after selling my turbo car and driving/riding around in a few gts’, my heart is set on my dream car and id like to get it before i graduate (i live at home =D)
My only advice would be to consider insurance/maintenance/replacement parts for this car. For the price, hell its a good deal, but theres alot more that comes with owning a car like this.
Sure, I could afford to buy a Mercedes right now, but can I/do i want to pay the costs to maintain it.
i hear ya, my father and i were speaking of the insurance and he insists that i wait till i am out of the risk pool, the only reason i can really afford this car was becuase i jumped in the market at the right time, besides that i make jack shit at my job, hoping that ends when im finished with school
You’re looking at more than $10,000 in parts and labor for that fix. That is a TON of damage for a viper
Doing a very quick parts search on Google, the bumper alone is close to $1,000, unpainted. The airbag and box is over $1,500. A radiator is over $1,000 as well. Headlights are also more than $700 each. And that’s just the stuff that is easy to see. I have no clue what else is needed for that fix. “car has frame damage” = STAY AWAY. Even if you fixed it to the best possible, would you trust it at 150 MPH? If I bent my Speed 6 around a pole and needed its frame bent back, I would be scared to drive it over 80.
Regardless, I heard so much fail. “live at home and want a Viper” “before I graduate” “insurance will be sky high” “it’s a salvage title and I can’t really afford a viper.” “not looking for yellow”
Did you just see an inexpensive GTS and got excited or something? Why did you need us to tell you what you already know? It’s not even the color you want…
It can still be your dream car later. That one is not the one you’d want to buy.
Clean 2001 Viper.
~10K miles.
Frame Damage.
Parts needed are: Front bumper, Air bag, Radiator, Fans, Lines, Core support, Headlights, plastic shields, possibly ECM (looking at pic), maybe a few other things.
And the Asking price is 19.5. I think that is a good deal, IMO, for a hardcore Viper fanatic that re-builds them. Salvage title aside (I don’t understand why everyone gets their panties in a bunch on a salvage title.) you could be in a ~60K car for 19.5K plus maybe 10K MAX (If you repaint the front bumper yellow) in repairs…? If you are serious about making this your dream car I think this is a good deal if it is EXACTLY what you want. However, you need to look at maintenace and insurance costs to see if you can actually afford it. I am curious to see what finalGTS has to add.
As far as…“car has frame damage” = STAY AWAY…not always the case. That why shops invest in frame machines.
So that statement right there makes me say you can’t afford this car. Keep the $ in investments till you finish school, get a job where you make $. Then save about 5-6 months of living expenses, put money into retirement and then you are ready for an expensive toy. I could see spending maybe 4-5k on something right now. but not upwards of 25k.
while i agree it may not be the smartest plan, this thread was not started to get financial advice on where he should invest his money. he came on nyspeed asking about a viper, not schwabb.com asking where to put 25k.
I would never buy a high end sports car that has been salvaged. Just because it has been put on a frame machine and straightened, doesn’t make it new again.
The structure of the car could have severe weak spots, among other serious defects.
All depends on the guy doing your work… and how much you’re willing to pay to make sure it’s right… If you personally KNOW someone with a frame machine, and KNOW their work, and TRUST them, then fixing the frame is no issue. Otherwise… it’s a crap shoot and how much you’re going to pay the guy and how much he feels like fixing.
And I’m sure a few people on here will say that a Viper is not a high-end sports car. I pretty much agree.
On a side note… if I had the $$; I’d do it… but
I’m a lot older and wouldn’t have to worry about ins/maintance/repairs as much.
My brother is a collision shop guy who’s been doing high end cars for 25+ years so I KNOW the work will be flawless when it’s done.
I would make it into a project and COMPLETELY disassemble the thing and verify EVERYTHING; which in itself is a HUGE project.
In case you haven’t thought of it, you will likely not be able to get a $25k loan for an old wrecked car. If you’ve got cash then rock on, cool project.
You can actually buy a never wrecked viper in the 30-35k range now-a-days. There was one in lockport for $29k-ish 2nd gen gts with lower miles a couple months back.