The Dodge Viper V10: America's Wild Supercar

Dodge Viper V10: Lamborghini roots

With far fewer V10s than other engine configurations, it is no surprise that many of the finest examples share intertwined bloodlines. America’s entrant to the V10 hall of fame even has an unexpected debt to Lamborghini. A decade before Lambo launched its own V10 supercar, it played a part in bringing Chrysler’s to life.

In around 1988, Chrysler president Bob Lutz proposed that the company build a modern-day heir to the Shelby Cobra, a car closely associated with Ford V8 muscle. Early development versions of the roofless roadster used borrowed V8 engines, but Chrysler had recently acquired a controlling stake in Lamborghini and asked its Italian subsidiary for something more exotic. Based on Chrysler’s existing huge-capacity V8s, the resulting V10 gained a newly cast aluminium block from the Italians and an enormous 8.0-litre capacity. We are not suggesting it was excessively endowed, but the powertrain project boss was genuinely named Dick Winkles.

The engine was immense: it weighed more than 320kg and occupied the vast space beneath the Viper’s huge clamshell bonnet, surrounded by a tangled mass of curling cables. Yet its elaborate, crackle-glazed appearance is misleading, because this is no highly stressed racing-car engine. Turn the key and it settles into a lumpy, staccato thrum. With side-exit exhausts, each passenger hears only their own cylinder bank, making it sound more like two Audi RS3s yelling across each other than a 10-cylinder symphony. Its red line arrives at only 6,000rpm, as the pistons are as large as dumbbells, but it produces such ludicrous torque that using third gear alone could still frighten you half to death.

Living with the Dodge Viper V10

This Viper belongs to Top Gear’s resident foster parent for the rare and ridiculous, Mark Riccioni. He calls the huge V10 “pretty agricultural, but so simple, and all that torque’s always a novelty. It doesn’t mind hot starts, it idles without overheating, and starts first time even after months in winter storage”. That kind of dependable reliability is something of a novelty for Mark. Naturally, he found it in a Viper...

Dodge modestly refined the formula for the second-generation Viper in 2003, introducing extravagances such as ‘windows’ and ‘a weatherproof roof’. It also increased capacity, ultimately extracting 600bhp from 8.4 litres. As the global economy entered a doom spiral in 2008, the Viper appeared close to the end, yet Dodge developed an all-new model for 2013, raising V10 output to 640bhp. It continued until 2017, although sales never reached the level Dodge required to support a bespoke flagship supercar. Both the car and the factory where it was built closed in 2017.

Dodge Viper

Price new (1992): $52,000 (£42,120)
Price now: £50,000
Engine: 7,990cc V10, 400bhp @ 4,600rpm, 465Ib ft @ 3,600rpm
Transmission: 6spd manual, RWD
Performance: 0-60mph in 4.6secs, 165mph
Weight: 1,490kg

Photography: Jonny Fleetwood & Alex Tapley