[Heyitsme]

Hi all! I mostly see nice/low mile cars for sale. Where are the drivers? I'm looking to buy a driver/bit of a project, rebuilt title, something i'm not afraid to put some miles on and enjoy. I love all these cars but I find myself passing on good gen 1 deals snd gen 1 and 2 rt10's.. GTS is what i really want and I can't afford/nor do i want a pristine car. I already have cash pulled out because a recent deal fell through. Looking to spend between 22-33k depending on the car/condition. Will travel. Thanks!

Feel free to text (206)354-9527

 

[GTS Dean]

Even if you find a decent driver, you had better budget another $5k after the purchase. I doubt you'll find a driveable car for under $35k.

 

[Heyitsme]

These were
all drivable, sold within the last month. All under 30k

 

[8.0L>1.8T]

Those all look like they were in the parking garage of a building that completed a controlled demolition.

 

[Turbokraft]

That IS what he is asking for...even rebuilt title cars. If depreciation is not a factor certainly a well sorted rebuilt title is an excellent buy. I bought a C6Z 4 years ago and have had 0 issues, was a Texas flood car. The builder had well documented photos including the high water mark as well as what fluids had been changed etc. Expect to earn a 20-15% reduction in price, beat the snot out of it and if you wreck it what the heck? It is already a wreck lol.

 

[Heyitsme]

Yea i don't understand the negativity 🤷‍♂️ I've been searching all the selling platforms, researching a ton. I thought i had a car bought, then the deal fell through after i waited an entire month with cash in my hand.. seller wasted my time and I watched these cars (above) that i was initially interested in, get sold while i was waiting.. Hurts, but that's why i'm here trying to make something happen any way that i can 👍 For reference the Blue one was rough around the edges but drove great. I personally went on a test drive ($28k) black one had tweaked front end ($25k) Red one was higher mileage and needed minor attention but the guy who bought it drove it back to california from seattle..I talked to the guy who bought it and from what i under tans he paid 22k.

 

[85vett]

What GTS Dean is saying that you wont find an reliable form of these cars for that price. Sure it drives right now but for how long. I can appreciate the budget minded person but you need to be prepared for the possible repair cost that can come with buying a car like the ones you posted.

P.S. - That Blue one wasn't rough around the edges. It was beat to shit. I know the car as it was somewhat local to me. My suggestion, since your mainly looking for the cheapest version of the car that is drivable would be to specifically look for salved cars. Find one that's been put back together right and your low to middle $30K would be doable and it wont cost you a fortune to keep it running or make it right again.

A decent car with high miles in your budget is just going to be hard to find. Not impossible as some people get lucky all the time finding the unicorns out there.

 

[dirtbag]

I've seen some fairly neglected vipers. Aside from minor inconveniences like broken A/C, slow windows, they've all been reliable (rage worthy drivable status). The powertrain is pretty solid.

 

[2001GTS]

Less than 30K is really not feasible for a GTS, typically people with vipers don’t “need” the cash or have to short sale. Or if they do they would probably sell some other assets before the viper.

Typically those selling for under 30 are really sold for the high 20’s with 10k in damage or issues.

Sure I’ve seen RTs go for a little less why not sure, but they do.

I have said high mileage 100k+ GTS and wound not sell for less than low 30s today even if I had to. I know I just couldn’t find another one like it for the same money. Same point if I put it up for 28k it would be gone within a couple days.

Now once I blow the motor AND IT STILL RUNS, OR SCREW UP THE SUSPENSION, have the tranny starting to go out... hey let’s talk. You probably won’t know the difference until a couple months out anyways and you wanted a project right.

 

[8.0L>1.8T]

Yea i don't understand the negativity

Welcome to Hell.

 

[Heyitsme]

Welcome to Hell.

