Wednesday 18th September 2013

Viper's Nest: Time for Tea?

Meet the Rauhs; they like Dodge Vipers. A lot.

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In most of our dream car collections, there's probably more than one example of a particular model; perhaps a 911 GT2 and GT3 for example. And who wouldn't want a CSL to accompany an E30 M3?

But Wayne and D'Ann Rauh have taken their brand fascination to whole new level entirely; they have 65 Dodge Vipers. 65 Vipers. Not only is that an absurd amount of V10 Dodge mayhem, that's only around two thirds of their collection (sadly not discussed in this film).

So this sort of car hoarding requires years of meticulous research, travelling and purchasing, right? Not exactly. Amazingly, the Rauhs only made the decision to buy a Viper in 2006, meaning they've been buying around nine Vipers a year since then. Crazy.

Dan even met the Rauhs at Le Mans this year and it would appear they're just as wonderfully barmy in reality. It's in the last update on the LM Friday liveblog.

The latest addition is a 2013 SRT Viper GTS, but star of the show has to be the SRT/10 ACRX. Even amongst the others, it's a terrifying car. Unfortunately, it isn't road legal and it's only been used on their estate.

This vid doesn't actually feature any driving of the cars, which seems something of an oversight. But that's what the rest of YouTube is for, right? So here is ten minutes of Tom Coronel, Nordschleife and V10 for you.

 

 

 

[fatboy18]

Well what's not to love! Lucky buggers, if only!

[British Beef]

More money than sense in my opinion!!!

[PascalBuyens]

That is... you know.... over the top...

But you know, I wouldn't mind being that rich to be able to afford so many cars

[soad]

Greedy so and so.

[Benbay001]

British Beef said:

More money than sense in my opinion!!!

Or "more money than they need"

If you had that issue, why wouldnt you?

[ellisd82]

They must be loaded! Nice collection and good to see they are not just richie rich and collecting but are actaully using them!

[Mastodon2]

I absolutely love Vipers, top collection!

[Digger]

I'm not quite sure I can get my head around having 65 near identical cars, maybe 2 or 3 . . . and then broaden your horizons with other choices.

Mental!

[NGK210]

What splendid folks! And I like the low-key way she describes their obviously large spread, no grandiose 'the ranch' or 'the estate', etc, but just plain ol' 'the property'

[Roma101]

Nice set up.

[405dogvan]

Rest of the collection includes that MOPAR Challenger, a Plymouth Prowler, a Jeep nastywagon, a Thunderbird, one of those Sebring convertible jobbies - see first garage shot

I've often wondered about owning a lot of variants of one car for 'different moods' - if I ever could I think it's doubtful it would be a Viper

A 911 or 3 Series seems to fit the bill in terms of range/longevity/interest level perhaps - 2.7 RS (replica would be fine), a late 80s Carrera, a 964 Turbo Cab, a GT2, a GT3 and a Singer - maybe a Ruf - maybe an FF, of course...

or an E30, CSL, Carbonseries perhaps

[hairykrishna]

Benbay001 said:

Or "more money than they need"

If you had that issue, why wouldnt you?

Because it's stupid. It appears that the only difference between a lot of them is the colour.

[Viper]

made me smile when i read they were having another x4 new vipers delivered while they were at Le Mans for the 24H

[Oz83]

Money can't buy you an imagination.

[British Beef]

Benbay001 said:

British Beef said:

More money than sense in my opinion!!!

Or "more money than they need"

If you had that issue, why wouldnt you?

If you had sense I dont think you would purchase so many similar iterations of the same vehicle, to constitute the main part of a substantial car collection.

Dont get me wrong I love the Viper, and can totally understand why a large car collection could justify say 4 to mark the MAIN model variants, but 60+ is just daft.

Perhaps I am confusing sense with taste?

[kambites]

It does seem a little odd to have sixty variants of the same car when there's so many good cars out there.

[NGK210]

If it were some chisel-jawed, tweedy 70something Italian count with a pile in Tuscany and a barn-full of 60 Fezzas, he'd be deemed a charming car-loving eccentric but if it's a pair of 'yee haw' yanks with 60 Vipers, then their "taste" is questioned

(Also guessing that the Vipers are children substitutes, for whatever reason... )

[graeme4130]

In an endearing way, she's an absolute nutter

[fatboy18]

NGK210 said:

If it were some chisel-jawed, tweedy 70something Italian count with a pile in Tuscany and a barn-full of 60 Fezzas, he'd be deemed a charming car-loving eccentric but if it's a pair of 'yee haw' yanks with 60 Vipers, then their "taste" is questioned

This ^

[fatboy18]

405dogvan said:

A 911 or 3 Series seems to fit the bill in terms of range/longevity/interest level perhaps - 2.7 RS (replica would be fine), a late 80s Carrera, a 964 Turbo Cab, a GT2, a GT3 and a Singer - maybe a Ruf - maybe an FF, of course...

or an E30, CSL, Carbonseries perhaps

A 3 SERIES