Chrysler orders 1992 Dodge Viper in educational programmes crushed

A community college in Washington State is fighting to keep the pre-production Dodge Viper the college has been ordered to destroy. South Puget Sound Community College admits the 1992 Viper SRT, the fourth produced by Chrysler, has little educational value to the school's automotive program, the Olympian reported. But officials say the car is a great promotional tool, much in demand at high schools and auto shows. "Everybody wants their picture taken with the Viper," Bob Riggin, a teacher at the college, said. "This car belongs in a museum, not in a crusher." Chrysler, like other car companies, donates vehicles that cannot be legally driven on the street to high schools and colleges as teaching tools for future auto mechanics. Norm Chapman, who teaches automotive technology at South Puget Sound, said the company told him that Fiat-Chrysler ordered all 93 Vipers now in educational programs destroyed because two "got loose" and were involved in a crash, costing the company millions of dollars. School officials say they were told Tuesday they have a two-week deadline to destroy the Viper. The school has asked Chrysler to give the car a reprieve and LeMay-America's Car Museum in Tacoma, Wash., said it would be interested in giving the car a new home.