Today's Nice Price or No Dice Ram SRT-10 is a Viper in disguise, with that killer car's V10 engine and six-speed manual gearbox. As such, it's appreciably rare, so we'll have to see what such subterfuge should rightfully cost.
The Swift, or Apodidae, is a family of birds, closely related to hummingbirds, but notable on their own for being highly aerial. Swifts (as opposed to Swifties—fans of a certain pop idol) spend most of their time in the air, eating, sleeping, and even mating while in mid-flight, making them honorary members of the mile-high club. A migratory bird, Swifts are found on every continent on the planet except Antarctica, unsurprising since penguins have already claimed its icy environs.
Like its namesake bird, the Suzuki Swift was once also found on every continent except Antarctica. That was sometimes under an alias, though, as with the 1987 Chevy Sprint Turbo we looked at on Tuesday. With an older restoration and a claim of a first-place finish at a Japanese-only car show, that Sprint asked $10,000 for a new owner to feel the full force of its 70 turbocharged horses. Unfortunately for the seller, that price didn't fly for most of you. That was obvious in the comments and in the massive 90% 'No Dice' loss the Sprint suffered.
Snakes alive!
Yesterday's Sprint featured a less-than-one-liter, three-cylinder engine, designed for fuel sipping rather than raw output. Today's 2004 Ram SRT-10 standard cab pickup, on the other hand, is a totally different beast, built for performance over parsimony. That's made clear by the truck's unapologetic 12 mpg thirst for fuel.
Under the hood sits the Ram's party piece, and the cause of that voracious fuel use: the 8.3-liter, ten-cylinder, all-alloy engine taken from the brutal Viper sports car. In the Ram, the engine delivers 500 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque, with a sizable chunk of that hitting all the way down at around 1500 rpm.
Backing that up is a Tremec T56 six-speed manual with a Hurst shifter and a limited-slip diff in the rear. The SRT-10 isn't just all muscle and no dancing shoes, though. Mopar's PVO (Performance Vehicle Operations) team also improved the Ram's brakes, revised and upgraded the rack and pinion steering and suspension, fitting the truck with Bilstein shocks, and under-slung the rear axle for a two-and-a-half inch drop in ride height.
This SRT-10 looks to be almost entirely stock (more on that in a sec) and comes with a clean title and just 52,000 kilometers on its Canadian clock. For people who prefer to measure things in freedom units, that's about 32,311 miles.
Setting the standard
This is a standard cab, the only body style Dodge offered this model year. The following year added a Quad Cab model, but while it was better for towing, its standard automatic made it less of a draw for raw-power enthusiasts.
This model year also limited colors to silver metallic, bright red, or black, as is the case with this truck. The SRT-10 body kits include a unique hood with a functional scoop, a deeper front valance, and model-specific lower cladding. A bed-mounted wing is optional, but only for open beds. This truck has a hard tonneau on its bed, so no wing.
The paint and underlying bodywork appear to be in great condition, with no curbing apparent on the Viper-vibing alloys. In the cab, the SRT-10-embroidered sport buckets still look to be holding up just fine, as do the dash plastics, factory AM/FM/CD stereo, and all the tactile surfaces. In fact, all this truck seems to need is just a good vacuuming and dusting.
Totally tubular
Under the hood, the big Viper engine looks as mean as you would expect. The red crinkle finish on the valve covers is even intact, something fairly rare for these mills reaching this age. One thing to note: the cast-iron exhaust headers have been replaced with aftermarket tubular units, though the ad makes no mention of that, nor whether the cats were removed as well. See? I told you we'd get to that "almost all stock" asterisk moment.
What the ad does tell us is that the truck has always seen proper service intervals and rolls on brand-spanking new tires. It's touted as being in "like new" condition, though we can point out a couple of contraindications to that claim. Overall, this seems like a solid edition of a fairly rare performance truck that anyone in the market for such a beast might find reasonably compelling and worth further investigation.
A modern classic?
Right now, we're going to investigate this SRT-10's price. The seller is asking for $49,900 Canadian, or alternatively, floats the idea of a trade for a comparable-value pre-WWII hot rod with a trunk. That's oddly specific, so we'll stick with the cash. When you do the math work converting Loonies to greenbacks, this truck comes out to around $35,380. Hemmings did a buyer's guide on these trucks a couple of years ago, and this one's price puts it well below what was then considered the "average" expected price. And that was two years ago, which is forever in dog years and specialty vehicle values.
What's your take on this SRT-10 and that asking price? Does that sound like a great deal when you factor in the broader market? Or, like a Viper, does that price bite?
You decide!
Vancouver, BC, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
Hat tip to Paul T. for the hookup!
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