Wierd happenings today

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hemichuck

hemichuck

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Location
Louisville Kentucky
I have been on Craigslist a few days trying to get hold of some people about 100 miles away that had a 2002 Viper for sale. Couldn't get any reaction from them till this morning out of the blue I get an e-mail with a phone number saying I could come look at it. The asking price was $15000 and it had a salvage title but they had already hinted that they might take less. We jumped in the truck and hooked up my 16 ft lawn trailer that has rails around it since it was the only one empty and we took off for northern Kentucky to check it out. I stopped at Kroger to get Diesel and with my fuel points it cost $1.69 a gallon, I told my son it was going to be a good day. When we got there the car was sitting in the driveway with one of them blue tarps laying in front of it and there were tools all over the ground and junk laying all around it. We looked it over and took it for a ride, back tires were shot and about flat, the hood is beat and looks like it went to hell and back. its got 57000 miles showing but it ran pretty good but had a slight noise in the trans when decelarating It has HRE rims and and a Ichiban steering wheel and some aftermarket exhaust and air intakes. We started pointing out all the faults and negotiating price and to make a long story short we bought it for $8000 cash. Took us about an hour to get it on the trailer since the rails were only 2 inches wider than the car and Vipers sit so low that they wont just go up a normal ramp.
When we get home we start searching the web for some parts and happen across a photo of the exact same car in Redlands Ca. back in 2013 on cardomain.com. The first thing that tipped us off was the color, not a factory color and the car had the same wheels and steering wheel. upon further investigation the guy that owned the car listed other mods that he had done on the car back in 2003 so he must have been the original owner. It listed that he had added Eibach suspension and Flowmaster exhaust system. We climbed under it and sure enough it had them but the clincher was he said he added billet aluminum heater knobs so out the door we went and there they were. How weird is that. I sent a message to the guy hoping to get a little background on the car so I guess we will see what happens.
 
Vipers are cool, and good price.
Hard to find one that doesn't have a salvage title.
Post some pictures.
 
Hopefully the hood isn't too bad because those are so freakin' expensive to replace on the first and second gen Vipers. That's a good price for an '02 though! Is it an RT/10?
 
Yes it is an RT/10, My son posted the pictures on the Viper owners facebook page and he has them in his phone. When he wakes up I will get him to put them on here. My son bought his 2003 Viper when he was 17 (he's 22 now)so he has a lot of knowledge and connections on Vipers in general. I've been wanting one forever but have been reluctant to pop $30,000 to $40,000 for a car I only drive occasionally. $8000 on the other hand I can deal with! We were pricing around some of the mods on the car and it was astounding how much they cost. The HRE wheels cost about $1600 each and the Eibach suspension was in the thousands. The intakes were about $450 and I don't know how much the exhaust system cost. I hope to restore it to look as good in the photos on CarDomain.com, Here is that link
http://www.cardomain.com/member/lucian22/# I am probably going to paint it Go Mango like my 1970 Dart 340 Swinger
 
The hood is pretty bad but I have located a couple for around $1500 compared to $4000 or so for a new one. Winters coming and its not going to be Viper weather for a while so I have some time to search stuff out. Lots of little nic nacs to fix to get the ball rolling. only bad thing is now I have to get rid of something so I can get it in the garage. I have six cars stacked in my sons 30x36 garage and another 1970 Dart in my barn along with everything else I own. Time to start digging and selling.
 
sweet


now all you need to find a 4 door A body roller to swap the drivetrain into ;)
 
IMG_1067_zpsu14tnapr.jpg
 
Wow! That's a tight fit. How did you get out of it after it was loaded? Climb through the roof?

Nice car!
 
I didnt get out of it, My son did. I can just barely get out of one when its on the ground and I cant get out at all if the roof is on it! Sunny day rides only.
 
