HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION - HAND REBUILT VIPERS

[Torquemonster]

Does anyone think there would be a market for re-manufactured Vipers - stripped to bare metal, tanked, re-bushed, rubbered and bearing'd, every known defect corrected and improved, aircraft quality seam welded, repainted completely in any color, interior options such as custom leather, factory looking upholstered roll cage, drivetrain upgraded and blueprinted, suspension tailored to customers preference and fully adjustable, customer optioned power packages from a stock blueprinted 500hp to over 1000hp twin turbo etc.

I'm talking a hand built car, replacing all factory inferior parts with top shelf quality parts where necessary, blueprinting everything mechanical that isn't replaced with an upgrade, worker signature on key components signifying who rebuilt the chassis/suspension, body, interior and engine. Serial numbered and sold with a certificate under a branded name with a guarantee of workmanship. Body could be carbon fibre, engine dry sumped etc.

Each car would take 100's of man hours, the cost would have to accordingly reflect the supercar quality. It would look like the Viper but be superior as only a hand built upgdraded car by experts could be. It could compete with any of the other exotics and be available with 4 Valve heads and more power than the Veyron.

The question is hypothetical, the possibility is real. How many would spend the bucks to have a custom perfected Viper built to their specs - compared to a factory car that gets repainted and add ons.

 

[Cudaman]

Torquemonster Motors....it has kind of a nice ring. Are you giving up your day job?

Cudaman

 

[Sam 01 RT10]

Would you take a kidney or other body parts as payment?

 

[BIGBADCJ]

i dont see how u could make money in it

 

[monnieh]

If I had 10 million I would do it in a heartbeat. But I don't.

 

[C O D Y]

Right now I feel the cars are to a little to new. However, in time there will be a marekt for it and someone will step up as the number one viper restorer.

 

[Paolo Castellano]

Barry, all you have to do is build the first 4-valve head, AWD, Twin Turbo Super-Viper and I will test it for you! My fee for testing will only cost you................. That car! Hey it's a great deal for you AND me! Just make sure it is blue with white stripes!

Seriously though, if the price is reasonable, like they said in Wayne's World: "Build it and they will COME"

 

[Heysie]

Like Monnieh said, if I had the money...

 

[ViperJoe]

Hypothetical...... what would be you're "endless" supply of CHEAP snakes to keep the price set?

 

[Torquemonster]

Torquemonster Motors....it has kind of a nice ring. Are you giving up your day job?

Cudaman

lets just say that if I ever put "Torquemonster" on a set of V10 valve covers - you know it'll be bad ***. But it'd also be a JV with someone you'd all know and respect combined with a "best of the best" network.

Why invent the wheel when there are some top people that can add so much? I'm a networker not an ego maniac.

 

[Torquemonster]

Would you take a kidney or other body parts as payment?

sorry - i still have my body parts intact - at least they were last time I took a shower

 

[Torquemonster]

i dont see how u could make money in it

Correct - that's the hardest part. It has to be part of a much bigger picture. A crown jewel that is leveraged off.... not necessarily the only crown jewel in the collection, but the others may not be hand-built cars

The Viper community is too small to support someone like me who can't turn a wrench. I am not an investment until there is economy of scale. But if the total picture is big enough...

 

[Torquemonster]

Right now I feel the cars are to a little to new. However, in time there will be a marekt for it and someone will step up as the number one viper restorer.

Cody - I agree that the market will likely expand in the future - however think more along the lines of the German Brabus - not restored. What I'm talking about is not a restored car but one that is re-engineered to be something far greater than the factory produced.

The restored route is a labor of love and not what I have in mind - although that market could be a spin-off or have a spin off. People paid a HUGE premium to buy a top spec Brabus 7.3 litre V12 when they could buy a factory Merc - different animals, different market.

It'd have to impress the international media.... like the Zonda has.

 

[Torquemonster]

Barry, all you have to do is build the first 4-valve head, AWD, Twin Turbo Super-Viper and I will test it for you! My fee for testing will only cost you................. That car! Hey it's a great deal for you AND me! Just make sure it is blue with white stripes!

Seriously though, if the price is reasonable, like they said in Wayne's World: "Build it and they will COME"

it couldn't be called reliable until it passed the Paolo test!!

Not sure about the AWD - that'd be awesome but another step up in development cost. The AWD platforms are all available but the IP would be expensive to procure so that'd still be a million in R & D to build an AWD prototype - not sure there's a market for that yet. For 1000hp it is the way to go however - in the meantime you boys will just have to keep feathering it until top of 3rd gear

 

[Torquemonster]

Hypothetical...... what would be you're "endless" supply of CHEAP snakes to keep the price set?

Customers cars

If done right - you never know - we might work a deal with DC and pull off a supply of new.... there are precedents for a value added re-engineered brand named super model sold via privateer tuning house and supported by the factory - both informal support and full sales support at approved factory dealerships. It's a win win as it makes their base models more desireable as a "bargain" way to get something close to the king pin.

This is all hypothetical right - anything is possible