*91

Not only that, the road is definitely NOT a prepped drag strip, but rather a crappy looking old frontage road that parallels the nearby highway. And I was rooting for the Vector...

It’s not the GTS Viper either, which is faster than the RT/10. Loved the Vector, both versions of it. I remember the NYC reveal of the newer model in the 90’s at the Marriott hotel

It's about as quick as a stock Mk8 VW Golf R (12.3 on the Carwow strip) and slower than a Mercedes A45 S (12.1 on the Carwow strip)... so hot hatch speed rather than 'super fast' I guess but still pretty good for a 30+ year old car.

​@@corleth2868bud 12 secs is super fast for any street legal stock car...... The price point of a r or the merc is in the super car space..... And then ur still just got a hatchback.....

That's the outrageous performance of an ultra long gear autobox with an oil slusher in front. Ridiculous, isn't it?

@@Perry_dAccardor maybe they don’t really want to race an old car like that which is why they shouldn’t bother racing them but who are we to stop them

could also be insane turbo lag

@@Coffee17990 I think he's afraid to do the things necessary to get a '90's automatic to hook up, because breaking anything on a ultra low production $1.5 Million car would be bad, even if those parts are found in an old GM parts bin. (He was easing into the throttle, instead of brake torquing, then launching at "GO!")

​@@jreymanif theyvare going to do all that then don't even bother letting a crapload of people down. That was ridiculous.

Yeah, something is seriously wrong with that thing. I don’t think it’s getting any boost

Boost leak!

@@Christri Yeah, sounds like the wastegates are wide open and just dumping boost. When he rev’d that thing it sounded like a shop vac

​​@@S.Matt240 ill bet this was recorded by the carwow equipment, which always sound absolutely horrible on the exterior revs. It never ever sounds good for any vehicle, they all sound so bad

Sound of open waste gate

Right? One wonders what they were thinking when they decided to use that autobox. Cocaine, probably.

I guess they could't find a manual that can hold 900nm

Looks like a cross between a Decepticon and a carrot

@@user-sy1ed9ex5m Yeah probably true. Supra transmissions could do it but that’s a few years later.

​@@premonemo😂😂😂

I'm getting a hint of de tomaso pantera gts as well

It’s an overpriced Kit Car 😂 Ancient TPI intake on a forged 6.0 V8, boosted, with Poor Peformance and even worse Handling…

@@speedracerjeff random ass hating out of nowhere, but OK

​@@askerleaves1614 Its not, the Vector looks like complete shit when it was new and a steaming wedged shape crock of shit now.

@@samueljones3668 like geez dude did it screw your wife or something?? I promise you there is zero reason for you to be hating like this

30yr+ old cars are vintage, btw. 😉 Totally agree - so great to see these running as they were intended to be run. 💪

@@southrpv8839 I didn't want to feel old man. Damn 🤣🤣🤘

This one definitely ain't running right

@@jamesengland7461 It's typical though.

The Vector has a selectable boost dial if I remember right. Didn't even address it in the video

Sure did. I still have that issue!

Cover has 12 flat

gearbox matters

I was in high school when the Vector came out...and like alot of car kids...i had a poster of one on my wall. Many dreams were had staring at it wishing i couldve owned one back then. I forgot it had a 3speed auto tranny but i did think it was considerably faster than a quarter mile in the 13s. Wonder what the final drive gear ratio is? I forgot what the top speed was...170? I know they Gen Y and millenials wont get it really but back in the day the Gen X peeps knew that was cutting edge design. My mouth drops still looking at it. Way cool...thanks Peterson for bringing it out to play! 👊

@@JK-js2td im a millenial , pantera detomaso fan since im a kid! Also grew up in France and all the good ol youngtimers and some oldtimers around

@@TheTrooperMB hell yeah!

I'm fairly certain the boost was turned down and the driver was being very gentle with a car valued that much. When they went up against each other back in the day the Vector was much faster.

@@TTOOS I'm not sure what the point of the video was. Almost as if to say the Vector was slower than the Viper however, they made no reference to the road tests when these cars were new and the Vector ran an under 12 second quarter mile and smoked the Viper.

