In terms of philosophy, the Miata and the Viper are very similar, with the Viper effectively being a scaled-up Miata with 10 times more engine and performance. Indeed, both are throwbacks to classic sports cars and are meant to be some of the purest driving experiences one can get from major automakers. However, I think most people would be surprised to hear the two are also fairly similar visually. I think a good chunk of us know about the design similarities between the Gen 2 Viper and the NB Miata, and today, I’m here to bring to light another resemblance between the two sports cars.
What Might’ve Been…
So back during the design and development of the Gen 5 Viper (after going through many different designs and combining elements from a few others), the basic idea for what the Gen 5 would look like was completed. It was a red clay model that looked a lot like the production car does. There were a few other differences than the one I’m about to talk about, but the removed element in question is what’s relevant to the discussion today.
Anyone who’s looked at all the Viper generations will notice one thing: The Gen 5 is the only Viper to not have foglights. I mean ACRs of prior gens don’t have foglights as well, but the Gen 5 was the first Viper to omit the additional lights altogether. In the book SRT Viper: America’s Supercar Returns, we find out that the designers working on the Viper originally did have foglights in the design! Where the outermost intakes are on the Gen 5 Viper (past the grille) is where the vertical foglights were originally placed; which themselves were originally round like on the Gen 2 Viper, but Marchionne didn’t like how similar they looked to the ’96-’02 Viper and thus recommended they go for vertical ones instead. In the aforementioned book, it’s said that they were cut for cost reasons and turned into the vents we see now. They had the added benefit of channeling air over the front wheels (reducing turbulent airflow). Better still, they also helped reduce lift at high speeds (very important for a car that can do 200+ mph).
Now at this point, I would normally say that I can’t show an image of what the Gen 5 Viper looks like with vertical foglights, and while I can’t show you an image of the original clay model that had them, I can show you an image (a promotional one actually) that does feature the removed lights!
The image above is a promotional image that I stumbled upon a long time ago (apparently the original photo came from FCA’s Twitter page but I don’t remember seeing it there) and was shocked to see such a small but majorly revealing detail. Anyone who hasn’t read the book or heard this info before would probably think it’s just a weird addition, but those in the know got a fun and surprising detail, like the cool little easter eggs FCA is known for in their cars.
By the way… wasn’t there a car I was saying the Viper shared this –dropped– design element with?
That’s Right: The ND Miata!
Look at it! Both are vertical (somewhat in the Miata’s case), both are in roughly the same place on the front bumper, and both are recessed into scallops designed into the front bumper. So Miata owners, now you have a fun little tidbit you can tell people at car meets and track days (and brag about a design feature the Viper doesn’t have)! What are the odds that both Mazda and Dodge thought about adding vertical foglights to their sports cars? Except Mazda actually went through with adding the foglights of course (though interestingly enough seem to be absent on the spec-racers).
Hope you enjoyed this article though! Tell me what you think in the comments below! As always, I will see you all next time.