advice on color change please!!!

[redlightrich]

hello all, i was thinking of selling to buy a 96 or 97 blue/w. my problem is i am only getting offered 38k or so for my 97 gts. it only has 4100 miles. other than the color ( red w white stripes) it is perfect and i love it. i would imagine a top quality color change will cost between 5 and 8 grand. will this put me further upside down, or will the desireable color outweigh the non original aspect. besides a corsa exhaust and aftermarket stereo, the car is stock, never hit or repaired. am i selling at the wrong time or have 97 gts's started to slide in price? it appears the blue and whites are steady and pricy. thanks, rich.

 

[Kiaser]

If the only reason you want to sell is for a different paint job then bite the bullet and pay the 8k to change the paint. You're already familiar with your cars history, if your car is 97 w/4100 in perfect condition with only corsa and stereo then you aren't gonna want to chance getting another car just for a color.

 

[RCKTMN]

Hi Rich,

Kiaser makes a great point. You already know your car and it would seem best to change the color on it. If you imagine that you'll spend (probably) more in the change to another car than the repaint, and that you may end up with a higher mileage Viper, you may end up ahead of the game by painting. This is especially true if you have no intent in being without a Viper. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that this would be the case.
I'm facing a similar choice. I have a 1994 with 60K on the odometer. I've done a couple of simple mods and some of the bigger maintenance items. I would love to have windows in my doors. However, with the loss of sidepipes and the cash layout for the model year upgrade, I'll live without them. I'm going the route of customizing to my taste. My current hood has cracks. So, on with a Gen II replacement and a color change to Purple (I'm a big Mopar musclecar fan).
I guess the good thing is that whatever your choice, you'll still be dealing with one of the best cars out there.

Good Luck!
Paul

 

[steel snake]

When I restored Mopar muscle cars (still have the '71 GTX) color change was a big no-no. Don't know if that applies to Vipers or not. Think about resale. Questions and suspisions might arise like why the color change(been wrecked?)etc. Might be better to sit tight and wait for a deal that works both ways. AT

 

[hemibeep]

Color change not as big a deal. B.T.W. I don't believe that paint codes are actually on the Vipers. Keep the car and change color. If you were ever to sell it, the low milage and clean history will mean alot more to buyer than the color.
I am also a MOPAR collector and would never change the color on my roadrunner, but the viper is going to Blue/white from red as we speak...

 

[twinvipers]

8K is way too much...

 

[Kiaser]

RCKTMN - You reminded me of my old decision to get a GEN I or GEN II. I was looking at either getting a nicely modified GEN I for my price range, or spending a little more than I wanted to and get a near stock GEN II. My problem was that I love side pipes (on GEN I, and I also love the Naca duct and louvers (GEN II hood). I decided to go for a GEN I and later I'll be doing some custom conversion to a GEN II hood. Point is, you have the car you want, don't let a simple mod (or paintjob) make you accept something else that could be worse than you have.

8k is a lot but definetely not the highest I've seen for a full custom repaint on a snake.

 

[redlightrich]

thanks everyone. you all have valid points, steel snake i agree 99%. i once however changed a 70 cuda from original brown to plum crazy. the desireability outweighed the original concerns, plus i liked plum crazy tons better. i have a very good car, with no issues, so it comes down to if i plan to hold her for a while, painting seems like a good alternative. if i sold for 38k, and wanted to replace with a like quality b/w, i would expect to pay 48-52. paint is cheaper, and i get what i want and know. btw, my last paint job in 03 cost 7k for a challenger t/a. a little high, but it came out flawless. i would expect flawless from the same guy, but also expect to pay for that type of quality. looks like i will keep her but paint her blue. thanks guys for helping me with a tough decision. rich.

 

[BadVenm]

8K is way too much...

Holy Crap......

I just sold a blue and white and really want to paint my RT blue and white. I was quoted $12K to $15K buy a local high end body shop that handles all the M-Benz, Lexus, Ferrari work in town. They do flawless work, but the price I was given kinda turned me off.

$8K doesn't sound too bad. But no one around here can to the "right" job for that. "Right" being that you could NEVER tell it was ever a different color, EVER. Not even the little areas like the creases inside the doors where the black meets the body color and it's typically rough edges and never see by anyone. Same for around the trunk on the under inside of the trunk lid where body color meets the black where it's rough and it's never seen by anyone.

