Dodge Viper: The full story of the world’s first V10 sports car

Product Description

The Viper stunned Americans by showing that Dodge, whose cars were all front-wheel drive (and mostly powered by four-cylinder engines), could make a raw, brutal, V-10-powered car that could run with the best. Team Viper went a step further at Le Mans, proving that an American car could handle turns, too – so well that it won its class, repeatedly, at a fraction of the cost of the cars it beat.
Dodge Viper covers the transition from a concept to a rough and brutal rocket to a world-class supercar, and includes every generation. The story also tells of the rough times when the entire Viper business could have been sold to the highest bidder, and considers alternative paths the 2013-17 Viper might have taken.

This is not just a gushing tribute to the Dodge Viper, the author provides an objective view of the full story, using business, historical, and enthusiast perspectives. The book looks at the business case for each generation, the development stories and their outcomes, and describes some of the issues owners may have to watch out for, particularly in the early models.

About the Author

David Zatz started writing about AMC/Jeep and Chrysler vehicles in the mid-1980s, with articles in college publications and trade magazines. In 1994, he started playing with the nascent World-Wide Web and created the site that would become allpar.com, the world’s most comprehensive source of information on Chrysler and AMC/Jeep in its prior form. From 2001 on, Allpar became his full-time job, and his former career in organizational research and change took a back seat. He sold Allpar.com in late 2017 to focus on other projects, including writing and teaching at Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

David has also written for
Hemmings Daily,
Quality Digest Workforce, and
HRMagazine; he has written chapters for the
Encyclopedia of Management and the
Business Strategy Book of Readings. His first book was
The Rise and Reinvention of Chrysler Minivans (originally dubbed
Mopar Minivans); he has also written
Wagoneer, Gladiator, Comanche, and Scrambler: Jeep’s Go-Anywhere Vehicles. 

David has two children, and is married to Dr. Katherine Zatz. He recently started the stellpower.com web site and has updates to the Viper book on his personal site, dave.zatz.us.