To those who predict skies falling on Viper on account of upcoming Z06

[Coloviper]

Viper will not start to appreciate until other factors in society force it into a desire-able position. If ODB-III comes out and is the big brother government real-time watchdog system it is hyped up to be, then it will force a collector car situation for Vipers and Viper-like cars without nannies, without NAV or anything else that that the gov can track you driving habits, shut down you car, etc.

Collector car hobby is fickle and you never know what will be hot nor when. What is undeniable is the Viper look and feel appeals to a lot of buyers. It has enough power to put a perma-grin on most all faces and is the right car between only muscle cars of 50s and 60s as well as newer higher tech cars.

It will be a collector car for sure but the $1M question is when? Could be in 10 yrs, could be in another 30 years when Viper is 50 years old? What is required to help is restoration guides need to be made for all models, all years. History needs to be documented thoroughly and heritage established.

As good as the Vettes can be, they are all equipped with the Navistar and at a time when owned by the government. I think that will hurt the collector future if an ODB-III type intrusion system comes into play.

Not a big brother conspiracy type individual but then again, I would have never imagined things like Snowden brought out would be real as well. Who knew? That crazy guy with tin foil on his head, sitting on the ground was right when he said the government was reading his mind and stealing his thoughts. I exaggerate to clarify.

 

[kenphjr]

I agree with most everything you said and restoration guides would be great for a 50 year old car-but where are the parts to restore it with?-Dodge isn't making them-I can't even get parts for my 01 viper now-what's going to happen 20 years down the road-The reason the 50's and 60''s muscle cars are so popular at least one reason is parts availability-you can pick up a catalog and order any part you need for a 1963 Corvette for instance down to the correct head markings on bolts-There are parts catalogs that are based exactly off the assembly manuals for Corvettes from 63-67 and all the parts are available-I just don't see that happening for the Viper-hope I'm wrong,but it doesn't look that way at this point

 

[Paul Hawker]

As far as restoration parts, The VPA is making the greatest inroads to assemble the ability to produce factory quality parts. They have been given tons of parts from Chrysler when it looked like Viper was going to be sold off to a foreign company.

If you need restoration parts, or parts that are no longer being stocked by dealers, that would be the go to place right now.

 

[MoparMap]

A lot of the restoration market takes time too. I've been a Mopar fan for a decent chunk of my life now and have finally started to see some aftermarket and restoration support coming out. You won't have a restoration market while the cars are still effectively in production or even half supported by Chrysler. You figure the Vette market likely started with just one company and eventually grew as people saw not just the need, but the demand for parts. Look at all the Mopars muscle cars of the 60's and 70's and you're just now starting to see restoration parts come out and get pushed by companies. I've worked on a 69 Charger for my brother years ago and my own 67 Dart recently and even just a few years ago you still had to buy parts second-hand to be able to "restore" a decent chunk of either. That or pay through the roof prices from the one company that is making the parts new. A Viper might be 20 years old now, but they're not exactly wearing out like old cars used to. Composite components don't rust out and wear out near as fast as the metal of the past does. That being said, unfortunately I don't see the Viper acquiring a large restoration market any time soon. They just didn't build enough of them to need multiple companies pumping out replacement parts to keep up. Plus, the gen 1 and 2 were basically parts shelf cars to start with since they got built with all sorts of parts taken from other cars. I could see one company (or a very select few) stepping up and becoming the home of Viper restoration in the future, but I still don't think that will happen any time soon.

 

[Paul Hawker]

ONe of the things that caught my eye is how the Vetts are getting heavier and heavier, while the Viper seems to be putting an effort into getting the weight down.

I saw an advertisement for Corvette where they claim that evey gram must earn it's way onto the car, but they neglected to mention that the new car is more than 100 lbs heavier than the one it replaces.

Sticking a heavy supercharger on the already nose heavy vette is no way to make it a better road racing car. The magazines will love it, as it gives a kick butt feeling when they nail the throttle, but when used on a multi lap race course, the performance changes on every lap. Hard to keep it consistant.

 

[PeterMJ]

ONe of the things that caught my eye is how the Vetts are getting heavier and heavier, while the Viper seems to be putting an effort into getting the weight down.

I saw an advertisement for Corvette where they claim that evey gram must earn it's way onto the car, but they neglected to mention that the new car is more than 100 lbs heavier than the one it replaces.

Sticking a heavy supercharger on the already nose heavy vette is no way to make it a better road racing car. The magazines will love it, as it gives a kick butt feeling when they nail the throttle, but when used on a multi lap race course, the performance changes on every lap. Hard to keep it consistant.

Base C7 with Z51 option is 140 pounds heavier than the previous generation equivalent. If the upcoming Z06 does not hit 3600 pounds, it will be a miracle or incomplete info provided by Juechter as usual. Completely agreed on heat soak, it was there with ZR1, it will be there with Z06. New Z28 went the larger displacement NA for a good reason, since it is actually designed for track duty, unlike the Z06. I think it is a true shame SRT never exploited any of these issues in advertising new Viper-I would fire the entire SRT crew on this account alone.