The bad part was'nt really the side to side as much as the ground clearance issue with a car that sits 3 or 4 inches from the pavement on level ground going up an arched ramp.
 
hemichuck said:
Yes it is an RT/10, My son posted the pictures on the Viper owners facebook page and he has them in his phone. When he wakes up I will get him to put them on here. My son bought his 2003 Viper when he was 17 (he's 22 now)so he has a lot of knowledge and connections on Vipers in general. I've been wanting one forever but have been reluctant to pop $30,000 to $40,000 for a car I only drive occasionally. $8000 on the other hand I can deal with! We were pricing around some of the mods on the car and it was astounding how much they cost. The HRE wheels cost about $1600 each and the Eibach suspension was in the thousands. The intakes were about $450 and I don't know how much the exhaust system cost. I hope to restore it to look as good in the photos on CarDomain.com, Here is that link
http://www.cardomain.com/member/lucian22/# I am probably going to paint it Go Mango like my 1970 Dart 340 Swinger
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How the heck does a 17 year old get a Viper?! Good for him though, that's an awesome car. When I graduate I will be on the lookout for a late 2nd gen GTS. I've always wanted one and figure I might as well get it and have it paid off while I'm young and have disposable income. I think you stole that thing for $8k. Even beat up gen 1's often go for twice that with salvage titles. Hopefully everything is mechanically sound and you don't have any problems down the road and everything you need to fix is just cosmetic. Vipers are impressive machines if you can keep it between the ditches. :burnout:
 
hemichuck said:
The bad part was'nt really the side to side as much as the ground clearance issue with a car that sits 3 or 4 inches from the pavement on level ground going up an arched ramp.
Click to expand...


Yes...

My dad had a 94 Viper. My brother took it down to school in Normal, IL for a bit. A chip from the timing chain cover didn't get washed out and ended up sticking the oil pressure relief valve when it had only 4000 miles on it. :violent1:

My brother had to get it towed back to Chicago, and the tow company owner came and rode shotgun in the tow truck to make sure that nothing went wrong. It was their first Viper tow, it was very difficult loading it on the flat bed with the low ground clearance.... :banghead:

Luckily my brother knew to shut it down when the lifters collapsed and Chrysler fixed it under warranty - and covered the tow.... No major engine damage and it kept it's original engine... :cheers:
 
We drove it a couple of miles before we bought it and it seems mechanically sound. My son has been doing swap meets with me since he was 2 years old so he grew up understanding how to wheel and deal, When he was 15 years old he decided he wanted a new Challenger and asked me what it would take to get one. I told him he had to stop blowing his money and start buying and selling and working towards a goal to get what he wanted. So he started saving his cash and got together a pretty good stockpile and he went over to my Dads house and asked if he could get half the money together for a new Challenger would Grandpa loan him the rest. I think my Dad seriously underestimated his determination to get the car. Over the next year or so he scraped together $26000. and the car he wanted was around $42000 so he started looking at Challengers and the package that he wanted ended up getting cancelled so he asked me one night if I thought a Viper would hold its value better than a Challenger and I said sure it would but Vipers are a lot higher than Challengers so where did he plan on finding one? About 2 weeks later he finds a 2003 SRT10 convertible with 8,800 miles on it about 5 miles from our house. The lady who owned it was 65 years old and she was asking $45000 for it. He asked me to go with him to look at it so off we went. She wouldnt let him drive it because he was 17 and she couldnt believe he was even there looking at it. I drove it up the street and back about 1/2 mile and he was on the phone with my Dad the whole time telling him he found a car. when we got back to the womans house my phone rang and it was my Dad asking what kind of shape the car was in. I told him it was like new and he told my son to come bring his cash and get a check for the purchase amount which my son negotiated down to $42000. We met her at the clerks office and she kept saying I cant believe a 17 year old is buying my car. I kept saying I cant believe this old woman even had a Viper and I'm sure my Dad was saying I cant believe he pulled that deal off. He just paid my Dad off earlier this year for the car. I'm pretty proud,I have some great kids. But I'm glad I finally got my own Viper, I'm tired of riding ***** at the Viper club events and having to tellpeople"no thats not my Viper, it belongs to my son"
 
jerry6 said:
what does it mean salvage title ?
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it means someone had an accident with it and the insurance company decided the cost to fix it was greater then the value of the car, so they paid out a certain amount but kept the car and send it to a junkyard
someone then bought it from said junkyard, fixed it, and re-applied for a title, but because of the accident it is now considered a "salvage title"
 
Nice score! You stole that Viper! I have driven a 96 GTS coupe and they are fun, the same guy I know who has the viper also has a Ford GT, since he got that the Viper just sits.
 
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