What do you think of this car?

Go Fast For Life

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Posts
374
Reaction score
0
Guys, I'm new to vipers and am thinking about buying this car. The guy has a reserved price of $65,000. Do any of you think it is worth the money?

Viper on Ebay

The car is in Thousand Oaks CA. Are there any VCA menbers who live close by that could look at the car for me?

Thanks for your help and opinions.

Fast
 

Yellow Fever

Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Posts
726
Reaction score
0
Location
San Diego , CA
Car looks Great ! I'm curious who was the tuner that did all the mods?? I'd find out and contact the tuner to discuss the cars history.

I'm in Thousand Oaks once a week on business..I'd be happy to check the car out for you :2tu:

Cheers

Jeff
 

Casey

Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 24, 2001
Posts
4,662
Reaction score
0
Location
Valparaiso, IN.
From the pictures the car looks great. Lots of work on it too. But whenever I see-- Title: OTHER I get a little nervous!
Ask lots of questions, get the paperwork, etc!
Good luck!
 

Viperfreak2

Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 14, 2002
Posts
2,548
Reaction score
0
Location
Duncan, SC USA
Great price for all the work done, and almost unbelievable that someone would invest that much. The only thing I see that bothers me is that the prices are exaggerated. $3500 for Connelly leather? Sorry, I remember it as a $500 option. $84K for the car new? List was under $72K, unless it started life as an ACR (doesn't say) $5000 for shocks???? Regardless, it's quite a deal.
 
OP
OP
G

Go Fast For Life

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Posts
374
Reaction score
0
Car looks Great ! I'm curious who was the tuner that did all the mods?? I'd find out and contact the tuner to discuss the cars history.

I'm in Thousand Oaks once a week on business..I'd be happy to check the car out for you :2tu:

Cheers

Jeff

Jeff,

The motor was done by Bill Wright Racing, AZ. Does anyone know anything about these guys?
 
OP
OP
G

Go Fast For Life

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Posts
374
Reaction score
0
From the pictures the car looks great. Lots of work on it too. But whenever I see-- Title: OTHER I get a little nervous!
Ask lots of questions, get the paperwork, etc!
Good luck!

The title scared me too. I checked both autocheck and then carfax. Both came back clean. I then asked the owner and, being new to ebay, he put other on the title because the bank still holds the title. He is the original owner and assures me it has never been wrecked and does not have a salvage title. :2tu:

Ron
 

J DAWG

Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 9, 2002
Posts
2,238
Reaction score
0
Location
MS
$84K for the car new? List was under $72K, unless it started life as an ACR (doesn't say) $5000 for shocks???? Regardless, it's quite a deal.


it is a 97, so not an ACR.

The fact that it is a 97 would be the only thing that would make me pass it up.
 
OP
OP
G

Go Fast For Life

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Posts
374
Reaction score
0
Great price for all the work done, and almost unbelievable that someone would invest that much. The only thing I see that bothers me is that the prices are exaggerated. $3500 for Connelly leather? Sorry, I remember it as a $500 option. $84K for the car new? List was under $72K, unless it started life as an ACR (doesn't say) $5000 for shocks???? Regardless, it's quite a deal.

You're right. I think some of the prices were exagerated. The Connelly is not the Dodge seating option of other Vipers. He had these seats custom made (with cutouts for a 5-point harness) out of Connelly leather. The interior was done by "Stillen" SP? Does anyone know of this company?

Ron
 

FE 065

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 3, 2001
Posts
2,292
Reaction score
0
Location
MI
I'd buy it, but that cam with the "classified" specs bothers me.. :crazy:

Does the $20K/yr technician come with it? (Do I have to wear that white shirt and pants??)

They forget the mention it's got the "Chiller" on it; there's a sticker up by the airbox...

$5000 for $3500 SVSi headers? ......
You must be registered for see images
 
OP
OP
G

Go Fast For Life

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Posts
374
Reaction score
0
I'd buy it, but that cam with the "classified" specs bothers me.. :crazy: Does the $20K/yr technician come with it? (How about that white shirt and pants??) They forget the mention it's got the "Chiller" on it; there's a sticker up by the airbox... $5000 for $3500 SVSi headers?

Some of the prices seemed high to me too. Do they seem unrealistically high? He tells me he has receipts for all the work. I haven't seen them yet but I'm glad he offered them to me.

Regarding the "Chiller", this fellows company created the PMF SuperChiller for marine applications. They did some experimenting with autos -- hence the chiller sticker. No doubt they could then expense the car through the business.

Ron
 

BLOWNGTS

Viper Owner
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Posts
151
Reaction score
0
Guys, I'm new to vipers and am thinking about buying this car. The guy has a reserved price of $65,000. Do any of you think it is worth the money?

Viper on Ebay

The car is in Thousand Oaks CA. Are there any VCA menbers who live close by that could look at the car for me?

Thanks for your help and opinions.

Fast
Hey Hey Hey, FAt Albert painted it, so it can't be all bad....LOL
 

SapphireGTS

Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 16, 2001
Posts
2,469
Reaction score
0
Location
Columbus Ohio
Looks nice. I hate when people put a list of all the mods and prices of each mod.

