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Thinking of selling, appreciate your advice. Now NWS.

946 Views 22 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  85vett
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Hoping maybe some of you could give me some advice about the possible sell of my car. I'm still torn between keeping it and selling it but figured I should collect some info now as it may help with my dilemma.

Buying this car was one of my greatest achievements and life long goals. I fell in love with the car in 1996 when I was in high school and dreamed of owning one some day. I've now owned the car for 7 so I'm not sure if I've just got the "7 year itch" or if my true enjoyment of the car has faded that much. I used to drive it any chance I could and now (especially since buying my Hellcat) when I go into the garage to pick a car to drive I always grab the red key on my HC and take off. With my idiot company name forcing us back into the office for better collaboration (yeah, my peers all work out of state or overseas....) the chances of driving it are even less frequent as most of the time I do drive the car is when it's real nice out and I want to go grab some lunch rather than eat at home. No chance I'm driving this car in Austin rush hour traffic. The risk of damage from the countless idiots and the lack of comfort just doesn't make the 1.5 hour drive to go 35 miles sound like fun. Every time my mind goes to, "time to sell" I walk into the garage, see it and my heart just wont let me do it but now it feels more like I'm keeping it to hold onto childhood dreams vs actual the desires to use it. Also just afraid that 5-10 years from now I may regret selling it and not being able to afford to get one back.

Details on the car:
  • ~17K miles
  • Paint - Solid 8/10. It's not a garage queen but also not neglected. Got some scratches under the front bumper as I have put ~ 17K miles on the car. It could use a good paint correction and detail to be near perfect excluding those under bumper scratches and a couple of small rock chips on the front bumper (touched up already)
  • Interior - 9/10. Super clean and everything functions properly. No scratches, broken pieces and all the seals are good. I mark it down from 10/10 because it does has a pretty annoying buzz from the passenger side of the dash. It's a Viper though so squeaks and rattles seem like they would be normal. The entire rear compartment is dynomatted which helped a lot with drone (from my previous borla system) and heat.
  • Radio - Full JL audio conversion in the doors, tweeters, rear and a sub in a custom enclosure that is flush mounted in the spare tire area. All 100% removeable. Previous owner removed the stock stuff so I don't have any of it but I replaced it wish good quality items. Sounds good but still a Viper so not "high end"
  • Exhaust - Belanger bolt in high flow cat system that goes into a Corsa catback
  • Mechanical - New plugs and wires a couple years ago. Brand new FlowKooler water pump along with replacing all top end motor gaskets with cometic ones (excluding the valve covers). X2 radiator that fits kind of poorly but I've been able to get it to fit 95% like OEM. All new radiator and heater line hoses. IPSCO power steering bracket and pulley, new power steering pump as my old pulley broke when trying to remove it, all fluids (oil, coolant, brake, clutch, rear diff, transmission) have been changed in the last 2 years (most in the last 6 months). Intake swapped to the K&N FIPK kit. Yeah, I know it's not gaining power but I like the look and sound of it. New gas tank/fuel pump seal. That was what my lingering EVAP codes were coming from.
  • Suspension - Full rebuild less than 1K miles ago. All new ball joints around the car, all new control arm bushings (polly conversion with energy suspension kit), BC racing coilovers, front & rear new inner and outer tie rods, IPSCO steering rack bushings, IPSCO transmission mount
  • Brakes - Less than 1K miles on new pads and rotors. It was a stop tech kit with the Z26 pads. Honestly, not a super big fan of these pads but they are new, just doesn't feel like it stops as good as I was expecting. After a good drive and they get warm I sometimes get a pop sound from the front brakes. Pretty sure it's the pad hardware and the pads being slightly looser than desired so they pop back and forth.
  • Wheels/Tires - Tires have 1-2 years of life in them due to date code. Tread has a lot of life. Forgestar F14's in matte black with 18 in front and 19 in back. Wheels and tires are the size and fitment of the Gen 5.
  • Extra parts - OEM radiator (needs to be re-cored but I kept it anyway as a spare), HOWE radiator (think it has a minor leak that could easily be repaired by an aluminum welder), spare set of hood hinges, factory intake system, OEM gas cover (oxidized and could use to be polished).

Car has a custom tune by Dan Lessor. It runs great and, after the water pump and radiator swap, is not running hot anymore. AC is cold and it sounds great. With the Gen 5 size wheels and tires I've noticed it tramlines way more than I like on a lot of the roads around me. Maybe a little better fine tuning in the suspension could help but it's noticeable on non-flat roads. Negative of 355's in the rear I think. The car is a great DRIVER. It is not a garage queen just take it to shows car.

As you can see, I've tried to take the absolute best care of the car as possible as I do truly love it. I just don't drive it much anymore...

Knowing the above, what would you suggest? If your suggestion would be to sell, what in the world would be a realistic value of this car? I really have no clue on what it's really worth, nor have a clue the best way to sell it, especially since I don't have any social media (facebook, twitter, etc).

Where it spends it's life these days and the speaker set-up I talked about above:
Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Land vehicle


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Appreciate the advice so far. I was WAY off target on what the value may be as I was thinking I'd be lucky to break 55k since it's not a garage queen or stock anymore. Glad I asked as I do seem to undervalue things I own.

I've got some soul searching to do. I don't need to sell but I'm feeling guilty for not using it more. My wife calling it a paper weight all the time doesn't help even though I know she says it in fun because it was down so long for that damn water pump issue and EVAP issue....
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Future ex-wifey calls it a what?!?!
LOL... Ironically enough she's in the "the hell you are" camp when I talk about selling it. I'm going to really focus on driving the car as much as I can over the next couple months. If even with the extra focus on actually using the car I still don't drive it much or get "the bug" again then I know it is time to sell it.
Can we post tits in this thread yet?
I'll never hold you back from being you, so of course 😁

Unfortunately not. Going back to my home track - COTA. It's only 46 miles away and I sleep in my own bed.
I may have to come watch ya'll sometime. Not a chance I'm getting my crappy ass driving on that track but it would be fun to watch some of yall show how it's done.
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