One new color, flame red, with or without white stripes, is available for 1997. Silver, sparkle gold or yellow gold wheels come with red Vipers. The original blue with white stripes paint scheme is available as an option, as are last year's standard polished aluminum wheels. The RT/10 roadster is set to return later this year, with dual airbags, power windows and door locks, and the 450-horsepower V10 from the GTS. Also set to debut on the revamped drop top are the four-wheel independent suspension and adjustable pedals from the GTS.
The Viper has been the biggest automotive performance news since the original Mustang, and while its sales totals have been nowhere near those of the legendary ponycar, it has just as many devotees drooling over full-color pictures of its cartoonish structure like winos at a peepshow.
Designed to be the modern incarnation of the Cobra, Viper debuted at the 1989 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as a show car. Enough people wrote to Chrysler requesting street versions that plans for production of the rakish roadster were set into motion soon after. Viper was introduced for public sale in 1992, and became the darling of the automotive press, not to mention high-profile stars like Jay Leno and Kelsey Grammer, who managed to flip his over on a street in Agoura Hills, Calif., last year. It even got a TV show; a dismal one that lasted one season on major networks and survives in syndication.
For 1997, one new color (flame red with or without white stripes) is available on the GTS. Silver, sparkle gold, or yellow gold wheels come with red GTS Vipers. The original blue-with-white-stripes paint scheme is available as an option, as are last year's standard polished aluminum wheels. The RT/10 roadster is set to return later this year, with dual airbags, power windows and door locks, and the fresh 450-horsepower V10. Also set to debut on the revamped drop top are the four-wheel independent suspension and adjustable pedals from the GTS.