If everything goes as planned, I'll be picking up my first Viper, a beautiful 97 Blue/White GTS, a month from now. I've been trying to be cool, but I can't help but be excited and had to give in and post about it. That and I wanted to say hi and introduce myself.

My wife and I moved to the Sevierville area two years ago from Wisconsin. We came down on vacation for the first time maybe 3 years ago and fell in love with the area. I had hoped to find a place in the mountains but my wife fell in love with a house towards Seymour. It's not a bad location, not too close/far from Gatlinburg and not too far from the FootHills parkway and Deals Gap. The downside to the house is that it had only a two-car garage. I've been working on building a second garage, and when that happens you start thinking about what to put in the garage.

I have a 78 FJ40 project I've been working on, and that was the primary reason for the garage. So I'd have a place to grind and paint and work, but it wasn't too long before I was thinking about building another Cobra. It would be nice to have a hot rod again. But seeing as I'm still building the garage myself and the FJ40 is waiting to be finished, starting another project wasn't high on my list. So I started thinking about alternatives to a Cobra and that's when a Viper came to mind.

When I lived in Dallas a guy near my work would daily drive his blue/white GTS. I just loved the looks of that car! I had seen a few over the years but I never thought I'd have the opportunity to own one. My wife and I recently saw a red/white GTS at a dealer in Knoxville and for the first time I had the opportunity to sit in one, start it up, and thoroughly check it out. The lines are just so outrageous yet timeless. I love it!

So that's my life story. I was hoping to meet a few of you at the Gatlingburg meet a few weeks ago but I didn't make it out. That's okay, hopefully I'll be there next year with my GTS!

Jack