Brand New Dodge Viper V10 Crate Engine Surfaces at Auction

This brand new Dodge Viper V10 is one of several in the possession of a Wisconsin dealer, and it wound up selling for a reasonable price.

Many will argue that the Dodge Viper is under appreciated and undervalued at the moment, and we certainly wouldn’t argue with them. On the bright side, that means those of us that are looking to buy a Viper can do so for a reasonable price, at least, until the rest of the world wakes up and realizes that cool, V10-powered sports cars don’t exactly grow on trees these days. However, it isn’t every day that we come across a brand new, unused, Dodge Viper V10 crate engine, but one just hit the auction block recently.

This 8.4-liter V10 was listed for sale at Bring a Trailer later in September, and wound up hammering for a pretty reasonable (by today’s expensive standards) $18,000. What’s particularly interesting about this discovery is that it’s one of a few brand new Dodge Viper V10s stored at Gandrud Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but the dealer just happened to decide that it was going to test the waters by offering this up to the public.

Whether or not this sale will prompt that same dealer to list the rest of its Dodge Viper V10 crate engine inventory or not, well, that remains to be seen. In any case, it’s pretty amazing to see this powerplant in its current guise, accompanied by its original shipping crate. This particular example is a fourth-generation ZB II powerplant wearing an assembly tag that shows it was built in 2010, along with part number 5038516AA.

This particular V10 was factory-rated to produce 600 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque, and features an aluminum block and cylinder heads, variable valve timing, dual throttle bodies, and ten individual runners. The red valve covers sport Viper logos, and the oil cap has Mobil 1 script on it. As for accessories, this one’s pretty loaded up with an alternator, oil-filter housing, oil pan, flywheel, ignition components, and exhaust manifolds, along with a serpentine belt, tensioner, and idler pulley, and it all weighs in at around 650 pounds.

If nothing else, this is a super cool find, and it opens up all sorts of possibilities – will the new owner use it to replace a blown powerplant in a Dodge Viper, maybe in some kind of cool vintage Mopar project, or just store it away with an eye toward the future? Only time will tell, but if nothing else, we hope that more of these crate engines pop up for sale soon and give more folks those kinds of options.

Photos: Bring a Trailer

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Brett Foote

Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.

He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.