The C8 Corvette might forever be remembered as America's first mid-engined supercar. But we think that's a little unfair for the Dodge Viper. After all, it's the original underdog, taking on the overpriced Italians.
A mid-engined car doesn't necessarily have to put a bunch of Italian-made cylinders behind the driver. They can even be Detroit-made and sitting up from as long as most of them reside behind the axle. So the Mercedes SLS AMG, well that's mid-engined too, not to mention a Viper doppelganger.
The Viper has always followed the original supercar formula, which requires a car to be wild, unpredictable to the point of being deadly. The V10-powered machine offered almost no buffers for a driver's lack of skill, so crashes were common.
Like the layout and raw handling, the styling also stayed largely the same for all the Viper generations. So when rendering artist TheSketchMonkey decided to modernize a 2001 Dodge into the 2021 one, he knew it would be challenging.
The extreme proportions stay the same, but all the graphics have to be much sharper. So, for example, this make-belief 2021 Viper gets razor-thin taillights and an abrupt ducktail spoiler. Also, some of that roundedness has to give way to creases all over the bodywork.
We think many people will say any new Viper would be good, no matter what it looks like. However, this car might suffer from the "boomer" problem of the C7 Corvette, where the cool dudes who used to buy this type of car are nearing their retirement years. Pretty funny how we're suggesting a V10 supercar that likes to kill people in crashes if for old people.
In any case, there have been rumors about a potential new Viper that's powered not by the 10-cylinder, but by a Hellcat engine. However, Dodge probably can't revive such a slow-selling model while it also makes so many other muscular machines worthy of the "flagship" title.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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