The Viper has survived
I have always been a great fan of the Dodge
Viper. Two seats, a massive eight liter V10 engine delivering more
horsepower than most people have ever experienced, brakes an
optional extra, steering by worm and tiller, in reality hundreds of
things wrong with the car, but a real hairy chested man’s car that
produced awe in the passenger and delight for the driver.
 The
Dodge Viper lives again
With Chrysler, as we knew it, going down the gurgler and Fiat taking
over the reins, there were thoughts voiced that the V10 monster
would not fit in with a line-up that could include re-badged Fiat
500’s. However, the latest word is the snake has been given a
reprieve and production of the Viper will continue, saving both the
iconic name and the factory that makes it.
Chrysler had announced earlier this year that Viper production would
stop this December unless a buyer for the sub-brand and plant could
be found. However, there were no bids for either the brand or the
factory and the “For Sale” sign was taken down by Chrysler.
Dodge brand president and chief executive Mike Accavitti said the
Viper had successfully captured the hearts and imagination of
performance enthusiasts around the globe. “We’re extremely proud
that the ultimate American-built sports car with its world-class
performance will live on as the iconic image leader for the Dodge
brand,” he said.
Originally the Viper was a show-stealing concept car in 1989, and
went into production in 1992 at Chrysler’s New Mack factory in
Michigan before being switched to Chrysler’s Conner Avenue factory
in October 1995, with more than 25,000 Vipers having been built
since 1992.
Today’s fourth-generation model debuted last year, powered by a 450
kW 8.4 liter V10 engine that is capable of catapulting the Viper
SRT10 to 100 km/h from standstill in less than four seconds, while
the zero-160-zero km/h time takes 12 seconds, which means they have
actually found some brakes for the monster.
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Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that the Ford Mustang is always thought of as a muscle
car, and I asked what was its horsepower when it was released in 1964? By half
way through 1964 there were V8 engines available, but when it was released at
the World’s Fair on April 22, 1964 it had the 170 cubic inch in-line six
developing only 101 bhp. About enough ‘muscle’ to pull the skin off a rice
pudding.
So to this week. And let’s get away from US muscle for a while. In the UK, a new
car from a major manufacturer was going to be called the Caprino, until some
research unearthed that this was Italian for goat poo! Instead they named the
car after the winter Olympics. What was this car?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to email
viacars@gmail.com
Good luck!
If you want ‘quality’ be prepared to spend
Each year the JD Power and Associates Initial Quality Study is
carried out, with questionnaires going out to new car buyers and from these the
average of faults per 100 vehicles is reached. In the US, the industry average
is 108 faults per 100 vehicles, which is not bad when you think about it. Last
year, the industry average was 118 faults per 100 vehicles, so much was improved
since the last survey.
Top performer in the quality stakes was, once more, Lexus with 84 faults/100
vehicles, closely followed by Porsche with 90 and Cadillac with 91.
In the number four spot was the rapid riser in the automotive scene - Hyundai,
at 95, seeing off Honda at 99 and Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Ford and GM with 101,
101, 102 and 103 respectively.
Long way down the list was Dodge (134), Jaguar (134), Chrysler (136), Hummer
(136), Jeep (136), Saab (138), Smart (138), Land Rover (150) and bottom of the
pile and stay in after school was Mini at 165.
Was the Tucker really ahead of its
time?
Hands up all those who remember the Tucker 48, better remembered
as the Tucker Torpedo? Built in 1948, the Tucker featured three headlights,
with the one in the nose swiveling with the steering. This feature was just
one of the many ‘revolutionary’ items on the ill-fated Tuckers, of which
only 51 were ever built. For students of trivia, 47 of them still exist,
which probably makes it the marque with the best longevity, with 92 percent
of the original production still extant after more than 50 years!
Tucker Torpedo
But Preston Tucker cannot claim rights to the concept either,
even if he were still around (he died in 1956 after his great American dream
folded). Way, way back, there were headlights known as Pilot Ray lights that
were fitted to vehicles such as the L29 Cords. These optional extra lights were
attached by rods to the Pitman steering arms so that as the arm moved through
its arc, the lights did also. Crude - but they worked, after a fashion. Like
most Cords!
The whole history of the Tuckers is one shrouded in mystery and accusations of
dirty dealings by the Big 3. While 51 cars were built in total, they were not
really built on an assembly line type of operation, but more of a hand built
progression of cars, with later ones having improvements the earlier ones did
not have. For example, there were three engines tried in the rear-engined cars,
with the final one being a helicopter unit. The Stock Exchange took Tucker to
court claiming that he had no intention of mass-producing the Torpedo and it was
in reality a massive financial swindle, with Tucker pre-selling accessories for
cars that were yet to be built. However, the case was eventually flung out, but
by then it was too late. The Tucker Torpedo was a damp squib.
But there is no doubting that the Tucker was way ahead of its time, particularly
as far as safety features, with a padded dash, seat belts, and pop out
windshield, but those are only part of the Tucker’s safety features. Unlike cars
of the era, or most cars built today, the Tucker used a unibody which was welded
to an automotive frame (in order to eliminate body rattles), thus giving the
protection of a safety cage. Additionally, the frame of a Tucker was shaped like
a ship’s prow at the front and rear. The reason for this was that Tucker’s
research showed that most collisions tended to be glancing blows at an angle.
The prow shape of the frame, it was hoped, would deflect the other vehicle away
from the Tucker. There were also steel bulkheads at the front and rear of the
passenger compartment, to further protect the passengers. The bumpers were
mounted on springs to absorb shock in a crash, and because of the weight balance
provided by the rear mounted engine the brakes would wear evenly and the car
would lower itself evenly, instead of the front end pitching down, in panic
stops. The steering wheel was designed to dissipate the impact of the driver’s
body in a crash and the steering column was a breakaway design so that it
wouldn’t transfix the driver in the event of a crash.
 Tucker’s
flat six engine
There are a few known glitches with the car. The first is that the center
headlight didn’t work as well as predicted (this could have been corrected with
a lens change), the pop out windshield could be removed with a moistened toilet
plunger (making the cars easy pickings for thieves), and the transmission had
lubrication problems at idle (stop and go traffic would play hell on the
tranny). However, these are relatively minor issues and likely would have been
easy to correct if the cars had gone into production, but as with all complex
new designs, the public would not be happy to wait for the fix. Look at the 1936
Cord 810 for example, with its transmission problems, which eventually killed
the car, just as the Stock Exchange stopped E.L. Cord himself.
Really, it shows how lucky we are today, where the manufacturer has to do all
the de-glitching before the car is released for sale. Sure, some faults still
get through, but they are nothing compared to yesteryears. By the way, Tuckers
sell for around $1 million these days. (My thanks to Jerry Coffey for his
assistance in preparing the information for this article.)
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