This Dodge Viper Sat on Top of a Dealership Sign for 26 Years. It’s Now Being Restored.

Bryan Hood
·2-min read

Who knew a car that’s never left the lot could use so much work?

Audubon Chrysler in Henderson, Kentucky has finally taken down the Dodge Viper it has been using as a sign for most of the past three decades. The brash two-door will be refurbished before returning to its perch overlooking U.S. Highway 41.

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Most dealerships in possession of a Dodge Viper during the mid-1990s would have tried to quickly sell the serpentine sports car for a tidy profit. Not Audubon Chrysler, though. The business’s owners decided there was a better way to put the car to use—by turning it into one of the most head-turning dealer signs we’ve ever seen.

Audubon Chyrsler's Dodge Viper from the side
Audubon Chrysler’s Dodge Viper RT/10

The first-generation Viper RT/10 was lowered to the ground earlier this month after 28 long years spent parked above the dealership. The complex operation was captured on camera by a member of the Viper Club of America Facebook group, who shared photographs of the process along with the news that it would be repainted and cleaned before going back up.

Those images suggest that the process won’t be an easy one. The Viper, which is an actual car and not just a life-size model, may have spent most of the past three decades parked on the platform, but that hasn’t stopped it from experiencing some serious wear and tear. The car’s bright red finish has faded over time and become caked in dirt. But the most difficult part of the task may be cleaning out the engine bay. It appears that several birds have decided to build nests within crevices of the car’s 8.0-liter V-10 over the years.

Under the hood of Audubon Chyrsler's Dodge Viper
Under the hood of Audubon Chyrsler's Dodge Viper

Shortly after the post went up Audubon Chrysler employee named Alec Girvin chimed in to confirm the news and shared that the car had just 12 miles on the odometer. Since then, another dealership employee named Travis Little told TriState Homepage that it should be returned to its old parking spot within a month or so.

Amazingly, Audubon Chrysler’s Viper wasn’t the only sports car being used as a dealership in the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky tri-state area. Bennett Motors, in Evansville, Indiana, had used various Chevrolet Corvettes as its sign dating back to the 1970s, according to local radio station WBKR. The most recent was taken down in 2021, three years after the dealership had closed.

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