NEW PAINT THOUGHTS

[Mike Brunton]

I don't know what it would cost you, except to say that when you are changing the color of a car completely, it is usually pretty expensive, ESPECIALLY on a car like the Viper where you want a top notch job.

If it were me, there are only two men I would trust with this job. The first is Chris Barone, because I've seen his work and it's astounding. The second is Ed Combs, who posts on this board as "Double Venom". I've seen some of his handiwork also and it's simply astounding. I'm not sure if he does work on Vipers, but you could ask him.

I think yellow would look nice... I think I'd personally go with the "Competition Yellow" or "Millennium Yellow" that GM uses on the Vette, just because they're real bright and catchy. I haven't seen the new yellow, though, from Dodge.

 

[Mike Brunton]

Resale is a tough thing to speculate on. I figure the repaint would probably cost you close to $10,000 - but it would be a better-than-factory job that would be stunning.

The car will be worth whatever someone will pay for it. There might be someone out there that just loves the look of the yellow. Maybe someone wants a 2001, but can't swing it, and your '96 would look the same, and be a lot cheaper. In that case, your car could sell for more than other GTS's of the same vintage. On the other hand, someone might want the classic blue/white GTS and wouldn't want your car based on that, and also based on the fact that it's no longer original.

I guess the short answer is that I don't think you would hurt resale really. You might even get a bit more for the car. I DO think, however, that you might need to keep it for sale a bit longer to get a good price, because by painting the car, you're going to be limiting the # of people who would be interested in it.

How's that for a roundabout answer?

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[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">My 2 cents is that the more you drift from stock and the harder you make it to revert, the more difficult the resale and the less you will get for it for relative to your total investment.

Do it because you want it or leave it stock for the $ return. I don't think you can have it both ways.</FONT f>

 

[Steve-Indy]

Two of the SHARPEST Vipers in our Ind/Ky Region are custom jobs that were done by Dean Loucks (616-684-9491) who lives in Niles, Mich. He has a GREAT feel for Vipers and design and color. The two cars that I mentioned were VERY BIG HITS at VOI.6. If you look through the DuPont Registry on boats, you may very well be able to see some of his off-shore boat jobs, custom buses, etc.(of course, you need to know which ones he has done!!). Regardless of where you live or what you finally choose to do, you will benefit from talking with Dean ! Good luck,

Steve

 

[Double Venom]

RT10..
If I may interject, yes we do custom cars including our beloved Vipers. It would be a privilege to do your car. On the other hand, I believe Ron is right.

Do it because you want it yellow, not for resale. It truly is a 50/50 gamble at resale time. If you find the buyer that absolutely loves it and doesn't car that it's been changed your ahead. But, if you find a purist, then he wont care what price has been asked, he simply wont be interested.

When we do a re-paint no one can tell it's been changed, but you can't change the VIN/Paint code.

I don't know where you are located, but we are in central Ohio, just west of Columbus. As far as our qualifications, we have been doing custom work since 1972 and have won numerous awards for our paint including one of Duponts' "Top Gun" awards of '99. If nothing else, call us at 740-852-5280. I'll be glad to walk you through the process and give you any information you would like.
DV

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[Matt M PA]

If would concur with some others above. If you LOVE yellow...by all means paint your car yellow. However, if history is any indication, changing the color will dramatically lower the car's value. From my days restoring older Mopars, it was truly sure that painting a car a different color from stock more often than not hurt teh value of the car.

 

[bad viper]

I changed the colors on my 96 gts to
black with red stripes. Cost about 5000.
If however I would have been located any
where near Ed from Double Venom he would
have had my business. His job may have cost
something more but his work is IMPECCABLE!!!!!!!!!!