 

[Brian E]

8K is way too much...

Holy Crap......

$8K doesn't sound too bad. But no one around here can to the "right" job for that. "Right" being that you could NEVER tell it was ever a different color, EVER. Not even the little areas like the creases inside the doors where the black meets the body color and it's typically rough edges and never see by anyone. Same for around the trunk on the under inside of the trunk lid where body color meets the black where it's rough and it's never seen by anyone.

Badvnm, I think you would change your mind if you were able to see the kind of work Dean Loucks who owns The Art Of Design does.
He has done several Viper color changes and his work is flawless. He has (2) brand new black SRT-10's in his shop right now, (1) is getting painted blue and the other orange. I cant quote prices for him, but I bet it wouldnt cost 8k for a paint job and color change.
below is a picture of his personal car that he had displayed at SEMA this year.

 

[redlightrich]

brian, beautiful car, love orange!!!! badvnm, my concerns are the same as yours. the shop that i use told me my quote included a great deal of disassembly/reassembly time to assure perfection. one question i did not ask yet was what about the rivets on the 1/4 panels in the door jamb. i have been shopping around for a srt 10 ( due to good deals out there right now) so that project is on hold. but i assure you, you can get quality for a heck of a lot less than 12-15k. just beware of the "viper tax" charged by some merchants. rich.

 

[tim721]

Hey Rich,

Was your car in Tetorboro a few weeks back??

I may have seen it...

 

[MadMaxx]

It shouldn't cost a ton to repaint a viper. OEM paint was actually pretty good for a semi-exotic car, and any good shop should be able to produce results of the same quality.

One good thing about the viper is that there isn't that much to paint if you think about it. Hood accounts for 30% of the car's painted surface, and it's easily removed along w/ the fascia and cowl. No engine bay to worry about. Sills are also removed, makes it much easier to paint and less masking time. Since the door jams are black, there is only a small section of the quarter to paint with a touchup gun. For those w/ RT's, pull the trunk lid so you can easily mask and paint the small areas of the quarters/light bar. Inside is black anyway Viper's are built like racecars, you can disasemble the whole damn body in almost no time.

There also isn't any body work that needs to be performed, no need to strip it to the top layer of smc just to do a reshoot.

Just my .02

 

[Shelby3]

I wouldn't do the repaint. You should be able to sell your 4100 mile GTS for close to what you could get a Blue/White with 15-20k miles on it. You should be able to get more than 38K for your car. IMHO a repaint, especially to another color is going to ding you on resale value.

 

[MadMaxx]

Only repaint if you're going custom. If you want OEM color schemes, just sell the car and buy OEM. If you want some crazy deep purple or color-shift paint, then that's when ya go to the spray booth

 

[ViperJoe]

If / when you plan on selling, any "real" Viper enthusiast will want "original" paint. Me personally, (anal, picky SOB), I would run from a repaint no matter what the story.
JMHO
Good luck!

 

[redlightrich]

hey tim721, yes that was mine. my uncles friend, graciously, and unbeknownst to me bought it to the building, and even tried to e bay it! as i was searching i see my car. needless to say, auction stopped, and car retrieved. rich.

 

[Jerry Dobson]

$38k for a 4100mile 1997 ...Your car is worth more.

 

[BadVenm]

8K is way too much...

Badvnm, I think you would change your mind if you were able to see the kind of work Dean Loucks who owns The Art Of Design does.
He has done several Viper color changes and his work is flawless. He has (2) brand new black SRT-10's in his shop right now, (1) is getting painted blue and the other orange. I cant quote prices for him, but I bet it wouldnt cost 8k for a paint job and color change.
below is a picture of his personal car that he had displayed at SEMA this year.

Brian E,

I saw that SRT in person at VOI 8. It is without question an awesome paint job, and the color is just out of this world.

If I could get that quality for under $8K, sign me up! Where can I get ahold of that painter?!

PM me if you will, please.

Thanks!

 

[Brian E]

574-522-8838 or 574-522-1495.

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

You will be 8k out for the paint and probably the same amount depreciation for not having the original color. I'm sure you remember all the posts here commenting on EBay cars that have had a repaint. For some reason potential Viper owners/buyers associate a repaint, even of the correct color to be a red flag. I would max out the sale of your car, I'm sure you can get more, especially in the spring and look for that perfect blue white, the production numbers on those are pretty high. They are not that hard to find.