The Viper was initially conceived in late 1988 at Chrysler’s Advanced Design Studios. Production of the two-seat sports car began in 1991 and stopped in 2017 with a brief hiatus in 2007 and 2011-2012. Lamborghini (then owned by Chrysler Corporation) helped with the design of the V10 engine. Originally engineered to be a performance car, the Viper had no exterior-mounted door handles and no air conditioning (option for the 1994-95 models). The roof was made from canvas, and the windows were made from vinyl using zippers to open and close, much like the Jeep Wrangler. Aluminum alloy wheels were larger in diameter due to the larger brakes. A lightweight fiberglass hard roof option on later models was also available. There were also no airbags.