Special Edition Owners What will you do with your car

[Bmw2nv2000]

Im not buying one so i can just blab about it but id drive the snot out of mine if i had one. Its a viper its gonna loose value for the next 10 years even if you let it sit with 5 miles on it like frankbarba 08 vvo acr that has been for sale for a long time for well under sticker. And if your spending $130k to just look at her and hope to actually get your purchase price back(let alone make a profit) youd be much better off investing that $130k in real estate for profits. And if you just like to look at your acr thats cool too but so much more fun to drive.


I have to agree with others about all the "special" edition vipers that have been produced. Its pretty ridiculous when compared to total over all production numbers. Myself when im looking at buying past vipers i was looking for the combos that were just 2 or 3 made vs the 50 or 150 or 200 special editions. And i still think those truly rare 1 of 2 or 3 color combos (esp in gen 4 acrs) will fetch top numbers some day(like 20-30 years from now) and thats a big maybe

[Vprbite]

My concern is that you could drive it 10 miles per month. And get rear ended at a stoplight. You never know.

You're lucky enough to have one. I say enjoy it and don't look back.

[Bmw2nv2000]

Any ford gt vs any viper when applied to values is apples to oranges

[darbgnik]

I don't have a special edition coming in, but my last Viper was a special edition, and I drove the wheels off of that thing. Tens of thousands of miles and many track days. I got my money's worth.
I plan on this car being worth the low end of the scale for the same reason. But it's your car, do what makes you happy! Whether it be drive it, or look at it.

[Donato]

Now I'm the last one to know anything about investing money but I would think there are much better investment vehicles than cars to invest $120k-140k on. However if your a serous collector than maybe that's your thing..

[Terminator02]

Special edition, Last edition, Final edition, Dealer edition etc......so many of these have been made over the years that it almost funny. For some reason Dodge really embraced the idea of these 'instant collectibles' when it comes to Vipers, yet interestingly enough there were more of these made than many other great color combos. Essentially making them more common than many of the std production cars made.

I think the 1 of 1's are the hot ones and the special editions are for those that didn't have enough imagination to create their own look

Don't get me wrong. Some (but not all) are good looking combos but not different enough to stand out

I say 1 of 1's rule

There's actually TONS of GTCs. Many people who customized them I would never look at them twice. They are so individualized to their specific need all the way to some very personal dash plate. Sorry I don't see those being the real "winners." Great cars for sure. The FE 2002 Gen 2 cars hold a nice premium over most other gen 2s and the Gen 2 ACR FE probably fetch the most next to the gtsr. Try to find a Gen IV ACR-X and if you do see what the owner is asking? There are plenty of final editions worth a good amount more than the standard fare.

[uberpube]

And if your spending $130k to just look at her and hope to actually get your purchase price back(let alone make a profit) youd be much better off investing that $130k in real estate for profits.

The problem with real estate is you can't ship it around the world. A car you can sell it into a lot of different markets. You could probably unload any ACR into Japan for a healthy profit at any time, old Dodge B campervans are fetching $25k+ over there.
The 2017 ACR's on Autotrader in Canada are listed for considerably more than what I paid for the SE, but the economy isn't projected to be that strong here in the near future so I would think to get top dollar it would have to be shipped.
If the price of oil would have stayed $95+, there would likely be a lot more of these cars in Western Canada, especially ACR's, but with the downturn lots of average Joes that bought heavy hardware ended up liquidating toys.

[ViperJon]

Ford GT Heritage carries a nice premiuml.

Oh no....you're "that" guy that shows up in every Viper collectibility thread...
My opinion.....I've yet to see a product or item that is marketed and promoted as a sure fire "collectible" that actually becomes one. Nice little windfall for Viper dealers selling a bunch of cars at MSRP though. If I'm looking for a certain car it's condition and color first. It'll be gone in two years anyway.

[Bruce H.]

Maybe someone can explain how you could justify the purchases of an ACR as an investment that you basically wouldn't use in order to not diminish it's value.

