A short tale of a guy and his new Orange Viper TA

[Jet Slicker]

Hi everybody! I posted about a week ago that I put a deposit on Orange 2014 TA #68/93. Well I flew down to Miami last Thursday and bought the car! I have some pictures of the drive from Miami to SE Michigan. My girlfriend flew down with me for the adventure and we made a vacation out of it! We're both 23 years old, and have never done anything like this. Before anybody thinks badly of a 23 year old owning a Viper, just know that I work 3 jobs and go to school almost full time. I work as a Firefighter and almost have my Bachelors degree in criminal justice. I don't go out at night, I don't really take vacations, and I just don't spend my money on anything besides cars. Through working my ass off and saving for almost a year, I had $46k to put down on a Viper. So I finally took a MUCH needed vacation and bought a car of my dreams!

2014 Orange Viper TA #68/93:
-7689 miles
-Clean title
-All stock except for clear bra
-New longblock 2k miles ago under warranty
-2 years powertrain warranty left
-ZERO problems
-Purchase price: $82k

*I apologize in advance for the sub-par cell iPhone pictures!**

The trip had a rocky start. We arrived to the airport on time and got to our gate. After sitting for about 10 minutes, people started getting up and there was alot of talking. I looked around, and our flight was just delayed 4 HOURS! That would make our departure time at 12:15am, and wouldn't arrive until 3am. We waited and waited, and we ended up boarding at 1am and arriving at 4am. Definitely messed up our sleep, so we had a late start on Friday.



We ended up at the dealership at 1pm. I was on cloud nine! Couldn't believe the car could actually be mine! After checking everything over with a flashlight, and the girlfriend admitting it wasn't as bad as she thought, I took her for a drive. Miami traffic SUCKS!! I couldn't really open her up, but I drove as much as I could. After being thoroughly pleased, I signed the papers and we were on our way. I think $82k was a pretty damn good price.

I wanted to get the oil changed before the 1300 mile drive home. You never know what contaminants are floating around. I stopped by Planet Dodge in Miami for an oil change and to take in the car a little bit.



The dodge dealer actually could not change the oil since the car has 3 open recalls... So he referred me to a performance shop down the street. I bought the oil and filter from the dealer and headed that way. Exclusive Motoring Worldwide was very professional and got the oil change done in an hour. He even equalized the tire pressures for me too.

We headed out of Miami, battling traffic for like an hour... We were Orlando bound for our hotel. Still kids at heart, we had plans for Universal Studios on Saturday. Here's a picture of cruising through Belle Glade Camp! Man I love this car. Way more comfortable than I was expecting.



First fill up!



Finally getting something to eat by the hotel around 11pm. She picked up a few bugs through the Florida swamps!



The next morning we parked in the parking garage at Universal Studios. I was worried about kids and door dings, so the parking director gave me a spot outside of the traditional parking spaces! Everybody is always willing to help when you're driving something this cool.



What a cutie!


Literally 20 seconds after I walk away from the car, people gather around it for a picture! I feel like a celebrity haha.



After Universal Studios, we stayed in the same hotel for the night. Got a good sleep and headed back to Michigan Sunday morning! Florida and Georgia traffic was terrible. But I had a great time driving anyways! We did stop in Georgia for lunch. At that time I found 2 nails in the drivers rear tire that weren't there before.... DAMN! So after that I kept the TPMS reading on the cluster display. Never had any air leaking, thank God.





Drove about 12 hours that day and stopped in Knoxville Tennessee for a hotel. Tennessee was VERY nice, and the area was comforting. I took my favorite picture of the car that morning.



The last day of travel started with driving through the hills/mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky. It was so damn cool driving through the mountain passes on I-75! I didn't get any good pictures though. So we ended up stopping in Kentucky at Starbucks for the girlfriend. It gave me an excuse to get some pictures! Notice all the brake dust on the wheels. I can tell these are going to be hard to keep clean haha.





Stopped at Taco Bell in Ohio for the last food stop of the trip. Quite a few people driving by had to stop or slow down and get a picture haha.



Almost back in to Michigan, but there was a fatal accident on I-75 that shut down the entire northbound freeway. So we ended up sitting in traffic for about 20 minutes until we inched off the freeway onto an exit. This was a very rural part of Ohio, so I was able to open it up a bit. We passed about 6 miles of 100% completely stopped traffic. If we didn't get off, we would have been stock another 2 hours probably.



So finally back in to Michigan, and it starts raining... Not a SINGLE drop the entire trip until I hit Michigan lol.



But in the end, after putting 1500 miles on the odometer or so, I made it back to home sweet home.



It was bittersweet arriving home. My family was very excited to check out the car, and I was glad to show them. I can't wait for another road trip! Many more updates to come!

