Carsales Staff•7 Mar 2014
NEWS
Viper on death row
Chrysler Group demands US educational institution scrap sports carIt seems the gods are not smiling on muscular American sports cars.
First came news that a number of Chevy Corvettes had been drawn into a giant sinkhole opening up under the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky .
Now an outcry has arisen from the news that Chrysler is insisting a Dodge Viper provided to a community college for educational purposes be destroyed within two weeks.
America's ABC has reported that the car has been in the care of the South Puget Sound Community College, in Tacoma, Washington, for the past eight years. In that time, students have lavished care and attention on the 600hp metallic blue Viper, number four off the production line and one of the first hardtop models to be built.
Seemingly from out of nowhere, Chrysler has told the school the vehicle is to be destroyed. Students immediately launched an online petition to save the car, which they argue has historical merit. Chrysler disputes the Viper's value and has issued a statement explaining that it does keep and maintain Vipers that are legitimately iconic – but this is not one of them.
In the ABC report, the two best quotes come from the college's automotive professor, Norman Chapman.
"It's like taking a family pet, putting it in front of kids and destroying it," he was reported saying, although he subsequently acknowledged that Chrysler was well within its rights to order the vehicle destroyed under the terms of the contract between the auto manufacturer and the college. Furthermore, the college has certainly scrapped cars in the past; it's just that the students feel a particularly strong emotional attachment to the Viper.
Chapman also speculated that Vipers in other educational institutions may have "gotten loose" and forced Chrysler's hand, driving the manufacturer to withdraw all Vipers handed over to schools, "for liability reasons."
In its statement, which you can read below, Chrysler denied this was the case.
Chapman's final remark indicates the depth of feeling among his students and fellow staff about the sports car.
"If they can pardon a turkey at Thanksgiving, they can pardon a Viper."
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Written byCarsales Staff
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
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