I was there.
At Stevens Creek Dodge.
For the first model year.
When 53 were built and sent, one each, to the top 50 Dodge dealers in the country.
It sat in our showroom with a $50,000.00 MSRP and a $200,000.00 dealer markup sticker.
Carefully watched by sales reps for any errant belt buckles getting a little too close to the paint as curious gawkers stretched to view the interior.
Test drives by appointment with dealership Service Manager only.
NOW 'm gonna get brutal:
Styling sucked with those behind-the-fender scoops clashing with what otherwise would've been very sweet lines indeed, and gave rise to the "Clown Shoe" epithet.
Ergonomics, as has since been seen to be the bane of other Chrysler product, were atrocious.
The one time I got to sit in it I realized that in order to get my feet close enough to the pedals, I had to move the seat so far forward the steering wheel was literally about 4" away from my chest.
And I still wasn't quite all the way to the pedals.
The first time I heard it fired up, though, I realized it had all the farting resonance of a Baja Bug.
Ferrari owners must have laughed all the way to the country club.
The twin-turbo Stealth with all-wheel drive and rear camber steering was altogether a much more user-friendly and USABLE car.
It could out-corner same-era 'Vettes, (I know, I did it) with much better visibility although the 'Vette might have taken it on top-end. Never got there with either one of 'em.
All the while I was a RWD purist (still am) and was thoroughly in love with my '80 RX-7; which had so much grip and road feel it felt like you were crawling around on your hands and knees.
You couldn't possibly skid without trying really really hard..
And then my '70 Olds Cutlass 350, one of the original gentleman's hotrods, which had so much bottom end torque I was spoiled for all others in that department until I got my beloved Supercoupe.
regarding those first year Vipers, BTW, Jay Leno called trying to buy ours because the one in LA was sold or they wouldn't give him the price he wanted, I forget.
But he didn't get ours either.
The guy who did get it wandered into the showroom one day looking like a homeless person still in the throws of a 3-day bender (as I heard it, it was on my day off) an was ignored by all self-assured sales reps based on his appearance until finally he was approached by a skeptical manager.
Now, for that car, nobody could even set up a test drive until he'd proven his credit bona fides, because banks simply wouldn't finance a $200,000 dealer markup.
On a deal like that, the
buyer is financed (based on net worth, if he's not paying cash/credit card), not the car.
Turns out the guy had just won the lottery.
True story.
The Viper
coupes were much more attractively styled IMO.
But I'm not sure anything could ever really be done about the sound of 10 small high-compression cylinders no matter what was done to the exhaust system.
It was a Lamborghini-derived motor that was much better suited to delivering low-rpm torque than high-rpm horsepower and suffered significant teething pains at Chrysler because of it.
Well even if they did finally get the desired rpm range out of it, at least it sounded like a thousand squirrelzillas farting.
If I'd been given one I woulda traded it for something I actually liked and could afford to maintain.
Like a 3rd gen RX7
and a '70 442 W30
Of course I used to say that about Mercedes, 'Vettes, and Ferraris, too.
In fact if somebody gave me $100,000.00 Tesla today I'd trade it for both of those and a nice Sueprcoupe too, and let 'em keep the change.
Oh, I might by Pascal one o' them flamethrowers.
He seems to like it.