For anyone who’s ever surveyed their Viper and wished that it just looked a bit more ostentatious, Dodge has an answer. To celebrate the big and nasty car’s 25th anniversary, and probably its final year, the company will produce the Viper Snakeskin Edition GTC. According to Allpar.com and confirmed by Fiat Chrysler today, that means a snakeskin green color and a custom snakeskin-patterned SRT stripe.
Seems like Dodge is set on bringing the 1990s back.
Joining the Snakeskin Viper will be four other special editions, though none as zany and none featuring any engine modifications. Here’s the rundown:
The Viper 1:28 ACR, celebrating its track record at the Laguna Seca Raceway, will be black with red ACR stripes.
The Viper GTS-R Commemorative Edition ACR, painted white with a blue stripe, to recognize the highly successful racing cars.
The Viper Snakeskin Edition GTC, in snakeskin green with a custom snakeskin-patterned SRT stripe.
The Vooodoo 2 ACR, in black, has a graphic metallic ACR driver’s stripe with a red tracer outline.
The Viper Dodge Dealer Edition ACR is a special edition for specific Dodge dealers.
And as much as we all love the Viper, the numbers don’t lie: They simply don’t sell. Dodge was only able to sell an average of 50 Vipers a month this year. The Viper’s closest competitor, the Chevrolet Corvette, sold at nearly 40 times that rate.
Which is why by 2017, the Viper will be no more, according to Fiat Chrysler’s contract with the United Auto Workers union, and now this Allpar report as well.
We can placate ourselves with the Hellcats but deep down, we all know that we will suffer a loss. The Viper was among the craziest American cars around, and when it goes, so will a legacy.
At least it will go out in a fabulous snakeskin pattern.