Speedsters are some of the most exotic cars on the planet. Every major supercar maker has tried to ask a lot of money in exchange for completely remove the roof. For example, McLaren sells something called the Elva, which costs $1.7 million, while Ferrari’s Monza SP2 costs an eye-watering $2.6 million.
So it often takes a literal multi-millionaire celebrity like Gordon Ramsey to own one of these. Yet Detroit never really tried to combine any of its exotic models with a speedster design.
One rendering artist has tried to fix this problem by creating one of his own, using the bones of the legendary Viper. It’s a fitting platform, one of the most exciting, raw machines known to man.
The SRT Viper hasn’t been in production since the last decade. But despite an initial lack of demand, the American supercar is now worth huge value, especially if you’ve got one of the rare track editions.
This rendering is the work of Oscar Vargas, known online as wb.artist20. He’s been steadily improving his 3D modeling skills and seems to be into speedster conversions now. But it’s not simply a case of chopping the roof and calling it a day.
The SRT Viper has kept a lot of its original bodywork. But you may notice that the front bumper includes a Dodge grille and round fog lights. These appear to be borrowed from a race car called the Viper GT3-R. And that name echoes Porsche’s famous track-oriented versions of the 911, which in turn connects to the design of the speedster.
You see, the Porsche 911 Speedster costs $275,000, about double the price of a GT3. It does have a full-sized windshield, unlike other such creations, but adds some distinctive humps behind the driver, and they’re almost identical to what’s been rendered onto the Viper.
Unusual features
There are other strange design elements on this Viper. For example, it seems to have a brown leather dash. And while the windshield exists, it’s about 5 inches tall, not much use when keeping the wind out of your hair.
Also, the bodywork seems to have been designed around the original 1990s Dodge Viper, which technically could have been considered a speedster. It’s got the same front fender vent, and the wing kinda’ looks like a roof hoop. And did you spot that it’s got rear-exit exhaust tips? It’s not as exciting, but at least you can’t burn your leg while getting out.
While I said that Detroit never tried to make a speedster, there is a note to be made. The Corvette had multiple speedster variants, about 10 based on the C4 and the rare C16 Callaway C17 Speedster from 2007.
