Well luck was on our side yesterday!
Wife and I are now the proud owners of a very mint 1996 Viper RT/10 (Black with Silver stripes). Deal was a chance thing and a car-for-car trade that came on very quickly; straight across for our ole restored 1969 Mustang Mach 1 with no exchange of money. I was really questioning if I was doing the right thing having owned the Mach 1 for over 26 years and with it being my very first car I bought; the car my Dad and I restored together. Had over a dozen people on the 20 mile drive try to cut in and around me in the Mach 1 to give thumbs up, etc. In the end though, I think it was fair to both of us and the new owner will actually drive the Mach 1 a lot as well as fix it whatever is left on it to fix, proper. I ended up getting back pretty much everything moneywise that I put into it over that time frame.
Our two stories are actually pretty funny. I never ever check Craigslist as I just never do, but something told me on Friday to check it for Viper stuff. I did and this gentleman was selling this Viper, he had just put the ad up 2 hours before I checked out Craigslist. The ad said willing to entertain a trade, plus cash up or down on street rod, muscle car, etc. and then it specifically said 1969 Mach 1. I e-mailed the ad but no answer. I then picked up the CO VCA Regional directory we get at XMAS here and looked up if there were any owners of a 96 RT/10 in the area. There was one, him. No one has ever seen him because he never came out to any events, but he was interested in my Mach 1. We agreed to meet the next day, Saturday and well 4 hours later, we swapped cars with clean titles.
The Viper is in extremely good condition at only 24,500 miles for a 17 year old car. I don’t think anyone in Colorado has even seen this Viper. Not even a stone chip on the front. Under hood and under carriage are immaculate! It is extremely clean car. Just a great no-stories car which is rare with so many being raced or wrecked over that period. Zero accidents and all original drive train. It is 1 of 721 RT/10 Vipers in 1996 and 1 of 231 Black with Silver Stripe RT/10 Vipers.
Very interesting story as the Viper owner received the Viper on trade 2 years ago when a guy in Evergreen, CO traded this Viper on an old 1962 Corvette that he owned. Prior to that, the Evergreen guy bought the Viper used in New York along with a new Jaguar, but had this Viper for only 6 months and decided he wanted an older muscle car instead. The car was owned prior by the same family in California for over 14 years where they put 24,000 miles on it in the first 10 years, then it basically sat forever in life. I will be the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] official owner.
The Evergreen guy put on 400 miles total during his ownership here in Colorado. Then the Viper owner I bought it from put on a whopping 82 miles on the car over a two year period. Why so few miles you ask? Well he has a real bad knee problem in his left knee and it was real trouble for him to work the clutch in traffic, etc. This is why it worked out great for both of us. The Mach 1 is an automatic! 82 miles total for the past 2 years, which is he basically drove it back from Evergreen and a few miles around home, to emissions and that was it. Car just sat, and sat similar to how our ole Mach 1 just sat for years up on the lift and in storage as I had more fun cars to occupy my time. Basically the Viper has had only 500 miles put on in the last 7 years.
Anyway, I drove the car home and could not be happier. Clutch and transmission shifts as good and tight as my 2006 SRT-10 I had. Engine does not run hot at all, no misses and has decent power, though not as much as my 2006 we had. Still around 475hp though in this one with the Borla cat-back, carbon fiber KN intake system, carbon fiber air deflector hidden and a Stage II KN Fuel Injection Chip Upgrade kit (Carb sticker under the hood). Never heard of the last one.
There is just something simplistic about the non-airbags, non windows, non-fixed roof, etc. in this car that I think this will be a real fun car we can just enjoy driving for a while as we get our family going. Great thing is no cash outlay to trade and we have a very good solid and very clean car in return. We are going to go through it with a fine tooth comb in near future; change every fluid, every filter, new spark plugs, new battery, new tires, serpentine belt, etc. all the maintenance stuff of a used car to be able to go driving with confidence, not that it shows it needs it, we just want to have the confidence!
Have a Happy Easter everyone! My wife could not be happier as she cried for two days when we had to sell our 2006 SRT-10 Viper Coupe we had from new, due to the uncertainty of my health situation, surgeries, etc. last year. We have invested over 6 years into the VCA club and the members are our close friends. That hurt to not be able to renew in January due to no car. Anyway she loves the look of this “old car” (actually better than our GEN III Coupe as she said it looks more like an old Cobra) but would not go for a ride in it yesterday as she doesn’t want to go into early labor with all the vibrations.
Enough of this car stuff, our little boy is due in 5.5 weeks, so I can focus back on what is important in life. Amazing how this all came about and so quickly. Guess some things are meant to be. Scary to think my wife may be in labor longer than it took for all this to happen. Ha! Ha! Pictures to follow when I get a moment!
