The Very First Dodge Viper Ever Made Fetches Over $285K at Auction
Bonhams only expected the Lee Iacocca-owned sports car to fetch, at most, $125,000.
The first production mid-engined Corvette wasn't the only "first edition" American sports car to be sold for big bucks at Scottsdale this past week. Remember that Lee Iacocca-owned Dodge Viper we reported on? Bonhams originally pegged it to sell for somewhere around $100,000 to $125,000. Well, turns out they were wrong. Very wrong.
When the 1992 Dodge Viper RT/10 VIN 001 went to auction Thursday, one lucky collector picked it up for $285,500—essentially the same price as a brand new Ferrari F8 Tributo. Amazing residuals for a 28-year-old Dodge, especially when you remember that it stickered for the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $95,000 when it was new.
Bar a two-year hiatus at the beginning of the last decade, the Viper was produced pretty much continuously, evolving every few years right up until the last one was discontinued back in 2017.
To recap, this very red, very first Viper to come off the production line was owned by auto industry legend Lee Iacocca and only has around 6,500 miles on the odometer. For collectors looking for a "perfect" O.G. Viper, this is pretty much as close as it gets which is precisely why it was advertised as "the world's most desirable Dodge Viper" and sold for almost $300k despite classic car experts Hagerty currently listing the going rate for "concours"-grade '92 Vipers at just $88,800.
If this is all too rich for your blood, that 40,000-mile Neon SRT-4 is still up for grabs.
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