3000+ rpm converter will fix ol vectors problems

@@TheRiverPirate13 Yeah, if the museum was gonna either "protect" the Vector or for some other reason not bring it up to its 7psi factory setting, they should not have staged the drag race. They should have allowed some manner of drive-around and showcase, maybe.

Yes, driver is afraid of braking a $1.5 Million dollar investment. Also, cars that sit for long periods of time, go bad from simply sitting much faster than if they're used on a regular basis.

Nailed it.

Fortunately, it’s the first time they make this mistake and they had no way of knowing it could hap…oh wait

pathetic. what a fucking insult to such an incredible vehicle

Exactly. If they did some tuning on it and maybe even a basic tune-up and the guy didn't have terrible reactions in the first race and manually shifted the slush box things could have been a little different but that car was never meant to be a drag race car anyway. Still we appreciate seeing the thing run even though it sounded terrible and it was the dream car of a generation.

I’m quite sure they looked over the car and took the proper precautions before racing it. People that own cars of that caliber are meticulous and that car is a collector’s item.

Gerald Wiegert was a serial liar. The V8 twin-turbo was a disaster, and mated to a 3speed slushbox would in no way allow it to reach the proposed performance numbers. The later version M12 using a Lamborghini-sourced V12 was a better car on paper, what with a relatively proven drivetrain, but in reality was a near-deathtrap. They were assembled near my home in FL, I'd see one on test drives occasionally, and they sounded glorious, but if one drove by while I was on foot, there was almost always an alarming smell of gasoline and coolant following the car. A mirror flat fell off of one while I watched it cross railroad tracks, and at least one caught fire just tooling through the countryside, though I didn't see that.

Even if they did, they were absolutely hamstrung by the stupid transmission decision. Should have at least used the 4 speed auto from the corvette of the same era.

@@JeffDeLamater I don't think it was a decision so much as a lack of choice and money. When the car was being developed in the late 80s, there was not much in the way of available options for a midengine capable GM 90 degree bellhousing transmission that would manage over 600 ft/lbs of torque.

GM Turbo Hydromatic 425, a transmission for big cars in the 60s

Powerglides are two speeds, not three speeds.

They’re not very fast. Cool cars though

They are not.

@@zackbrinkley1442 Car would do 200mph, not very fast lol.

@@FordPickUPRed 184mph

My uncle had one of the early ones. He sold it because he said the car was trying to kill him

@@3644Darrell I can fully believe that M8

My buddy first got the SRT-10 Viper pickup. For what it is...its a great vehicle. Plenty fast...handled well...especially for a truck...and the big brakes on it really worked well. It really drives more like a car than ac truck...however...it feels like a car but 2-3 feet higher...lol. he sold the truck and ended up finding a 1996 blue GTS coupe. I agree with the other Viper comments...that car was a BEAST! It had 450hp...50 more than the standard Viper. One of the fastest cars ive ever driven. Cant imagine what the last ones were like with 600-650hp. A badass car...no doubt!

Really? Trying to kill him? I've owned 3 Vipers including a stroked GTS with about 100 hp over stock and a Blown GTS with over 840 hp and drove them in the rain regularly with little problem. Just take off in 2nd and be gentle with the accelerator. Never understood people who pretend it was so difficult to drive. Put over 27,000 miles on then combined, not once did I have a problem. Even got stuck out of town driving home when it started snowing and still managed to make it home. Ok, so that one was a bit hairy, as the tires simply do not want to grip in the snow. But I made it home despite, and I'm nothing special behind the wheel other than mindful of throttle input. I don't get it... Just seems like exaggeration. Or lack of self control. 😂 That last bit is somewhat understandable, as the torque is addicting, but not the cars fault. Lol

@@importantvideos4529 I fully understand your comment and interesting to hear of your experience all I can say is you are a good driver by the sounds of it but at the same time I also understand what the other gentleman is saying “ trying to kill him “ because if you are the type of driver who does push on on a twisty wet road you do exercise absolute control because this car will catch the unwary out either on entry into a turn with pronounced understeer or on exit with pronounced oversteer both as you say is the driver not the car .

Matt gets a 12.2 every time he races a first-generation Viper. Like you said, something is off. A 12.6 on the perfect day, but 12.2? That's what the 96 GTS did, according to Car and Driver. They got 12.8 from a 95 Viper.

