The Dodge Viper built a quarter-century legacy as one of the rawest, wildest rides ever conceived for the street. The Vipers’ burly V-10 engines saw their power ratings rise from 400 HP at the model’s introduction to 645 HP by the close of the model’s production in 2017, always keeping the car at the forefront of the high-performance crowd. Debuting as a concept at the 1989 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Viper stunned onlookers and quickly developed some hardcore fans with its racy exterior proportions that looked like nothing less than a modern-day successor to the legendary Shelby Cobra. Two pre-production prototypes were pressed into service for a running debut to pace the 1991 Indianapolis 500, with Carroll Shelby himself at the wheel, before the original RT/10 Roadster went on sale in January 1992. The GTS version—complete with a double-bubble fixed hardtop—came along in 1996 to give Viper buyers a choice of a solid roof or open-air body styles. Vipers have always been noted for being tough to tame, rather unruly beasts that made performance by being an effective blunt instrument. The Viper team purposely held off on installing advances such as anti-lock brakes, traction control or electronic skid control as long as they possibly could in order to retain the car’s raw nature. That meant the Viper was destined to play to a small but loyal audience that truly loves these uncompromising high-performance machines. There’s simply nothing else on the road that’s quite like the Viper.