SoCal Rebell,
Both the Viper and FGT are handbuilt as you stated. But your problems will not be similar unless the Viper you are refrerring to is a 1992-1994 which had a host of serious developmental problems like the FGT is having now and for that matter all new clean sheet cars seem to have upon their creation. The early Vipers had tons of problems, probably much more so than the FGT in fact, but the difference is Dodge elected to continue to build , develop and sort out the issues by building 500 to 1000 Vipers per year and making evolutionary improvements each model year.
Dodge also listened very closely to it's Viper owners by sponsoring semi annual Viper owner invitational events and fully supporting the Viper days and Viper Racing League program created by hard working Skip Thomas. As you know Dodge didn't get around to addressing the woefully inadequate rear brakes on the Viper until the third generation of Vipers in 2003. And as I am sure you are aware even after 11 years of building Vipers by hand Dodge had some assembly line engine related quality control problems with their third generation of Vipers in 2003,2004.
Notwithstanding the numerous Viper related quality control issues Dodge has experienced over the years. I was still able in 1998 to drive a Viper GTS coupe off the showroom floor and drive to a Viper days event in CA in 100 degree heat. Flog my brand new Viper around a track for two days in the timed non racing events. Wear out a set of 4 brand new tires and brake pads and then drive the car home on bald tires and worn out brake pads in 100 degree heat and then drive it to work the next day all without a hint of a problem. I was able to drive this Viper to many such events and beat the ever living crap out of the car and it always got me safely home each time. I did the same thing when the 99 ACR came out and again beat the living snot out of the car all without the use of a trailer and all without any problems other than normal wear and tear. Each Dodge dealer in town had a specially trained Viper tech always available for help in getting the bone stock Viper ready for it's next track day event.
As you know Dodge then created the Viper Comp. Coupe to support the Viper days program and allow Viper owners for 125K to buy a factory built race car certified for Viper Days and the VRL as well as the SCCA World Challenge Series.
In other words Dodge decided to build the Viper and make a long standing commitment to the Viper and it's owners with factory support and dealer support in the form of requiring dealers who sell Vipers to have factory trained Viper techs at each dealership.
Ford showed creative genius by building the FGT and basing it on their legendary Le Mans winning Ferrari ass kicking GT of the 60s. Ford must be given an enormous amount of credit IMHO for building the FGT and staying so true to it's heritage. I truly think the car is iconic a classic in it's time in many respects.
That being said it was rushed into production to meet the 100 year Ford anniversary deadline. It is a brand new clean sheet of paper car in a sense hastily assembled and rushed to the marketplace to meet demand at a volume of 2000 units per year. Generally speaking handbuilt and 2000 units per year are not often found in the same sentence? Ford didn't have a lot of time to sort the car out. Ford is not continuing to sort the car out since they have elected to cease production. Ford has not required dealers who sell the car to have special factory trianed FGT techs on hand to service these cars.
Had Ford made a comitment to build the FGT in limited volume for a long period of time and improve the car each year as it evolved and perhaps supported a FGT only racing series the car would be simply be one of the worlds finest cars.
I recommend a FGT purchase to my friends who want a rare car with iconic looks which is undeniably a modern classic who want such a distinctive car as opposed to the vanilla styling found on a Vette or Viper. It however is not reliable enough or sorted out enough to be a weekend track car for a serious weekend track guy such as yourself IMHO. It's a weekend car enthusiasts vehicle and a car collectors type car to drive on weekends.
It is a very quick car but doesn't IMHO generate anywhere near it's claimed 550 HP in stock configuration. I know for a fact the magazine cars were tuned and boosted. After having driven them all the FGT is no faster than a new 505 HP Vette or a 510 HP Viper but costs twice as much. What you are getting is looks more than anything else. The FGT is beset by normal quality control problems found on most new clean sheet cars but clearly lacks factory support at this time. Ford responded to the 2005 FGT problems by having field techs visit some owners but have since largely phased this service out.
Jayzus Christo... do you have anything new to say??? Ok, your right Vipers are wonderful. I have decided add one to my toy box, thanks for pointing out all their strong points. However, your comments about specially tuned GT's for the press, and the the GT not producing the advertised horsepower force me to conclude that you are basically full of shit when it comes to the GT and a full fledge troll.:troll :slap :devil :troll :slap :devil :troll :slap :devil :troll :slap :devil