I've purchased used a number of special interest cars over the years that became highly collectible after I purchased them at depreciated value, starting with a Jaguar XKE vert and more recently a Supra TT. When new they were highly rated for performance, well respected, rare in Canada and the US, relatively expensive, discontinued due to low sales, and either not replaced with a next generation model, or not replaced at all. I see a strong parallel between them and all the Gen V variants.

I searched the market extensively to find the best examples and even though I paid a premium for them it was still far less than what the cars had sold for new. While I owned them the enthusiast market gained more of an appreciation for them than when they were brand new and demand and values increased. I drove them all I wanted, even tracked the Supra TT endlessly, sold them for strong money that was considerably more than I had paid, but which was still less than what the cars had sold for new. I suspect this will also be the trend for the Gen V at some point after production ends. The market never really embraced the Gen V, starting with poor media reviews, and many factors that came afterwards. You could write a book on all the reasons why the Gen V never sold in sufficient numbers, why market value went in the toilet, and most recently it's the grenading engines that past, present and prospective owners on the forums obsess over unless the car has lots of miles on it to determine the engine's health.

So I can see how you can buy a new ACR and enjoy owning, driving or tracking it, justifying all expenses including depreciation as the cost of ownership of enjoying an expensive toy under full warranty, but I can't see how you can justify it as an investment if you restrict yourself from using it for fear of putting miles on it that would reduce it's value to a future buyer one day, or worse, if you had the additional costs of owning a second Viper that you would feel able to use as you wish.

Any one that wants a new one will be able to buy a brand new one for some time. But down the road won't used Viper buyers be much more likely to buy one in excellent condition that has miles on it at a significantly depreciated value rather than one that the owner barely drove and is expecting a huge price for? And with each year comes other great performance cars, some of which will surely surpass the performance of the ACR. FCA could develop a modern platform that would be shared among different divisions that a Gen VI could more economically be built on, and certainly affect used ACR values.

I can see a continuing small but reasonably healthy market for well priced used Gen V drivers/trackers, but see new car level serious money going elsewhere unless ACR values demonstrate that they are actually appreciating in value. Show me how this works and maybe I'll buy one or two and squirrel them away somewhere.

[NT-ACR]

Im not buying one so i can just blab about it but id drive the snot out of mine if i had one. Its a viper its gonna loose value for the next 10 years even if you let it sit with 5 miles on it like frankbarba 08 vvo acr that has been for sale for a long time for well under sticker. And if your spending $130k to just look at her and hope to actually get your purchase price back(let alone make a profit) youd be much better off investing that $130k in real estate for profits. And if you just like to look at your acr thats cool too but so much more fun to drive.


I have to agree with others about all the "special" edition vipers that have been produced. Its pretty ridiculous when compared to total over all production numbers. Myself when im looking at buying past vipers i was looking for the combos that were just 2 or 3 made vs the 50 or 150 or 200 special editions. And i still think those truly rare 1 of 2 or 3 color combos (esp in gen 4 acrs) will fetch top numbers some day(like 20-30 years from now) and thats a big maybe

How dare you bring logic into this!

[NT-ACR]

Ford GT Heritage carries a nice premium.

If owners don't sell expect to see a few at auctions that will set the bar.

I don't really care one way or the other but it's not crazy to think they could do well.

Lol. Right on cue!

- - - Updated - - -

Ford GT Heritage carries a nice premium.

If owners don't sell expect to see a few at auctions that will set the bar.

I don't really care one way or the other but it's not crazy to think they could do well.

Lol. Right on cue!

[Policy Limits]

Well so far all I've done is stare at it in my garage! What an incredible machine! !!!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

[commandomatt]

There's actually TONS of GTCs. Many people who customized them I would never look at them twice. They are so individualized to their specific need all the way to some very personal dash plate. Sorry I don't see those being the real "winners." Great cars for sure. The FE 2002 Gen 2 cars hold a nice premium over most other gen 2s and the Gen 2 ACR FE probably fetch the most next to the gtsr. Try to find a Gen IV ACR-X and if you do see what the owner is asking? There are plenty of final editions worth a good amount more than the standard fare.

