The First Dodge Viper Was So Wild It’s Hard To Believe They Built It

The first Dodge Viper from the early 1990s was quite possibly one of the wildest cars to come from a major manufacturer. It looks like it was built by someone in their garage, and not from the same company that invented the minivan just a few years prior. Right from the factory, the 1992 Dodge Viper R/T 10 had no side windows. That’s not a mistake from Dodge or an option for racing, it just didn’t have any. It lacked a proper roof, too. It was only a thin layer of hubris between the driver and the wild blue yonder. It did come with a sheet of canvas to drape on top of the car in case the driver was caught in the rain. But driving in the wet was probably not a great idea in the Viper, as it didn’t have anti-lock brakes or traction control. You do have a radio, so at least there’s that (via Car and Driver).

The real cause of the Viper’s insanity was its powerplant: An 8-liter V10 that would look more at home in a World War 2 fighter plane than a sportscar — which didn’t even have AC. It produced over 400 horsepower, and in 2022, 400 doesn’t seem like a lot. 30 years ago, 400 horsepower meant you were the apex predator. That predatory power was rare, too, as Dodge made just 285 Vipers during the first year of production (via MotorTrend).