Last updated on: 03/10/2023
After the marketing success of the first-generation Viper, Dodge got criticism from reviewers and owners alike about the Viper’s shortcomings as a consumer car. It was basically a concept car that was allowed to roll into a showroom floor, which came along with its “no compromise” attitude that owners had to put up with. For example, its exhaust was so close to your feet when exiting, the press was told to watch their step when egressing in order to not burn themselves, or the fact that the car had no roof at all. It was seen as too much of a track toy for buyers looking for a practical vehicle (as practical as a Viper could be.)
When redesigning the Viper to fix said issues, some engineers over at SRT started to tinker about the possibility of sticking their Magnum V10 derived supercar engine back in their lifestyle pickup. The redesigned Ram had just come out in 1994 and redefined what it meant to own a pickup truck. It was now a cool, sexy vehicle that didn’t say you pound cement for a living. It was a game of catch-up for the other big two, and Dodge wanted to capitalize on this.
Debuted alongside the redesigned Viper at the 1996 Chicago Auto Show, the Ram VTS Concept was the beginning of Dodge sticking their engines in holes maybe they shouldn’t be. Conceived as the logical pairing to your new Viper, this almost production-ready concept was finished in Banzai Blue with dual white skunk stripes along with 17-inch Viper GTS wheels and foglights, not to be confused with the 1996 Ram 1500 Indy 500 Pace Car (which made researching this much harder.) Other technical specifications from forums posts say it was mated to a six-speed BorgWarner gearbox and had the suspension retuned with new shocks and heavier sway bars, concluding in a four-inch drop in ride height.
Why did it not make it to production? Simple, Dodge couldn’t get the emissions low enough to pass regulations at the time, as well as considering their new engine to be too expensive for production.