I didn't say all of the 1 of 1s would be sought after. Of course, there are plenty of guys that built their cars to specs that are very personal and that only appeal to a few. This approach is true for some of the Special edition as well. I personally think that the Dealer edition color scheme is just plain bad and would never consider that car, even at a heavily discounted price

As been mentioned, many buyers will pay a premium for colors and equipment they care about and to them, this is more important than having something the factory decided to call 'unique'. Pre determined cookie cutter collectibles have often failed to perform historically

Also, the 1 of 1 program is new to the Viper production, so it's very possible that these builds will outperform the factory designs. In other words, what you mention as 'standard fare' doesn't really apply to the 1 of 1. How these will do down the road is unknown but I believe they will be something buyers will look for.

[LABrit]

Who cares...they're not going up like LE exotics from Porsche or Ferrari so go out and drive them. Will be a good 10 years before they even remotely start to go up in value.

If you really think it's a solid investment you're dreaming: the viper doesn't have the collectors following like the premium brands and the car market is down 20% on the year anyway: only the very best is selling for huge money. At the moment the main group of people that care about getting the LE Vipers are Viper owners, which says it all.

You're a long time dead - if you have the time and ability, get out and drive it instead of speculating.

I'm off for a quick coffee before the fam wake up in my 1 of 1:

IMG_4235.jpg

[Trainerdave]

Special edition, Last edition, Final edition, Dealer edition etc......so many of these have been made over the years that it almost funny. For some reason Dodge really embraced the idea of these 'instant collectibles' when it comes to Vipers, yet interestingly enough there were more of these made than many other great color combos. Essentially making them more common than many of the std production cars made.

I think the 1 of 1's are the hot ones and the special editions are for those that didn't have enough imagination to create their own look

Don't get me wrong. Some (but not all) are good looking combos but not different enough to stand out

I say 1 of 1's rule

I think the 2014 numbered TA's rule but I am a tad bit bias hahah!!
In reality ALL Vipers rule doesn't matter the generation, year etc...... when people see you drive down the road they don't say.... hey that is a numbered/final edition/RT/GTS/ACR/GTS/SRT etc.... they say "THAT IS A VIPER"

IMG_0954.jpg

[Martin]

All I can say is there are better things to worry and think about than what to do with a car. They're meant to be driven, and unless your abilities to drive it go away, may as well have fun with it. Sure, plenty of them will get crashed - that's a Viper tradition. As far as an investment, I gave up on that notion a long time ago. They won't be worth big bucks until LONG after we're all gone or too old to let the car go because we're still in love with it. Just have fun with them - life is way too short to waste the opportunity to enjoy these things.

[Steve-Indy]

Very well said, Martin...and, Happy Holidays to You and Yours !!

[bigmacsmallfries]

Who cares...they're not going up like LE exotics from Porsche or Ferrari so go out and drive them. Will be a good 10 years before they even remotely start to go up in value.

If you really think it's a solid investment you're dreaming: the viper doesn't have the collectors following like the premium brands and the car market is down 20% on the year anyway: only the very best is selling for huge money. At the moment the main group of people that care about getting the LE Vipers are Viper owners, which says it all.

You're a long time dead - if you have the time and ability, get out and drive it instead of speculating.

I'm off for a quick coffee before the fam wake up in my 1 of 1:

IMG_4235.jpg

I generally agree with what LABrit's sentiment with some modification. The Porsche and Ferrari crowd is where the money and the collectors are. No other brand can be considered in the same terms as these two value wise because everything these companies make are on fire and lauded, and so many models have doubled in value over the last few years or so to back that up. With that said, I've noticed the ACR is the first American car, maybe second after the Ford GT where large droves of buyers who are not traditional Viper/Corvette buyers are paying attention and paying up. Seems to me almost half the ACR owners are not previous Viper owners. This car may be the exception to the rule, if there's going to be any American car to buck this trend it's probably going to be the ACR. And I don't necessarily mean values will go up, but values may barely go down either.

Some assumptions here: this probably being the last v10 viper, last use of this chassis, last use of hydraulic steering, and possibly the last manual Viper, in addition to the factory shutting down, plus breaking all these track records has set up a nice final story for the ACR. This IS the American car to have in anyone's collection along with the previous Ford GT (personally I prefer the ACR over the GT but the GT has an incredible following). The special editions are just icing on the cake and may add 10-50% to the overall value of the car down the road but difficult to tell at this point. US economy is very strong going forward. Plenty of money out there to buy and collect.

