John Neff at Autoblog reported on August 27th that Chrysler’s halo car, the Dodge Viper, may be sold to a third party. Rumors have been swirling for some time that the Viper could be canceled. In attempts to streamline their line-ups, we have already seen Chrysler discontinue the Pacifica, Crossfire (which borrowed heavily from ex-parent Daimler), PT Cruiser Convertible and the Dodge Magnum.

The Viper is a well loved car, and enjoys strong fan support as evidenced by a healthy owners club. It’s no secret the Viper has been a successful race car as well. The question now is who would buy the Viper? Neff speculates it could be a tuner, or a group of investors.

Here’s my take. Most of us have heard of Steve Saleen-he’s the guy that took everyday Ford Mustangs and turned them into serious performers. Steve sold his old company and opened SMS Limited. One of SMS’ first projects was creating a heavily massaged Dodge Challenger. Saleen will be producing these cars at a brand new facility in Orange County, California. Saleen has the know how to build specialty cars, and I feel that this would be great for the Viper.
Continue reading →

Having never visited a NASCAR style speedway before, I wasn’t quite prepared for the massiveness that is Pocono Raceway. I had been to The Glen years ago after the NASCAR renovation, but that facility is nowhere near the size of the big tri-oval at Pocono. The grandstands must be close to a half a kilometer long!
Continue reading →

Often, one expects a lot from a big event and less so from a smaller program. Sometimes though, the little guy blows the big guy out of the water! When I visited the launch of one of Toronto’s biggest racing events last month, I felt let down. No cars, no flash, no excitement. There has been so much going on lately that I almost backed out of last night’s launch party for the new Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship. What a mistake that would have been!
Continue reading →

Dodge Viper

In days of old, car manufacturers would give preview pics of upcoming models to journos that they could not publish under penalty of death. Now, in these days of the internets, those embargos are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In some cases they are becoming fodder for the overactive American legal system. On the other hand, some automakers are using the web to their own advantage by beating bloggers at their own game and officially leaking pics.

Yesterday’s big loser winner in the leaked photos department seems to be Daimler Chrysler, who had no less than 3 new models leaked prior to the NAIAS in Detroit. Photos abound of the new Jeep Trailhawk, Dodge Viper and the Chrysler Nassau concept vehicle. The upcoming Chevy Malibu has also made an early appearance.

The big question here is: Broken embargo or deliberate leak?

More pics after the break
Continue reading →