It’s not uncommon for automakers to donate vehicles to schools in order to help students learn how to work on cars. Chrysler is one such automaker and now they’re catching a lot of heat for asking colleges to crush some old Dodge Vipers much to the chagrin of, well, everyone.
Chrysler has suddenly become the villain in a story that has them playing the part of the evil empire, willfully destroying precious relics just to make the rest of us cry and wail in agony. Now, hold up just a second.
The Dodge Vipers were donated by Chrysler about ten years ago to a number of trade schools. I’d imagine that, when they arrived ten years ago, the students at those schools were a bit giddy at the prospect of learning to work on such cool cars.
As a part of the donation process, it’s standard procedure for Chrysler to stipulate that once the school is done with a car, it is to be destroyed. It isn’t mean spiritedness that has them destroying the car, but safety and no small amount of common sense.
There’s a point where any vehicle ceases to be a good model for educating students on vehicle repair. What was the norm or even advanced ten years ago is likely outdated today. Would you really want the guy fixing your new car to have only learned about cars from a 10-year-old Dodge Viper? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Adding to the uproar are claims that one of the Vipers in question is the fourth to ever roll off the line, and a conspiracy-theory level of investigation as to the truth of that story has since unfolded. Some say it is, some say it isn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that the car is now and always has been destined for the crusher.
Chrysler released a statement saying that none of the Vipers in question are significant and that they do preserve many of their vehicles for history. These old Dodge Vipers just aren’t part of that history and, much like legions of vehicles before them, their time is done.
If you’re still upset that Chrysler has issued this order of execution, take a step back and remember that this whole thing started with them donating Vipers to schools where they’d face who knows what kind of treatment. Donating them was a good thing, so perhaps Chrysler’s not quite the villain it’s been made out to be.
Keep calm and drive on.
Check out this video of the 2013 SRT Viper tearing up the track…
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
