hemichuck
10-29-2015, 10:41 AM
I had put this post on A bodies only forum because I have a couple of A bodies and have been on there a while. I moved it over here because I am new to the Vipers even though my son has had a Gen 3 for several years I didn't do much more than ride in his(and occasionally drive when he would let me) Some of you probably saw this on Facebook because he posted it as we were going after the car.
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.
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.