I was hoping this would be different then the FB groups 😆 At least i'm not getting the cringy whimsical cult vibe i get there. I can handle a few "Here's the deal son.." comments if it means finding a car. I will gladly be your "idiot" who buys a car that needs work, drives it, puts $ into it/fixes it over time, and is happy as a clam while doing it.. This is not an investment for me.i'm not looking for anything perfect that will sit in a garage forever and only see daylight when traded among collectors.. im not demanding an ROI. I'm not the type of person who wouldn't rather burn their car to the ground, before selling for $1k less than it's worth.. I just want a car i can drive and enjoy, so dont act like i'm the entitled type, because of my price range.. shitty sellers will rip people off whether it's a $30k car or $100k car. My understanding of prices is based off Sold listing on BAT, Ebay, and (confirmed) sold fb listings, offerup listings, craigslist. There's certainly a disconnect between listing prices vs sold for as well. Im no mechanic, but not a complete newb. Viper wil sit next to my pro street Falcon. And yes, of course you'd budget for problems/repairs after buying a car like that..its standard practice for buying any used car, really. It's not like this is a DD guys lol. Maybe this isn't where I find my type of car/seller.. Who knows. I'm staying positive 👍 Thanks for any help!

 

[Doc]

It's simple, we are all old farts. Only about half of us still own Vipers (half moved on to other sports cars) but we all still hang around here and have known eachother for a decade and there are a lot of inside jokes.

We're kind of assholes but we still know a ton about sports cars. So that's the deal...

 

[trick]

I was hoping this would be different then the FB groups 😆 At least i'm not getting the cringy whimsical cult vibe i get there. I can handle a few "Here's the deal son.." comments if it means finding a car. I will gladly be your "idiot" who buys a car that needs work, drives it, puts $ into it/fixes it over time, and is happy as a clam while doing it.. This is not an investment for me.i'm not looking for anything perfect that will sit in a garage forever and only see daylight when traded among collectors.. im not demanding an ROI. I'm not the type of person who wouldn't rather burn their car to the ground, before selling for $1k less than it's worth.. I just want a car i can drive and enjoy, so dont act like i'm the entitled type, because of my price range.. shitty sellers will rip people off whether it's a $30k car or $100k car. My understanding of prices is based off Sold listing on BAT, Ebay, and (confirmed) sold fb listings, offerup listings, craigslist. There's certainly a disconnect between listing prices vs sold for as well. Im no mechanic, but not a complete newb. Viper wil sit next to my pro street Falcon. And yes, of course you'd budget for problems/repairs after buying a car like that..its standard practice for buying any used car, really. It's not like this is a DD guys lol. Maybe this isn't where I find my type of car/seller.. Who knows. I'm staying positive 👍 Thanks for any help!

Best advice it to download a Craig list app that lets you look in many different places under the same search, and hit it every day!!! This year I stole a F430 off CL for a customer, probably 50k under ACV. There are always deals, it just takes the patient car fisherman to get the big deal... It seems you are at least prepared for things that may come up with a unsorted car. Ill keep an eye out in my searches, but in the last month or so the Gen1/2 Viper market has completely dried up, one of my customers offered me more then double what I paid for mine just a few years ago, but I wont sell.

 

[Heyitsme]

It's simple, we are all old farts. Only about half of us still own Vipers (half moved on to other sports cars) but we all still hang around here and have known eachother for a decade and there are a lot of inside jokes.

We're kind of assholes but we still know a ton about sports cars. So that's the deal...

Fair enough 👍 I hope i get to join the club

 

[Heyitsme]

Best advice it to download a Craig list app that lets you look in many different places under the same search, and hit it every day!!! This year I stole a F430 off CL for a customer, probably 50k under ACV. There are always deals, it just takes the patient car fisherman to get the big deal... It seems you are at least prepared for things that may come up with a unsorted car. Ill keep an eye out in my searches, but in the last month or so the Gen1/2 Viper market has completely dried up, one of my customers offered me more then double what I paid for mine just a few years ago, but I wont sell.

yup i hear you. I check everywhere twice a day. I see plenty of deals pop up to be honest, but i'm a beggar and a chooser so it's tough. And i want to buy, before i end up putting money into our hiuse.

It's been great market for collectors. people Re coming out of the woodwork to sell their low mileage vipers because they've seen a spike in listing prices/people have been sitting around more during covid/wealthy people always have money. They're just aren't very many reasonably priced drivers it seems.

 

[85vett]

That's because their just aren't that many Vipers out there anymore. You have two categories that are the norm in Viper sales. Garage Queens and Wrecked cars. Their aren't many like us (the majority on this forum) that actually drive their cars as they were designed. As such, not many 30-60K mile cars out there and when they pop up they sell fast if reasonably priced as their are way more people in your shoes looking for a nice driver than their are sellers of nice drivers. It took me about 2 years to find my car which is a 98 GTS that I got for $38K about 5 years ago now (had 13K miles on it).

