The last Dodge Viper rolled out of the Conner Avenue Assembly plant in Michigan only a few months ago and we miss it already. Will Dodge, sometime in the future, bring back its V10-powered supercar? No. Its revival chances, at least with a V10 engine, a practically zero. Obviously that's a real shame but this is also a time to celebrate the Viper's very existence. You see, back in the late 1980s, Chrysler Vice President and future GM VP Bob Lutz figured it was the right time to have a modern Cobra. Raw. Unforgiving, Unquestionably fast.

You know, just like Carroll Shelby's original Cobras. It wasn't long before Lutz was shown a clay model, which soon became an actual concept car. The concept was a smash hit at the 1989 Detroit Auto Show, and production was quickly approved. Problem was the engine.

The original plan was for a V8 but Lutz realized Chrysler had a V10 on its hands, though it was developed as a Dodge truck engine. Fortunately, Lamborghini happened to be a Chrysler subsidiary at the time, so the team in Sant'Agata, Italy was tasked to cast an aluminum block to replace the cast-iron block in order to make the V10 suitable for a super sports car. Lamborghini succeeded brilliantly and the 8.0-liter V10 came into existence. And as Donut Media points out in this cool Viper history video, that V10 was two liters larger than the Diablo's V12 engine and was built at a quarter of the price. The Viper's designer, Tom Gale, also designed the Lamborghini Diablo, although Marcello Gandini was its original designer, but that's a whole other story entirely.