The Vector is supposed to run low 11s from the factory.

@@TheSmokingDen I owned a 99 gts, and went 11.8 at 117 stock.

Yeah I would have been curious to see what a boost gauge would have read on the Vector, obviously way down on power.

It’s a POS kit car with a crappy TPI 6.0 engine that doesn’t run efficiently with boost and has terrible handling as well.

And I guess you don’t know anything about drag racing, you’ve never heard of Powerglide transmissions? Pro glide? Some of the fastest drag cars use 2 speed Powerglides that are making well over 600hp… the 3 speed trans isn’t the problem in the W8… and it wasn’t the only trans available in the world that could handle “that kind of power”. There were way more powerful drag cars in the 80s and 90s running all types of transmissions in the world of drag racing. And if you Dyno a W8 you’d be surprised how weak they are and how little power is being transferred to the rear wheels.

The Viper’s build quality was far closer to a Kit car than the W8. The W8 is a very misunderstood car. Built more like an airplane than a car. It’s as far from a kit car as you can get. You might be confusing it with the M12 which was not built under Wiegert’s oversight. The M12 was essentially a kit car on a Diablo chassis. Terrible build quality. Not a true vector. The Vector W cars were way ahead of their time, with things like airbags, heads up displays, and active aero in the 1980s.

It is not literally the same transmission used in a monster truck. It is a transaxle used in front wheel drive Oldsmobiles and Buicks and it's based off the TH400. If the monster truck used TH400 then yes it would be similar.

Indeed... I've always been "on the fence" about there Vector's history and what it was. I respected Wiegert's insistence on it being all American, but I thought it unnecessary and kind of delusional whenever people get very very 'Merican. Before anybody cries that I'm not "patriotic" enough, believe me I think the whole project that started this country was amazing, trying to get away from Imperial rule and the rich getting richer and peasants stying peasants... and I was in the U.S. military, have had family in north America before it was the U.S., so I'm more than patriotic enough LOL.... However the sheer ingredients of this country ARE from other countries!I get the 'ole tribal mentality that some get for unnecessary reasons, but we're supposed to be thriving because of the mongrel idea of people coming from everywhere, sharing ideas and everything we feel like working on. So that's why I think Gerald or "Jerry" could have succeeded long-term with that Vector if he had just been proud enough it was being made in the U.S., with the aircraft parts etc. from here... but since almost everything we work with in this country has materials and resources already bought from outside the country (yes, even in Gerald's time).... he might as well had just made it the best he could, even if it mean having Mercedes or Ferrari or Toyota make a couple parts for him, or if more palatable... the suppliers of those companies also supplying him. I get it, he probably just couldn't stand the idea especially after coming up with that dream. I just wish he would have bit the bullet and kept quiet if he was really that proud, and saved money and got the exact parts he needed to make the car truly magical. For me, I don't care if he would have outsourced, I wouldn't care if it was American (many claim their products "American" that are not)... I will always love the story of Lamborghini, the interesting way Porsche approached engineering, the care and reliability put into Toyota, etc. etc. etc... the nationality crap is meaningless to me. I just wanted one more really cool car to drool on, and Vector really got my hopes up.

Soo... when a Vector gets old it loses performance?

Cover of road and track said 12 flat! So good for Dodge.

Vector quarter mile. ❤

If it weren’t for that crappy 3 speed it probably could’ve easily done 0-60 in mid 3 seconds

Team Viper only got $70M to develop their car. Tiny considering how much better it was.

Either he wasn't pushing that car or it wasn't right, prolly both. I don't think it would have been that fast but this race was not representative of the car imo.

@@AutobahnVault Then I guess the W8 was developed on 1/10 the budget. Still, Viper development team did well considering what they had.

@@kevtheobald Oh yeah. They destroyed the Corvette, not to mention Ferraris, Porsche and all the "Big Boys" in Europe's most famous racing events.

Man of culture, I see. The W2 was how it was supposed to be. And it should have made production in the early '80s. At that point everything was full of promise. The W8 was too little too late. But an awesome effort none the less.

That’s because that’s what it is.

Or that old Alfa from the 70s!!!😊

Same here! I still have it framed