OOOoo. And its a "Super Custom" edition!!! (according to the ad)
 

Brian E

Viper Owner
Joined
Oct 2, 2000
Posts
505
Reaction score
1
Location
Granger, Indiana, USA
Just my .02, but if you need to spend 60k over 3 yrs. to maintain the car, i would be very concerned! Also i agree with some of the other posters, if the base price of the car is exagerated by thousands of dollars, what else isnt the add being truthful about?
My 02 yellow/black stripe GTS stickered for 79k.
Save yourself some time and heartache and buy your next car from a V.C.A. member that is using our V.C.A. classifieds, or call Bill P. at Woodhouse.
Good Luck! :usa:
 

XS TORQ

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 2, 2000
Posts
579
Reaction score
0
Location
San Jose, CA., USA
I have seen some of Fat Alberts work, and he does REALLY nice paint. Full time tech? kinda strange.. definitely some inflated prices in there. If everything is on the car that is in the ad, it sounds like a nice machine!
 

joe117

Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Posts
5,391
Reaction score
1
Location
Maryland, USA
Negative Joe says,
I think that's quite a bit of money to pay for those mods.
How do you know what's inside the engine? Do they have a dyno sheet? Will they dyno it for you while you watch?

I agree with the others who spot items on the list that are exaggerated in price. What else is he exaggerating?

The big displacement, heads and cam and bullet proof components are nice but you could probably get more power for quite a bit less money.

I don't think it's worth nearly $65k.
What is it worth? I don't know but a buyer would have to want all that stuff before it would be worth anything. Just because the owner spent lots of money doesn't mean the mods are worth much to anyone else.

It kind of reminds me of someone spending lots of money on additions and remodeling on a small house in a not so good neighborhood. The houses in that neighborhood are only worth so much.
 
OP
OP
G

Go Fast For Life

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2003
Posts
374
Reaction score
0
Negative Joe says,
I think that's quite a bit of money to pay for those mods.
How do you know what's inside the engine? Do they have a dyno sheet? Will they dyno it for you while you watch?

I agree with the others who spot items on the list that are exaggerated in price. What else is he exaggerating?

The big displacement, heads and cam and bullet proof components are nice but you could probably get more power for quite a bit less money.

I don't think it's worth nearly $65k.
What is it worth? I don't know but a buyer would have to want all that stuff before it would be worth anything. Just because the owner spent lots of money doesn't mean the mods are worth much to anyone else.

It kind of reminds me of someone spending lots of money on additions and remodeling on a small house in a not so good neighborhood. The houses in that neighborhood are only worth so much.

Guys, Thanks for all the input. I found out a little more information. Please take this into consideration and let me know what you think about the price.

The car was a daily driver from 1997 to 2002 when the owner decided to use it a a marketing tool for his high performance business. He and his corporation decided to try to make the car into a display car for the SEMA and PRI shows in 2002-2003.

To do this, they started in 2002 and took the car apart from the frame (or took as much of the body off as they could.) With the body parts off, they cleaned the frame and put new suspension, front and rear, new brakes, wheels and tires, new (ultrics SP?) half shafts. They replaced fenders, door sills, hood, facia, headlights, taillights, and all the stuff that had been nicked or worn over the 30,000 miles the car had on it. They pulled the engine and sent it to be built.

With all the new body parts, the car was shipped to Fat Alberts, AZ, for new paint. I have not talked to Fat Alberts yet, but I imagine between the new body panels and a good paint job, you could spend $20k. What do you think?

For the engine, they went to Bill Wright, AZ. Bill builds motors for top fuel cars and boats and offshore boats. I spoke with Bill about the motor and as the ad states the guy used really good parts in the engine, Velasco crank, Oliver rods, etc. I know a lot about engines and all the parts they used are first quality. I also asked about the "Top Secret" cam grind. Actually, they told me it was a custom Crower grind with 235 degrees duration at .050 and .550 lift. This is a pretty mild cam but they did that to make the car streetable...that is the AC works fine, the power brakes work... you can easily drive this on the street. I asked the folks at Bill Millers how much was spent on the motor and he said "about $37,000, not including the heads, the owner supplied the CNC GTS-R heads." So while the owners prices on the other stuff might be inflated, the price on the motor was not.

For the interior, they put in some high dollar sound system-- I'm not really into those things but I understand at the SEMA and PRI shows they wanted to impress. They also added a 5-point cage and all new carpet, seats, and headliner. They also had a company which does acoustic insulation work add sound blocking material throughout the car where ever possible. Again, while I'm not into Boom Boom stereos, I do appreciate a quiet ride. The owner tells me that with the windows up, the car is very quiet-- I'll have to see about that.

The owner did dyno the car at 618RWTQ and 585RWHP. He has the dyno sheets. He also has a video (he is going to email to me) of him at the strip with a run of 10.44 at 135mph. Do any of you know if the RWHP numbers and the drag strip numbers seem to correlate? I don't know how much power it takes to run 10.44?

All this work on the car has been done within 18 months. Since the "frame off", the car only as about 1200 miles. Any more thought about the price?

What would it cost to have a [******] 700R put on a stock 97 GTS?

Any comments would be appreciated. :rolleyes:
 
S

Stang7900

Guest
How do you spend $500 on a 6.5 inch subwoofer...I mean mid-range woofer? Why would you replace all the chipped pieces on a daily driver when they could have sold that one and bought a super low mileage garage queen that needed nothing?
I think it is a waste of money if you buy it. Seems too low a RWHP rating to pull a 10.44 also.

Get a blue GTS same year, looks even better for less $ and will hold its value better. He can't get even half his money out of it if he tried.

Steve
 
Top