98 Hennessy Viper Venom 650

[Ianfl]

Hi guys,
I am looking for some advice on the purchase of a 1998 Hennessy Viper Venom 650. The car has 18k miles, a pearl white($7.5k) paint job, HRE wheels, Stage 3 heads(BPM?), lumpy cam, lowered, race suspension, maybe different brakes i dont remember, HD half shafts & headers. I have seen all the receipts and the seller is reputable.
What would be a good price and what issues should i look for?
Obviously i will get a dyno, what would be average expected #'s
Thanks

 

[BADVENOM]

First things first bring it to a reputable tuner and tech and verify the engine mods and yes definitely dyno to confirm # associated with that package

Adam

 

[Ianfl]

Elite Motorsports checked it out and said it was in good condition and accurately built.

 

[BADVENOM]

If Scott said that it would be good enough for me. Scotts a straight up guy and knows his stuff. I bought a sh#t load of stuff from him. How much is the guy asking?

 

[Ianfl]

The guy is asking $55k.

I agree with you, Scott is very knowlegeable guy.

 

[BADVENOM]

Sounds high, considering one usually gets .50c on the dollar for mods...rt or gts?

 

[Ianfl]

I'm a bit confused. The mods alone based on your calculation would be worth $30k, the car is worth more than $25k.

 

[BADVENOM]

Went on his website..these are his prices for the upgrade your car has

1004 - Venom 650R Engine Upgrade
660 hp. Cost: $27,500.

* If this is the extent of mods then 50% of that would be apx $14,000 plus what a 98 gts or rt with the miles would go for..

 

[Ianfl]

I did not realise you were looking at the web site. This car has receipts for $60k in mods!
Thanks

 

[BigCarrot]

Offer less. ALWAYS offer less! Sounds like a sweet car, but why was it repainted? When I was looking at mine, I looked at a 96 that sounded very similar to this one. He was asking $55k. I passed on it because it had been repainted.

 

[Ianfl]

The car was owned by a Dr who got bored with it and traded in for a 911TT.
The guy selling the car to me is the Sales mgr.
It is a very unique color and expensive paint job.
I prefer the blue but if it was a good deal i may be persuaded

 

[BADVENOM]

The only problem with resale for you would be the color change. Most people shy away from color changes for many reasons. It usually puts up a red flag but not always. If you like the car and it checks out okay then buy it! Satisfy yourself.

 

[Vipermed 97.01]

This Viper is the exception to the rule,I have inspected the car from top to bottom and the amount of work done to this car and the prestine condition of it makes this not only a fair price but a GREAT price.Paint job if flawless pearl white.Granted the market is soft for the time being but this market will not last.Ian i enjoyed talking with you if you decide to pass on this deal let me know as i may be a player for it.If you do plan on getting a viper and a GTS is what you want you cannot go wrong.The price of the modifications were inflated but the important thing is that they WERE done.The car originally came to me for repairs as the new owner was concerned that the car was breaking up at high RPMs, after driving and inspecting the car i explained to the owner that the breakup was the rev limiter.STRONG,STRONG car

 

[Ianfl]

Thanks for your vote of confidence Scott. I still need to drive the car before i make my final decision, but i REALLY enjoyed the test drive and if i decide to buy it, i will be adding the s/c, intercooler and some other goodies I look forward to seeing your 1000hp monster in action someday. Take care.
Regards
Ian

 

[DEVILDOG]

If you're going to go with an S/C why not buy a stock '97 Blue/White for less $s since you like the Blue and spend the $s saved on mods to your liking? You're going to have to lower the compression ratio on the 650R ( raise heads or domed pistons ). Otherwise as Scott says sounds like a GREAT deal to me too. Must be a STRONG well built Venom motor if the Doc was bouncing it off the rev limiter all the time! Does the 650R have any H M S exterior mods?

 

[DEVILDOG]

Went on his website..these are his prices for the upgrade your car has

1004 - Venom 650R Engine Upgrade
660 hp. Cost: $27,500.

* If this is the extent of mods then 50% of that would be apx $14,000 plus what a 98 gts or rt with the miles would go for..

The standard 650R package does not include HREs, lowering, race suspension and HD half shafts plus any other non-motor mods that may have been done on this particular Venom.

 

[BADVENOM]

DEVILDOG would know better than I since he has a H M S car.

Adam

 

[Ianfl]

Devildog, i dont think it had any exterior mods, I will have to check the spec sheet. I was thinking the same thing about the stock 98 GTS or newer but Scott says he could redome the heads to get the cr where it should be for a s/c. I would also probably recam the car since i'm not a fan of an agressive idle.

 

[DEVILDOG]

Ianfl,
If you don't mind making the CR changes I'd buy the Venom. Should be quite impressive with an S/C on top of it. At $55K you're getting a lot of car/mods at a discount. I'm sure Scott will do an excellent job. Good luck and post pics...would like to see that pearl white.

 

[Ianfl]

Devildog,
Have you drag raced or dynoed your car yet? What #'s did you get?

 

[CoryMac]

Is this car in Tampa?

 

[Ianfl]

Near Tampa.

Based on Hennessy's reputation, would it be better to classify this car as a h/c car with some nice options, and remove any reference to JH?

Sooooooo many people have told me to stay away, based on Hennessy's association, that it may be very hard to sell down the road!

 

[BlueGTS]

If you are worried about re-sale do not buy a car that is a non-factory color. The car may never have been in an accident and have perfect 8k paint but... Half of all potential buyers will not look at it because of the color change. I for one would not have even looked at it.

With that said, buy the car for you, not for the person you are going to sell it too. It is hard to go wrong for 55k. That is not much money for the mods it has.

 

[CoryMac]

Is the owner's name Mark Rose or Rhodes or something to that effect?

 

[Diablo Joe]

This car is from lakeland.Ive seen the car a few times and its very clean.

Joe

 

[Diablo Joe]

Also note,this car is an old Hennesse(y) car.Circa 1999.The previous owner brought the car here from Texas from what I recall.

Joe

 

[Ianfl]

TTbadbot, Was mark Rose or Rhodes a Dr by trade?
How do you like your Diablo compared to your GTS? Reliablilty, pose value...etc...

 

[Diablo Joe]

Im not sure what he did for a living.I met him at a local event here in Lakeland.I know he was on this forum,Ill try to get his handle for you.

As for the Lambo and Viper well the Lambo is faster than a stock GTS,feels like it handles better,definitely brakes better,and gets more attention(which at that stage is bad) but is also 3 times more expensive.Overall they seem to serve two different purposes for me.One is to **** out in and the other is to go fast.Like dating 2 different beautiful women.

Joe

 

[Diablo Joe]

Got it.His handle was Keith 98 GTS.Good luck,

Joe

 

[Mike 99ACR]

I met this guy at Bradenton and he told us he took it in on Trade. He said he only put $45,000 in it on trade. He was telling a friend of mine that is a General Sales Manager at another dealership.