MHCC’s automotive program crushes Viper

Mt. Hood Community College’s automotive program saw its high-performance Dodge Viper crushed at a wrecking yard recently at the request of the Chrysler company, because it has outlived its usefulness as a training tool.

The early 1990s Viper was a donation from Chrysler, and was non-sellable, said MHCC automotive instructor Steve Michener. “They are non-licensable vehicles, meaning that the VINs have been pulled out of the pool so they can never be sold.”

Mt. Hood is not alone in the loss of a cherished member. Chrysler ordered all Vipers donated to similar auto tech programs across the nation to be destroyed, as well.

“It was a little tough because it was a beautiful car,” said Michener, head of the Chrysler College Automotive Program (CAP) at MHCC. “It was tough to watch because I’ve had it since they gave it to us” in about 1997, he said.

“Typically, the manufacturers will give us (a) certain time period in which we have to get rid of all the vehicles,” said Michener. “The Vipers were old enough and at the point where Chrysler (officials) decided that the potential risk of having them on the books was more than they were worth for training value.”

The 10-cylinder Vipers were prized for their impressive power and acceleration, and could boast up to 600 horsepower. But that also presented a potential danger to young drivers, automotive industry observers noted.

Michener said that the car at Mt. Hood was probably safe to drive, but the corporation was not willing to risk the possibility of a wreck and lawsuits that could follow.

“It was just one of the points where the risk, I guess, to the corporation was too great,” he said. Besides lack of licensure, he said the cars could not be sold because they are either considered “pre-production” or non-sellable, and also because they haven’t been certified for either emissions or safety standards.

The Vipers aren’t alone in their recent fate. Michener said that he crushes cars all the time.

“The Viper got some press because of the uniqueness of the fact that we (and other community colleges) had Vipers,” he said. “We used it mostly for marketing because of the attraction.”

Michenor said even the crushed blue model would be useful in recruiting students.

“If I had the car in this condition, (it’s) probably a great marketing tool,” he said.