelligent enough to lay off the loud pedal when needed is not reason enough to ban it from the streets. Will it go faster than the speed limit? Oh ya! But so will most cars on the road. I would not trust most people to drive a car with more than 150 horsepower, but many do. There are many places in the US and Canada where you can “open her up” a little to have some fun. It is illegal and requires a knowledge of the road, side roads and the frequency of patrol. And there are many track days available to enjoy as needed. Any high performance car requires skill and experience to handle correctly. As does a semi truck, a tractor or weapons. Unfortunately, a driver’s license in this country is considered a right not a privilege. My guess that only about 25% of the US drivers could pass a driver’s license test in Germany.
I have a car that is only used on the track, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a little performance on the street. (By the way, clean driving record for many many years.)
Agree cars are weapons. However they will not hurt anything unless the wrong person gets behind the wheel and does something stupid. A lot like guns. Yet snowflakes blame the item for a problem and not the person.
Lol- Krash-lol!
Good deal so far!!!
Sold for $12,660!!!!!?????