In May 1996, Audubon Chrysler in Henderson, Kentucky, lifted a brand-new Dodge Viper RT/10 onto a pole outside the dealership. It had 12 miles on the odometer. It stayed up there, through sun, rain and nesting season, for almost 28 years.
The stunt was owner Larry Bennett’s idea. He has said in past interviews that the more ridiculous something seems, the more people notice it. He ran a similar stunt at an Indiana dealership, with a Corvette on an even taller sign.
Down for the First Time in Years
The Viper had come down once before, around 2009, for a refresh. In November 2024 it came down again, and the dealership announced it on Facebook with “This gal is getting a makeover.” Photos from the removal showed the damage up close. The red paint had faded flat and the lacquer was peeling. The headlight glass had turned green, and algae coated the plastic side windows. Birds had nested under the hood and in the engine bay, and straw was packed behind the front wheels. The engine was coated in brown grime, and the interior was reported to be full of mold.
Locals had long assumed the car was a fiberglass replica or an empty shell. It wasn’t. A dealership employee said it was a real, complete car that went up brand new, and the V10 was still under the hood.
The Restoration
Scott Harris, a friend of Bennett’s who photographed the removal, passed along Bennett’s comment that the job was bigger than they first thought. The bodywork was redone and the car was repainted its original bright red by Keen’s Auto Body and Paint. The goal was to make it look the way it did in 1996.
A clip of the work, going from weathered to freshly painted, was shared online:
Restoration video via @lowmilesnomiles on Instagram.
Back on the Pole
The Viper was never meant to be a show car or a collectible, and there was no plan to get it running. It was always going back up. After about seven months down, it was remounted by late June 2025, lifted by crane and hoist with straps around each wheel. The sign sits over Highway 41, the route drivers take between Henderson and Evansville, Indiana, so the car is back in front of the same traffic that watched it for nearly three decades.
The dealership expects the Viper to stay there for decades before it needs another refresh.
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