Spoke to Doug Levin how I wanted an ACR, told me about #229 that he did preventative maintenance on it (complete fluid changes, new radiator, new clutch) for a dealer and if I wanted something a little rare and unique I should consider it (after the GTS-R anyway). With his reputation and all the maintenance that was performed I was thinking 'sweet!'.
Went down to Miami and had him throw it on a lift again for a pre-buy inspection, told him how I read the car had a hot-rodded engine and tranny, big brake kit, and whatnot. Car was completely stock, don't the rear spindle knuckles get the ears hacked off them to install a big brake kit? Didn't see any sign that anything was changed, stock hoses, no wiring cut, stock exhaust and brakes, and nothing was missing, no signs a rear or front spoiler were attached to the body.
Also told him about I read the car had front end damage and was repainted. The frame was fine, no missing or bent anything, the inside of the front facia even had '02acr' written in grease pencil on the inside. The front facia had scratches where it was scraped on a parking space concrete tire stop and a couple rock chips, so paint was not new. Asked him about the hood switch missing, he said the switches go bad giving false alarms a lot and could have been removed because of this.
As far as being dirty, the front suspension was dirty, not so much the rear. I thought this made sense, people who can afford a new viper pay someone to do maintenance on them and only seems to care about the interior and exterior, your not going to pay someone to remove the tires and clean your brake calipers. engine was a little dusty looking, but generally clean, interior needed a quick vacuum, drivers floormat needed a shampooing.
Doug also pointed out the seat bladder pumps were gone, tires were original, and the a/c compressor hoses required o-rings, he serviced it up when he worked on the car but you could see the refrigerant dye leaking out, once again 'most cars leak there' according to Doug. the parking brake lever boot needed a wire tie, nothing major. looked like a typical 15 year old car to me.
Worked to my advantage i guess, Wife used that stuff and bought the car for me and talked the dealer down a little, I didn't want to spend that much on a car but she knew I liked it. AAAANYWAY, I was thinking of getting her a matching car (talk about total awesomeness, although she also likes the newer green color), Doug Levin said that the cars are hard to find for sale, thought i'd try here. The Wife said "you might as well get it, your just gonna die and give everything to the kids".
Drove the car home, ran superb, Doug's new clutch was great. Plenty of power, tracked straight, no squeaks or rattles. A few other cars wanted to race me on the freeway. All in all, a pretty memorial day. The car could have been smashed up and rebuilt, or hot rodded out, raced, and then returned to stock, you never will know for sure, it's kind of what Doug said too. He also said sometimes things get blown out of proportion, or people don't know what they are talking about on forums, and poeple say they are going to do this or that to a car and then their plans fall through.
I liked it, the Doug recommended it, and the Wife bought it. I think the car turned out ok, it was a good risk.
If another one does come up for sale, be sure to post it!