While many people buy a car based on how it looks on the outside, underneath all the high gloss paint and flashy chrome are the muscles and bones of a hard-working machine. And few machines work harder than the Dodge Viper, what with its 500 horsepower V10 engine and complicated suspension system underneath that tight, shapely composite body.

There is more than one way to skin a snake though, and as it turns out, the Viper somehow looks even cooler without its body. Autoblog came across this video of a skinless Viper doing donuts, right before receiving a Saab station wagon body transplant.

A few days ago a member of the Swedish car forum Zatzy posted up pictures of this impossibly cool Saab-bodied Dodge Viper. Only now is video of mrspringer’s first outing on the bodyless Viper emerging, and like any good enthusiast, he didn’t waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Hooning about in a Viper sans the skin is like getting your hands on the world’s most badass go-kart.

It kind of puts into perspective just how small the Viper really is, watching this man shred tires and spin about with a that massive V10 engine just a few feet from his face. Like we said, this kind of thing just doesn’t happen every day, and it kind of makes us want to run out and rip the body off of the nearest body-on-frame vehicle. But it still wouldn’t be as cool as this bodyless-Viper-turned-Saab-superwagon.