Lastly, I find it interested how many low mileage Vipers are out there for sale over the years from people that put them in collections over the years. I definitely recommend everyone enjoy them the way they want to. For me, that's driving my collection whenever I can get the chance. With that said, there's lots of people out there with over a dozen cars in the their collection so it doesn't surprise me that a 10 year old car can have 1000km on it or so.

[uberpube]

Again locations matter.
Being able to "just order one" isn't something I would count on, being that it took me 6 months to find a dealer who would actually work on the order. Also Canadians can't buy new cars from US dealers, and then there is the cross border warranty issues.
For fun one weekend, I put my SE up on Kijiji for 2 days at a highly inflated price just to see what would happen. The response was pretty shocking to say the least.

[FLATOUT]

Last year folks, if or when it ever comes back it won't have the same recipe of manually shifted NA power. The Gen V ACR will be the pinnacle for Viper in this format.

The ACR's are selling incredibly well and most are pre sold.

With the platform being axed, the "collectibility" conversation gets a bit more interesting.

[Vprbite]

Last year folks, if or when it ever comes back it won't have the same recipe of manually shifted NA power. The Gen V ACR will be the pinnacle for Viper in this format.

The ACR's are selling incredibly well and most are pre sold.

With the platform being axed, the "collectibility" conversation gets a bit more interesting.

Wouldn't you say there is no shortage of ACRs as well, helping to saturate the market.

[FLATOUT]

Wouldn't you say there is no shortage of ACRs as well, helping to saturate the market.

Nope, I don't think you can ever consider a market "saturated" with under 2,000 examples ever to be produced, it might feel saturated in the short run but it won't be over the next 3-5 years.

Based on the call/order volume we've had at VE and the number of people that REALLY want one but need to wait one or two more years to get it, I'd say the market won't necessarily be like it was in the past.

Also I've seen way more collectors and hyper car owners buying this year than I've ever seen before due to the halt in production with no replacement in the foreseeable future.

Just my opinion based on what I witness everyday working in the Viper business. I could end up being completely wrong (wouldn't be the first time).

[OneofOneViper]

Wouldn't you say there is no shortage of ACRs as well, helping to saturate the market.

I wouldn't say that. Currently (although ordering has been re-opened) I haven't heard of any ACR extreme builds being approved by Dodge which weren't submitted before the shut down. If you want an ACR extreme at this point you either buy used or pre spec built ACR as they show up at dealers. Some dealers still have vipers coming in which they ordered 5-6 months ago right now. Either way, one thing is for certain--ACR-Es are being sold at MSRP and with lots of demand. Who knows what that means for future investment, I think it's crazy to look at a brand new car as an investment if you can't afford the million dollar + cars where only 20 or 50 etc are made. Love the car, do what you want. I won't drive my gen5 ACR-E all that much because it's beautiful and I don't want it to get damaged. I have other cars for that. This one is for me to appreciate and drive on special occasions. I also never plan to sell the car. It will stay in the family.

[Policy Limits]

Feels epic knowing you own the last V10 made with a stick, a numbered low production, exclusive hand made exotic American super car that broke over a dozen race track records. To get the most exclusive special edition made in American colors is just an epic feeling. There isn't a car collector in the world whom would kick one out of his garage. Widest tires on any production car in the world, largest naturally aspirated engine made, exclusively a 3 pedal car, a barely street legal race car. Just wow all around. My window sticker says it was especially made for me as does the dash plaque and custom car cover will match the paint scheme with my name on it. It's so personal and special. I'm obviously biased but then again I could've purchased anything I wanted and the decision wasn't even close in comparison to other choices. Drive and enjoy it as its generally not an investment. But I could definitely see this one turning out that way in the future. I hope I keep mine forever though.

[viperBase1]

Here's a 1998 GTS-R / 1200 miles / $110K
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/5906304176.html

They seem to be holding value pretty well.