INSTANT CLASSICS

Dodge Vipers draw attention, but when driving the 2008 Viper SRT10 in Snakeskin Green, be prepared for other drivers to hustle up beside you. No, they aren’t about to challenge you, but the guys in the other car want to shoot a cell-phone-camera shot, and salute you with a wave, a thumbs-up, or a big grin, or, all of the above.

When you crack the throttle of a 425-horsepower Hemi, the rumble goes right through your fingertips on the steering wheel and reverberates directly into your soul. It doesn’t matter if those fingertips are at a stoplight or at a dragstrip, but when they are commanding a Dodge Challenger SRT8, it’s important to pay homage to the car’s road-racing heritage.

The recent upheaval in the auto industry perhaps has hit the domestic “Big Three” hardest of all. Of the three, Chrysler was left in a most-precarious position, getting a lifeline in the form of a government loan, but still faces an uncertain future. General Motors and Ford are in a tough spot as well, and all three are realistically looking at curtailing their line-up as well as their expenditures.

The G8, at least in its upscale GT or new GXP form, is a definite throwback to the 1960s and ’70s, when cars came in all shapes and sizes, and then were improved when some impatient, eager backyard engineers stuffed big engines under their hoods to see how swiftly those sedans could be made to go with the appropriate amount of power.