Thanks
Rick
Wife and I are now the proud owners of a very mint 1996 Viper RT/10 (Black with Silver stripes). Deal was a chance thing and a car-for-car trade that came on very quickly; straight across for our ole restored 1969 Mustang Mach 1 with no exchange of money. I was really questioning if I was doing the right thing having owned the Mach 1 for over 26 years and with it being my very first car I bought; the car my Dad and I restored together. Had over a dozen people on the 20 mile drive try to cut in and around me in the Mach 1 to give thumbs up, etc. In the end though, I think it was fair to both of us and the new owner will actually drive the Mach 1 a lot as well as fix it whatever is left on it to fix, proper. I ended up getting back pretty much everything moneywise that I put into it over that time frame.
Our two stories are actually pretty funny. I never ever check Craigslist as I just never do, but something told me on Friday to check it for Viper stuff. I did and this gentleman was selling this Viper, he had just put the ad up 2 hours before I checked out Craigslist. The ad said willing to entertain a trade, plus cash up or down on street rod, muscle car, etc. and then it specifically said 1969 Mach 1. I e-mailed the ad but no answer. I then picked up the CO VCA Regional directory we get at XMAS here and looked up if there were any owners of a 96 RT/10 in the area. There was one, him. No one has ever seen him because he never came out to any events, but he was interested in my Mach 1. We agreed to meet the next day, Saturday and well 4 hours later, we swapped cars with clean titles.
The Viper is in extremely good condition at only 24,500 miles for a 17 year old car. I don’t think anyone in Colorado has even seen this Viper. Not even a stone chip on the front. Under hood and under carriage are immaculate! It is extremely clean car. Just a great no-stories car which is rare with so many being raced or wrecked over that period. Zero accidents and all original drive train. It is 1 of 721 RT/10 Vipers in 1996 and 1 of 231 Black with Silver Stripe RT/10 Vipers.
Very interesting story as the Viper owner received the Viper on trade 2 years ago when a guy in Evergreen, CO traded this Viper on an old 1962 Corvette that he owned. Prior to that, the Evergreen guy bought the Viper used in New York along with a new Jaguar, but had this Viper for only 6 months and decided he wanted an older muscle car instead. The car was owned prior by the same family in California for over 14 years where they put 24,000 miles on it in the first 10 years, then it basically sat forever in life. I will be the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] official owner.
The Evergreen guy put on 400 miles total during his ownership here in Colorado. Then the Viper owner I bought it from put on a whopping 82 miles on the car over a two year period. Why so few miles you ask? Well he has a real bad knee problem in his left knee and it was real trouble for him to work the clutch in traffic, etc. This is why it worked out great for both of us. The Mach 1 is an automatic! 82 miles total for the past 2 years, which is he basically drove it back from Evergreen and a few miles around home, to emissions and that was it. Car just sat, and sat similar to how our ole Mach 1 just sat for years up on the lift and in storage as I had more fun cars to occupy my time. Basically the Viper has had only 500 miles put on in the last 7 years.
Anyway, I drove the car home and could not be happier. Clutch and transmission shifts as good and tight as my 2006 SRT-10 I had. Engine does not run hot at all, no misses and has decent power, though not as much as my 2006 we had. Still around 475hp though in this one with the Borla cat-back, carbon fiber KN intake system, carbon fiber air deflector hidden and a Stage II KN Fuel Injection Chip Upgrade kit (Carb sticker under the hood). Never heard of the last one.
There is just something simplistic about the non-airbags, non windows, non-fixed roof, etc. in this car that I think this will be a real fun car we can just enjoy driving for a while as we get our family going. Great thing is no cash outlay to trade and we have a very good solid and very clean car in return. We are going to go through it with a fine tooth comb in near future; change every fluid, every filter, new spark plugs, new battery, new tires, serpentine belt, etc. all the maintenance stuff of a used car to be able to go driving with confidence, not that it shows it needs it, we just want to have the confidence!
Have a Happy Easter everyone! My wife could not be happier as she cried for two days when we had to sell our 2006 SRT-10 Viper Coupe we had from new, due to the uncertainty of my health situation, surgeries, etc. last year. We have invested over 6 years into the VCA club and the members are our close friends. That hurt to not be able to renew in January due to no car. Anyway she loves the look of this “old car” (actually better than our GEN III Coupe as she said it looks more like an old Cobra) but would not go for a ride in it yesterday as she doesn’t want to go into early labor with all the vibrations.
Enough of this car stuff, our little boy is due in 5.5 weeks, so I can focus back on what is important in life. Amazing how this all came about and so quickly. Guess some things are meant to be. Scary to think my wife may be in labor longer than it took for all this to happen. Ha! Ha! Pictures to follow when I get a moment!
Thanks
Rick
- uuhm, wow!"
