This is not a post about the Dodge Viper. (Although I do know a Viper owner.)

This is about a car that could have predated not just the Viper, but the 1955 Ford Thunderbird (briefly Ford’s Corvette), and been a competitor to the first Corvette, from Jalopnik and Hemmings:

While some call it the Dodge Storm or a Bertone, it is actually the Zeder Z-250 (just when you thought Nissan made “Z” cars). The sports car was created by Fred Zeder Jr., son of Frederick Zeder of The Three Musketeers, the engineering team that started the Chrysler Corporation. …

Zeder’s idea was that two cars should be made using a common platform: a two seater race car with a fiber glass body weighting only 150 pounds, and a luxurious aluminum coupe. The bodies were to be easily swappable by using four rubber-bushed nuts, where the performance remained the same in both forms. The Z-250 used a modified version of the Dodge HEMI V8 truck engine, which produced 260 horsepower and about 330 ft-lbs of torque according to this article. That propelled the car from 0-60 mph in about 7.5 seconds, and the quarter mile took just 14.7 seconds. Other parts like the brakes, radiator, clutch, steering, rear axle, fuel tank and electronics came from the shelves of Plymouth and Dodge. The rest like the tube space frame, the suspension and the two bodies were unique to the car, while the transmission was a brand new unit developed by the Spicer Division of Dana Corporation. …

In April 1954, Fred took his pride (now called the Storm Z-250) to Chrysler’s design headquarters in Hamtramck. After his father’s death, his uncle Jim Zeder became the Chief Engineer. He was trained for years by the old trio to not be supportive when it came to new ideas. He borrowed the car so Chrysler could evaluate it, but instead he locked it up in the factory’s storage for two years, under which nobody was supposed to touch or even mention the car. …

Fred’s guess was that Jim feared he wouldn’t get any credit if it succeeded, but would take the heat if it failed. The official reason was that the car was too expensive to produce in order to sell it in profitable quantities. By the time Fred got back his car, people were driving Corvettes and brand new Ford Thunderbirds, not to mention Nash-Healeys, Kaiser-Darrins, and Cunninghams on the tracks. Just like the Oldsmobile or Pontiac “Corvettes,” Chrysler’s was killed as well before it could prove itself.

That is, you must admit, a breathtaking car.