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

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 42 comments
  • 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.

  • Probert They already have hybrids, but these won't ever be them as they are built on the modular E-GMP skateboard.
  • Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
  • 28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
  • 28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
  • AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.
Next