Just crashed my TA. Feel free to punch me.

[cplabaunza]

I bet it was part # 68139711AB I've been waiting for that part since the end of June for my GTS...Deer ran into my GTS driver side...sucks

A quick update in case anyone cares...

Car is still at Prefix. Eric says the parts are all painted, but there's some bracket or something on backorder until September 22nd. My fingers are tied in knots being crossed so many times that I have it back before the cruise I'm supposed to help host on October 3rd. If I don't, I'll be leading it on a bicycle.

Now comes the ranting portion:

I realise that MY needs do not outweigh the rest of everyone else's at Prefix and Dodge, but I find it astounding that in this day and age, whatever part(s) that are on backorder cannot be manufactured for me. This is the flagship car that Dodge makes, and I sent it back to the OEM for repairs, and they can't get this piece. There's no inventory at the factory, no extra inventory at the supplier, and no room in the production schedule at the supplier to spit out another one of whatever it is. This amazes me.

Now, with how rapid things can change, I understand how nobody wants any inventory. It's unreasonable for me to expect any manufacturer to retain even five of every single part to every single car they make. We'd have to colonise Mars just for the warehouse space. And especially how often part numbers change and parts are updated, naturally it makes sense not to stock anything at all.

But if all the parts are painted, that means the missing piece for my car isn't a hood. I would totally understand why it takes a while to get an extra hood. But you're telling me that there are ANY vehicles in production that you could yoink my part from? They're all hand-built, so an IOU note taped to the chassis will be seen. No cars that are so early in the assembly process that it wouldn't impact delivery? No pre-production cars destined for the crusher that you can swipe my bracket (or whatever) from? No parts leftover from the Roadkill Viper that you can grab?

While I appreciate how difficult it is to build cars, and how for me to truly appreciate it, I would have to order each piece for a 500-piece puzzle individually, coordinate their delivery to a parking lot in Alaska, make sure they all arrive in the same hour, and then put this puzzle together blindfolded in the rain, but geez louise. I bet Alibaba or Amazon has my parts on the shelf.

/cracks another beer

[Bryan Savage]

CAR IS FIXED.

Flew to Detroit and drove it home through Canada yesterday. Somehow, missed all the rain.

Hung out with Jay for the morning. Got a tour of the shop, went to the painting/coating facility and got a tour there, then drove by the FCA design center and had lunch at a local restaurant before leaving, so by the time I got on the road, the rain had already passed. Had I taken a southern route, I would have been hosed.

Prefix really is a top-notch facility. I know they have plenty of praise already, but I'll pile more on. Maybe they're just used to Viper owners being really particular or jerks, but I've never been treated so nicely by any place I've done business with. Jay took hours out of his day to spend with me. That's just unheard of service, and I felt really bad about distracting him from his job.

It's treatment like this and the people in this community that just hammer home the reality that I'm a Viper Guy for life. Every manufacturer is going to have problems, but the level of support, respect, and treatment that I get from everyone involved is just fantastic. I look forward to the next few decades of hanging out with all of you. Maybe I'll have the car paid off by then!

I really didn't take any photos of the good stuff, because well, I feel like a jerk taking the camera out and asking people to stand back. Here's the couple I did bother to take with my phone. I took my nicer camera, but barely took anything.



This is one of the Prefix buildings, but not the right one. I had to walk across the street to a different shop to find the car.

Then, here's the car in the Light Tunnel for me to inspect. Jay was pulling a plastic cover off it when I rang the bell. Of all the parts, they forgot the Stryker decal, but they'll send me one and I'll put it on. Everything turned out perfect.



I Snapchatted video of a lot of my journey, which I will combine into one video and post, in case anyone cares.

[thetalonguy]

Welcome Back!! Glad everything worked out for you and you got an awesome journey out of it.

[Eachey51]

Awsome Brian! Excited for u!

[ViperSmith]

expensive way to get a guided tour

[johniew398]

Glad it worked out for you.

[smhog]

Bryan,

Great news, very happy for you. Man, with all that time, effort, and work put into your T/A, you better get that Stryker decal on perfectly.

[viper04]

Nice! in the end if you are happy that's what counts.

[v10enomous]

Looks like new again !

[swexlin]

I for one look forward to seeing pics of the return trip home.

[Blue T/A 2.0]

It looks nice. I am not sure I would put that Stryker sticker back on. Looks clean without it.

[SuperBird4404BBL]

Bryan,

Can't wait to see it in person.

[SSGNRDZ_28]

Looks great again, glad you have it back.

[TIME]

Bryan, good to know you are back on the road. Nothing like an Orange TA!! Biased - not one bit.

[J TNT]

Glad to hear it worked out for you !
Prefix is First Class in their approach to Cars and People !

[Vibert]

Byran: I'm glad the repair went well. Broke my heart to see your banged up.

On a related note, I'm a little confused. Forgive my ignorance. Is Prefix also a full repair facility as well as where Vipers are painted? If that's the case, I should consider myself fortunate to be in such close proximity to them. They're about 45 minutes from where I live. On a related note, does Arrow do engine repair as well for Vipers? They're also in Michigan and fairly close to me as well.

Thank you.

[XSnake]

Good to see a happy ending

[ViperDC]

Byran: I'm glad the repair went well. Broke my heart to see your banged up.

On a related note, I'm a little confused. Forgive my ignorance. Is Prefix also a full repair facility as well as where Vipers are painted? If that's the case, I should consider myself fortunate to be in such close proximity to them. They're about 45 minutes from where I live. On a related note, does Arrow do engine repair as well for Vipers? They're also in Michigan and fairly close to me as well.

Thank you.

Yes to both your questions

[lochnessmonster]

I'm glad to hear you're back on the road Bryan. Way to go giving them the credit they are due. I'm sure they appreciate your acknowledgment of their efforts and their level of service. We don't hear positive reviews like this nearly often enough. Cheers.

[Bryan Savage]

Like ViperDC says, yes to both.

I don't get the impression they are a Collision Center for just any old bloke who wants work done, but they are part of the Viper community, so they were happy to repair our cars. They run the coating facility where all OEM Viper panels are painted, but they do not perform the final assembly of the Viper. That happens at the Connor assembly plant. Racks of painted panels get shipped there. And from what I saw, there are going to be some really great colours coming out soon.

I've no personal experience with Arrow, but I'd be willing to bet they would be happy to help a Viper owner out. There aren't lots of these engines out there, so any chance they get to tear a used one down would probably be welcome to them.

As long as you're nice about it, I bet either of them would be more than willing to help you out.