[13COBRA]

Good looking car, congratulations.

[sadil]

Awesome! Glad the sale went through! Super excited to have another TA in Michigan.

[Vipes]

I love these type of threads! Thanks for posting the adventure and congrats, she's a beauty!

[City]

Fun read. Congrats! Try to keep some control around town (and your buds) until you get the hang of things. Far too many new owners visiting body shops within their first month of ownership.

[slowhatch]

Awesome man, I remember when I bought my first one (gen 3) in my mid 20s and thought I'd made it. You must be over the moon! Enjoy her in good health, thanks for sharing the trip.

[Patentlaw]

Congrats. Thanks for putting up the purchase price numbers on the vehicle. Super rare to see that on here. Keeps the market honest. Drive safely......

[swexlin]

Congrats on the car and pics. The Dodge dealer refused to change the oil because of recalls? I've had plenty of oil changes done at my dealer on several vehicles (including the Viper) with still open recalls. He just didn't want to deal with it.

PS - Props to you for being successful at 23! I don't drink, go out, spend much on anything else either, but I could barely afford ANY car when I was 23, let alone a Viper (had it existed at the time).

[One Viper Bite]

Awesome post man, and congratulations on owning your dream car at such a young age. You should be proud! I too bought my first Gen V at the age of 23 and I am about to own another at 24. People our age now a days judge us for spending so much money on a car but they spend their money on far stupider shit like 20 dollar juices and coffee (at least that's how it is in Los Angeles, lol).

Congratulations and enjoy the piss out of it!

[13COBRA]

Awesome post man, and congratulations on owning your dream car at such a young age. You should be proud! I too bought my first Gen V at the age of 23 and I am about to own another at 24. People our age now a days judge us for spending so much money on a car but they spend their money on far stupider shit like 20 dollar juices and coffee (at least that's how it is in Los Angeles, lol).

Congratulations and enjoy the piss out of it!

You and OP make me feel like a POS lol

Here I am at 26 with a lowly Gen IV.

[Martin]

For the brake dust on the wheels and calipers, I'd highly recommend you look into ceramic coating them. It'll save you a ton of time in the future... Pretty easy to do yourself, or about $250 if you get a detailer to do it.

[One Viper Bite]

you and op make me feel like a pos lol

here i am at 26 with a lowly gen iv.

No Viper is lowly!

[ViperSRT]

No Viper is lowly!

Absolutely!

Welcome to the Viper realm. You should think about joining the local Viper Club MCVO at MCVO.net

[docwviper]

For the brake dust on the wheels and calipers, I'd highly recommend you look into ceramic coating them. It'll save you a ton of time in the future... Pretty easy to do yourself, or about $250 if you get a detailer to do it.

Agreed I did that to my wheels even though I have CCB.

[ViperPete]

Awesome post! Wish i knew you were in Fl, i would have been glad to take yall to lunch/dinner.

Grats on the new Viper, ownership really is an exceptional experience.

[ACRSNK]

Man that's cool. Seems like you got a fair deal and the road trip sounds like it was a lot of fun. Congrats!

[GTS21]

Good for you! The car looks amazing, congrats!

[BDZ1984]

Congrats! Seems like you got a Great deal and made some great memories getting her back home. I bought my First Gen II at 19 and then my new Gen V at 29! hard work pays off!

[No hemi]

Cool story, wish I could afford any of mine when I was 23 , ( was in medical school at the time so no $$, lol) anyway welcome and if you like trips we have the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee in june from the 1st to the 4th, we have Vipers coming from Canada, ohio, and other places, check it out it's a really fun weekend with really cool cars and people.

[7TH_SIGN]

These journeys are always awesome. Congrats on your TA!

[1ststrike]

Congrats on the new car. Sounds like a fun ride but tiring.

[swexlin]

Oh, and about the nails in your tire. I ALWAYS have the tire pressure reading up as I drive. It is a good way to see when pressures rise as tires warm up, and you will know where you normal pressures are, generally. Once you know that, you can tell when you have a problem. 2 years ago, I noticed my left rear was consistently 2-3 lb lower than the others.....yep, had a nail, slow leak. I was able to catch it before I came out one day to a complete flat.

As for the nails in tire - I had mine patched, and it was fine. Others will tell you to replace the tire. If you're tracking replace, for general driving, mine was fine. Your call.

[Boba Fett]

Heres a pic from when I owned her....congrats again!

IMG_0481 (1).jpg

[Boba Fett]

1 more

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[Bruce H.]

Awesome story of success, and a great looking TA!

One word of advice from one TA owner to another, if your girlfriend supports your passion for cars...marry her