VIN 001 and 002: Ultra-Rare Hurst Dodge Vipers Are Being Sold As A Pair

Only 2 of 50 Ever Made

Back in 2008, Hurst celebrated its 50th anniversary by teaming up with longtime and frequent collaborator Dodge to build a limited run of special 2008 Vipers. Dubbed the, er, Viper Hurst 50th Anniversary Edition, only 50 were ever made, and two of them will be up for sale at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.

But what makes this sale particularly special is the VIN of these two cars. What you’re looking at here are the first two cars made in the series. Oh, and the car will be sold as a pair, by the way. You can’t have one or the other.

VIN 001 and 002

The first two Hurst Vipers are the only ones of their kind to be draped in Flat Gold with black stripes. VIN 001 is the coupe, while VIN 002 is the convertible. Both have barely driven mileage: 813 miles for the coupe and just 209 miles for the top-down. The pair also has a dash plaque that certifies their authenticity.

The first owner of both cars was Tammy Allen. She is a known collector, and she had a museum for her collection from 2010 to 2015 — Allen Unique Autos in Colorado. However, she closed it following the sudden death of her only son and her mother’s cancer diagnosis. She sold off several cars through Barrett-Jackson, including these Vipers.

Truly Special

These are truly unique examples of the Viper, and one could say they’re special one-offs if they get the pair. But what else makes these serpents extra special over the regular models? Aside from their rarity, Barrett-Jackson says the Hurst Vipers came with Corsa exhaust systems, black polished wheels, Motion Club Sport adjustable coilovers, and Eibach springs. It wouldn’t be a Hurst edition without the pistol-grip shifter, and there are also decals on the outside plus special embroidery inside.

Both cars’ 8.4-liter V10s have been left untouched, but we’re not complaining. The legendary power plant still packs a wallop in stock form, punching out 600 horsepower and 560 lb-ft of torque. Of course, all Vipers came with an honest-to-goodness six-speed manual gearbox for proper old-school thrills.

By the way, this generation of Viper didn’t come with stability control or other forms of traction aids, so its main safety feature is, quite literally, driver skill.

Buy Two, Get Three

The matte gold Vipers aren’t the only ones you get if you end up being the winning bidder. You also get to bring home a third car, although we’re not entirely sure if it’s street-legal. It’s a Viper-bodied go-kart, perfectly complementing the real deal.

More specifically, it’s a first-gen-bodied Viper go-kart. It’s a generation off, but it does have the same matte gold-and-black color combo as its road-going siblings. Even the Hurst logos are present on the go-kart, as well as the five-spoke wheels.

All this talk about the Viper is making us wish SRT was still around. Then again, Stellantis is plotting a return of the brand in the near future. Possible Viper revival, anyone? One can hope, but until then, we’ll be looking at the older examples.