Since 1996, the Audubon Chrysler dealership in Henderson, Kentucky has had a first-gen Dodge Viper atop its road sign. For years, locals assumed that it was just a body shell or that it lacked a powertrain, since it would be absurd to reduce one of America’s greatest sports cars to a road sign. However, the Viper was finally taken down for a good scrub and, as it turns out, it’s a fully functioning car. Or, it will be again after a bit of refurbishing.
Henderson native Jacob Schreiber posted photos of the Viper being brought down from its perch on the Viper Club of America Facebook group and the years of sitting nearly 30 feet in the air weren’t kind to it. Its red paint didn’t hold up well to tens of thousands of hours of sunlight, as its clear coat is peeling like a bad sunburn. Nature also decided to take over the Viper, as the driver’s side window looks like a terrarium and the engine bay is now a bird’s nest that just so happens to also house a V10. Visualizing how much mold is inside the cabin is ruining my lunch. Put this thing on Larry Kosilla’s YouTube channel and he’d have enough content to fund moon colonization.
This won’t be the Viper’s first spa day, though. According to WBKR, the car was brought down for refurbishment 15 years ago. I wonder if that’s when it was given quite possibly the worst-looking set of aftermarket wheels ever fitted to one of these. Hopefully, those are trashed during its second cleaning because they look straight out of Pep Boys’ clearance catalog.
According to Schreiber, the Viper is going to get cleaned up and painted. Once refreshed, Tristate Homepage reports that the Viper should return to its post in about a month or so—though judging from Facebook comments, locals are conflicted about that decision. On one hand, the Viper has acted as a welcome sign to the entire town of Henderson, greeting drivers as they enter from Highway 41 for nearly three decades. It’s become a local celebrity of sorts. On the other hand, plenty of Viper enthusiasts have remarked on the shame of wasting such a great sports car.
Surely the local car community would prefer to see this Viper on the ground, in a loving garage, and carving up the local back roads, living the life a rear-wheel-drive roadster ought to. But first-gen Vipers aren’t worth a ton anymore, and this one still makes for quite the dealer ad. No matter what its future holds, allowing it to get moldy and disgusting all over again simply feels wrong.
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