What’s Better Than One Dodge Viper? Two in San Francisco!

When we were invited along for a cruise through San Francisco with not one Dodge Viper, but a pair of late model ACR-spec Vipers, we couldn’t say no

While the afternoon with Dale, who owns the white ACR, and Dan, owner of the Lava Orange Dodge Viper, was a bit different than how most features go we definitely weren’t complaining. The California Bay Area city is absolutely packed with people, cars, shops, and iconic scenery. And, today, 16.8L of American fury would be tearing up the Streets of San Francisco.

If over 1000 cubic inches in the form of twenty cylinders isn’t enough to get you excited, 1,300 horsepower should do it. If not, you might be in the wrong place.

We could tell plenty of passersby, while usually quite interested, felt the same way about the cars. This is a fair assumption, too, because while sleek and nimble, the ACR version is extra hard and tight, not to mention that massive wing on the back.

As incredible as they looked rolling through San Francisco, a Viper just wouldn’t be a car you’d want to drive here every day. Many locals don’t even bother owning cars, as it’s just too inconvenient to get around in one in the city.

As sacrilegious as it may seem, it really begs the question: what is the place of the large displacement internal combustion engine in the coming decades, especially in dense urban environments? Driving around the city all day surrounded by Priuses and electric busses, we just couldn’t help but think of it.

We know what your reaction to this might be, and Dale and Dan seem to feel the same way. Both are employees at TESLA, a company that we all know has spearheaded the production of electric cars.

But they’ve both purchased just about farthest thing from an electric car that money can buy. It’s obviously not a direct statement, but it does show us that enticing appeal of the internal combustion engine.

The healthy rumble of a V10, or V8 for that matter, is something that just can’t be replaced. And then there’s that insane styling that the Dodge Viper has been bringing us since the early ‘90s. There just isn’t an electric car that looks this way, at least for now.

And so while the styling will get there, there just isn’t an electric car that gives you the same experiences as an ACR Viper will. And we just don’t see that changing.

So, why can’t we have both? It isn’t just one or the other, after all. While an electric car, or self-driving car for that matter, will be good for getting from point A to point B they’ll be hard pressed to completely replace the muscle car. It just won’t happen.

As electric cars become more popular in cities, we’ll still have our cars for the back roads, drag strips, and road courses.

It does seem inevitable that eventually cars in town will become more and more boring as they become less hands-on, but that just makes incredible cars like these even more exciting to spot and to experience. And with Dodge suspending Viper production last year, Vipers are going to be very collectible in coming years.

We followed Dale and Dan up to the Legion of Honor to get a last look at the San Francisco skyline before heading our own separate ways for the night. As the sun went down, we realized that as long as we have people like Dale and Dan, we’re positive we will always have muscle cars in the city.