Yes, we are assholes here, comes with the car I guess, but our advice is not because we want to piss you off, it's because we've been their, done that and got the T-shirt many times already. Plus we've seen a couple dozen people that join here, ask the same things and fade off into the sunset because they thought someone here would just dump their car to be nice to them.

Since you mentioned "entitled". When you go to a car forum that specializes in a particular car and you try to act like you know more than the people living in that market for 5-25 years it makes you come off as a spoiled entitled person so we're going to treat you as such. You can spout out a couple cars that met your criteria but that doesn't mean it's the market, just like we could show you some GTS that fetched over 100K recently, which also doesn't speak to the current standard market. Again, nobody is saying never but it's going to be hunt to find a car in that price that is worth having especially if you plan to actually drive it. I still think you best option is to find a wrecked car that was put together properly. That will be close to your budget and will most likely need less to keep it on the road reliably.

P.S. - Buy one with a radiator leak. I have a spare radiator in my garage that I'd like to sell

 

[Heyitsme]

That's because their just aren't that many Vipers out there anymore. You have two categories that are the norm in Viper sales. Garage Queens and Wrecked cars. Their aren't many like us (the majority on this forum) that actually drive their cars as they were designed. As such, not many 30-60K mile cars out there and when they pop up they sell fast if reasonably priced as their are way more people in your shoes looking for a nice driver than their are sellers of nice drivers. It took me about 2 years to find my car which is a 98 GTS that I got for $38K about 5 years ago now (had 13K miles on it).

Yes, we are assholes here, comes with the car I guess, but our advice is not because we want to piss you off, it's because we've been their, done that and got the T-shirt many times already. Plus we've seen a couple dozen people that join here, ask the same things and fade off into the sunset because they thought someone here would just dump their car to be nice to them.

Since you mentioned "entitled". When you go to a car forum that specializes in a particular car and you try to act like you know more than the people living in that market for 5-25 years it makes you come off as a spoiled entitled person so we're going to treat you as such. You can spout out a couple cars that met your criteria but that doesn't mean it's the market, just like we could show you some GTS that fetched over 100K recently, which also doesn't speak to the current standard market. Again, nobody is saying never but it's going to be hunt to find a car in that price that is worth having especially if you plan to actually drive it. I still think you best option is to find a wrecked car that was put together properly. That will be close to your budget and will most likely need less to keep it on the road reliably.

P.S. - Buy one with a radiator leak. I have a spare radiator in my garage that I'd like to sell

I hear you 😆 i appreciate constructive feedback. You're right, its hard enough task finding the right car. I don't mean to piss anybody off..I know y'all are more familiar with these cars, but you can't be an asshole and expect nobody to be an asshole back.. I'm not even being harsh. I'm simply replying back to comments and providing a little context since people seem to be nitpicking. I appreciate anyone who can help out 👍

I'll consider buying your radiator (call it a finders fee) if you hook me up with the right car/seller and i buy it. 👀

 

[Doc]

You’d probably be better off buying a salvaged 2004 SRT. They made a lot more of them.

but the GTS is a better looking car that will hold value.

 

[2001GTS]

I hear you 😆 i appreciate constructive feedback. You're right, its hard enough task finding the right car. I don't mean to piss anybody off..I know y'all are more familiar with these cars, but you can't be an asshole and expect nobody to be an asshole back.. I'm not even being harsh. I'm simply replying back to comments and providing a little context since people seem to be nitpicking. I appreciate anyone who can help out 👍

I'll consider buying your radiator (call it a finders fee) if you hook me up with the right car/seller and i buy it. 👀

I’ll give you the typically viper alley comment so you understand we are trying to help... here goes.

I understand your a homeless millennial who voted for Biden, so your use to a hand out and people coddling you.

Dude grow the fuck up, what your asking for doesn’t exist. If you do find that unicorn, shoot the FM because if you don’t someone will steal the deal, or it’s gone before you figured out you didn’t need the PPI at that price.

Good luck!

Let us know what you find.

 

[8.0L>1.8T]

2001GTS for President!!! I'd +Rep you if we still had that feature.