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"      Brace yourselves. This is going to be unpleasant. You may recall a certain video of a pristine Dodge Viper getting the business end of a track hoe claw. As it turns out, that car wasn&amp;#039;t the first otherwise functional Viper to get a date with the shredder, and it won&amp;#039;t be the last. Chrysler is in the midst of having 93 first-generation Vipers destroyed. The cars were originally donated to schools around the country for use in educational programs. These preproduction Vipers were some of the first that were ever stitched together. Now Chrysler wants them dead. Why? Blame the lawyers. These cars were never meant to be street-legal. They were built without emission control systems or speed limiters. At least two of the cars managed to make it to public roads and -- big shock -- were involved in accidents. Since Chrysler still technically owns the cars, the company is liable for any damages. The resulting lawsuits have cost the automaker millions of dollars. Rather than risk a repeat, Chrysler&amp;#039;s having them all destroyed, even VIN No. 004\u2014a preproduction model, and the fourth car built. That Viper now resides at South Puget Sound Community College, where the school uses it for training and promotional tasks. As one of the first five Vipers ever built, it&amp;#039;s a rolling piece of automotive history, and it&amp;#039;s worth somewhere around $250,000. There&amp;#039;s a petition going around to save No. 004 and its brethren, but don&amp;#039;t expect Fiat-Chrysler to bend. Here&amp;#039;s more video of the two other cars meeting their maker, if you have the stomach for it.      This story originally appeared on Car &amp;amp;amp; Driver. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/cars/a27732/dodge-vipers-destroyed/>