90s Crime Fighter Car on Ebay

If you guessed the Viper Defender from, well Viper, you'd be correct. Apparently it has made it's way onto ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/V-I-P-E-R-Defender-TV-Movie-car-/161030368559?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item257e286d2f#ht_516wt_1165

Bad news though, someone pulled the "I'm actively trying to kill you" V10 out and put a V8 in it.

Also someone thought it would sell at Mecum for $270,000 so I doubt it's going to sell this time either. I think I watched too much TV as a child.

Doh, that show sucked.

They didnt pull the motor, that's a Vette with a body kit. Sure looks that way to me anyway. There were viper kits for the corvette and they probably found it cheaper to use those to build the cars for the show than a real Viper.

???

Vipers seem to attract a weird sort when it comes to modifications. Not exactly sure why.

I give you dolphin viper.

JThw8 wrote: They didnt pull the motor, that's a Vette with a body kit. Sure looks that way to me anyway. There were viper kits for the corvette and they probably found it cheaper to use those to build the cars for the show than a real Viper.

That's entirely possible.

Wikipedia says that Chrysler Corporation engineers did all the design and body work though so I doubt that they'd allow their competitor the leeway to make those jokes. The cars were supposedly built out of spare parts from mules. Wiki isn't always accurate though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viper_(TV_series)

The0retical wrote:

JThw8 wrote: They didnt pull the motor, that's a Vette with a body kit. Sure looks that way to me anyway. There were viper kits for the corvette and they probably found it cheaper to use those to build the cars for the show than a real Viper.

That's entirely possible. Wikipedia says that Chrysler Corporation engineers did all the design and body work though so I doubt that they'd allow their competitor the leeway to make those jokes. The cars were supposedly built out of spare parts from mules. Wiki isn't always accurate though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viper_(TV_series)

Yeah, actually other info I find says it was designed and built at chryslers design HQ which doesnt jive with the ad that says it was built by Unique Movie Cars Vegas. Interior shots sure have a lot of corvette touches to them (to my eye)

So other info I found, it was based on a pre-production Viper, but because they cut and streched the body it wouldn't hold up to the abuse of the torque of the V10 so they swaped a 360 with a 727 torqueflite auto. Also the stunt guys wanted it to be automatic and it was easier to swap the V8/auto than try to adapt an auto to the V10

That makes sense. I figured that the stunt guys were the reason behind the V8 but didn't know for sure and didn't know about the mules until I looked it up. There's a couple of things in the ad that don't add up. The car has probably been neglected so long that the seller just put in there what he heard rather than doing some research. If it's even the original car.

JThw8 wrote: So other info I found, it was based on a pre-production Viper, but because they cut and streched the body it wouldn't hold up to the abuse of the torque of the V10 so they swaped a 360 with a 727 torqueflite auto. Also the stunt guys wanted it to be automatic and it was easier to swap the V8/auto than try to adapt an auto to the V10

I remember that from back in the day- they swapped in the 360 because it was more reliable. I can't imagine the expense of doing that vs just using the car as is, but whatev. A very disappointed teenager here.

Teh E36 M3 wrote:

JThw8 wrote: So other info I found, it was based on a pre-production Viper, but because they cut and streched the body it wouldn't hold up to the abuse of the torque of the V10 so they swaped a 360 with a 727 torqueflite auto. Also the stunt guys wanted it to be automatic and it was easier to swap the V8/auto than try to adapt an auto to the V10

I remember that from back in the day- they swapped in the 360 because it was more reliable. I can't imagine the expense of doing that vs just using the car as is, but whatev. A very disappointed teenager here.

Way back in the day there was nobody making a reliable automatic that would bolt up to the V10 and survive so that is more then likely the case.

Damn, I used the think that show was awesome as kid. All the bad guys drove Stealths, probably not the twin turbo ones, but still cool none the less.

Oh, I have been wondering about that show lately. I thought it was cool when I was 10.

I was 11-12 when that aired and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Watched it every week. Fortunately my attention span was short enough I forgot about it before I knew it was cancelled. Never saw the 2-4 seasons. I looked it up a few months back and found there is no DVD version which sucks.

Hello to everyone I own the company who built all 14 VIPER for the tv show VIPER.Yes we did was vipers NOT CORVETTES for some reason people come up with their own ideas of things not knowing the facts.The reason it has a V18 is because the V10's were not reliable enough to film with.This for some reason bothers people who dont know anything about film making and the process.If the cars broke down time is money money is time they could not have that so the motors went to V8 for that reason. AGAIN THIS IS NOT A CORVETTE THE BODY'S WERE BUILD JUST FOR VIPEAR'S NOT ANYTHING ELSE.My company worked with chrysler hand and hand on this project...thats the short answer to that question.

uniquemoviecarslasvegas.com

thanks for that UMC. And he is correct. In filming a movie, you do not need to run a highly strung, prone to breakdown car to film a 200mph race scene. You can do it with a 4 cylinder doing half the speed and just add the effects to make it seem real. There is no reason to use the real thing.. and if anything, it is foolhardy to use the real thing with a decent substitute can be used

mad_machine wrote: thanks for that UMC. And he is correct. In filming a movie, you do not need to run a highly strung, prone to breakdown car to film a 200mph race scene. You can do it with a 4 cylinder doing half the speed and just add the effects to make it seem real. There is no reason to use the real thing.. and if anything, it is foolhardy to use the real thing with a decent substitute can be used

Except that the V10 in a viper is under-stressed and quite commonly survives endurance racing events in stock form.

I have seen gen I's with 250K miles without rebuild still running around on the track.

Yeah but you're talking about pre production cars that saw way more abuse than you would think. If they needed a part specific to a v10 it could bring production to a halt as at that point the parts weren't there yet.

As an aside, its a testament to GRM's google rankings that anytime we make a thread we get someone joining up that has inside info.

Wait, didn't the good guy drive a TT Stealth as a civilian that transformed into this Viper when it was crime-fightin' time? Or am I completely making this up?

I think the regular Viper would transform into a Super-Viper when it was crime fightin' time. Or something like that.

Hmm.. didn't sell for 270k at auction in 2010.

Still won't sell.

Maybe that tells you something.

never heard of the show... and i watched a LOT of tv during that time period..

wearymicrobe wrote:

mad_machine wrote: thanks for that UMC. And he is correct. In filming a movie, you do not need to run a highly strung, prone to breakdown car to film a 200mph race scene. You can do it with a 4 cylinder doing half the speed and just add the effects to make it seem real. There is no reason to use the real thing.. and if anything, it is foolhardy to use the real thing with a decent substitute can be used

Except that the V10 in a viper is under-stressed and quite commonly survives endurance racing events in stock form. I have seen gen I's with 250K miles without rebuild still running around on the track.

But what about all the parts that are specific to the V10 that might have been hard to get if they broke? Movie cars also do a -lot- of idling

Trans_Maro wrote: Hmm.. didn't sell for 270k at auction in 2010. Still won't sell. Maybe that tells you something.

Yeah... he's gonna have to wait until some kid of that age who loved the show has a crap-load of expendable income... Maybe in 20 years... Personally, I'm quite surprised at the $173K if reached on eBay.

novaderrik wrote: never heard of the show... and i watched a LOT of tv during that time period..

+1