57gman

Talk about way off the subject. Like your lights, could you send me a PM on where you bought them. Don't want to high jack her post.

AliceSML79

i hadn't thought about those agreed value insurances. that was my main concern with value is if someone destroyed my dream car would those custom add on's make the car less valuable to the insurance payouts. hope i never have to find out but lots nutty drivers in my town.

Shakeydeal

I agree with what's been said here. Mod it for your enjoyment with no concern of how it affects resale. Then drive the s*&t out of it. It's a toy, not an investment.

Lots of yellow C5s out there. Don't shortchange yourself with an auto, go straight for a manual and you will have a bigger smile on your face.

Shakey

AliceSML79

love the look of your ride.

your right everyone. it would be my car and i should make it suit my wishes of the perfect vette. because in the end i'm the one enjoying it. also with me probably having to buy a 100k+ vette, it be a perfect canident to be made the way i want it. i may end up needing to do some traveling to find one in yellow but would be worth it. found a nice vette specialty dealer in Georgia, but it is a hell of a drive home to enjoy my new vette convertible. not sure how id get there though. maybe a bus or plane and have dealer pick me up.

CactusCat

Take your time Alice. The one you're wanting WILL show up. Since you're wanting a yellow Vette, get the yellow and save a ton of $$$ in having a different colored one repainted. As for your original question, adding an aftermarket radio to a C5 will probably not lose any value. In fact, a good one might slightly increase the value or desirability of the car. Good luck in your quest. I'm just down the road a ways from you in Edmond. I searched for months (including Craigslist ads) before I found the one I liked and wanted. Had to travel 3 hours east of OKC to Stilwell to get mine. The one you want will show up.

S.C. vette

Keep looking for the color you want, it's a losing deal to repaint a C5 unless your a die-hard C5 fan and want to repaint in the same factory color. You can get financed by dealers, they will kill you on interest, credit union is your best deal...

zeevette

Mods don't matter on a 20 year old non-collectible car, and besides, an aftermarket stereo is not IMO a mod.

grampi50

I can't speak for all C5 buyers, but for me, there are some mods I would welcome. Having the skip shift and LCM5 mods already installed would save me money, as I would want to install those myself anyway. Other mods that would be acceptable would be CAI, exhaust, a tune, and things of that nature. Mods that I wouldn't want would be things like blowers, N02, or anything that might indicate the car has been driven hard and put away wet...

cv67

some are so worried about "the next guy" why not just NOT buy a car and take a pic its cheaper.

That grey one is very tastefully done cant see why he wouldnt get his asking $ whatever it was. Just as many buyers for non stock as stock.
Much ado about nothing id say. Why create something you dont like?

Do you worry about what the next guy will think should you get a divorce? ok then.

If these were some ultra rare C1 or 2 fuelie different story. Nah..put a straight axle and blower on that one, too.

grampi50

Even then it's still going to be ridiculously expensive. Paint work these days is insane price wise, which is probably why so many insurance companies total out vehicles that have been involved in an accident, even when they don't actually look to be that badly damaged...

ZAZZ

along with what everyone else said.. tasteful mods wont HURT the value of a car.. i.e. wheels, stereo head unit upgrade, intake, exhaust etc. normal mods someone would do. you wont get your money back out of it really, but it wont decrease the value. some expensive HRE wheels would probably increase the value some. and incase of a total loss, just keep your receipts.

also, definitely try to find the color of car you want. a full color change on a vette, would be in the 6-10$k dollar range.. def not money well spent in my mind.....

I second lightstream for the loan. if you have a credit score above 700 or so they are the way to go. super easy process and the money can be in your account within 48 hours. they actually gave me a better interest rate than my credit union.

for insuring, if you have a garage, go with the national corvette museum. cut my premium in half. I think I pay about $38 a month with agreed upon value.

Velocity_Vette

Reading over your posts a bit I feel like I'm getting some mixed signals.

If you're going to finance a car, which remember C5s are REALLY old cars now, you need to know that a full color change is going to be a lot of money. A very good quality repaint on a C5 - if you do absolutely none of the work yourself - can easily run in the $8,000-$15,000 range for the paint job. A complete color change isn't going to cost $2,000, and if that's what you end up paying then either 1) you really know someone doing a favor or 2) I'd seriously question how the car was painted and with what.

You'll get none of that back in value unless you're starting with bad paint to begin with, and ultimately the color of a vehicle is incredibly subjective to a buyer in terms of value.

Modifications I feel do not "hurt" a car per say - although again they too are subjective - but you'll never mod a car to a point of re-cooping any value put into it and often you'll place your car in near the exact same market value had you kept it stock. The recent posts here in the C5 section have been a bit of a reality check for a lot of owners. This is often why you see a lot of builders "part" out a build. If something can be returned to stock then the mods removed are sold individually, in the hope of obtaining more money. It's also very easy to mod a car out of a buyer market. ex:, I cannot stand chrome in any capacity and it's a gotta-go item, while many would scoff at my black powder coated wheels and be like they gotta-go.

My suggestion is to not jump into ownership too quickly. I looked for a few years before I finally bought my car, which allowed me to save a tremendous amount of cash in the meantime. Remember that unless you have an awesome credit union and/or really good credit financing a 14 to 20 year old car can be risky. Without a good deal from the lender and good credit you could be looking at a high APR; I've never dealt above 2.5% on a car (I just don't buy it if I can't get below that). There will likely be no warranty (unless you buy an extended one), and you'll need to budget potentially for tires ($800-$2,000), maintenance, etc.

~Josh

^ as mentioned previously, the buy-here-pay-here demographic now has full access to these cars. You will see many more threads like this.

Rob 02

If you buy one with the mods you already want then that is the best value. Mods are expensive (wheels, stereo, etc).
Internal engine mods can be a little sketchy. Especially if the engine is making more power than the drive-line can handle and has been driven that way. If the engine was modified it would need to be tuned properly or it could have been running too lean which can cause damage.

Cosmetic mods depend on your personal taste.

Have fun.

~Josh

Sorry man, you're giving bad info.

Engines non-tuned don't run lean, they run rich (fat, and safe) from the factory.

Headers, cam, whatever run fat, thats a fact. Tuners (I've done it myself with several modded and boosted LSx cars using hptuners) lean out the mixture for more power along with timing additions in areas bump power. Since some French fry will comment, I remove timing with boost, then add it back. Forced induction each degree of timing you add is 10rwhp.

Mods without tuning run sloppy but safe, by design from GM. Tuning makes them more crisp.

AliceSML79

thanks everyone. ill defiantly look for a factory yellow. i doubt i do any motor mods ecept a better intake and exhaust perhaps. my mods probably mostly for enjoyment like a stereo system.

STALION

Short answer NO! The car is 2 generations behind so unless a specific buyer is looking for a low mileage unmolested trailer queen, it's anyone's game. With the mods I have with wheels, engine, and body mods I would say the value has increased over a non modded car.

Rob 02

I meant you may not know who tuned it.

~Josh

Gotcha. That's true. I misunderstood your point.

Rob 02

There is more than one school of thought on mods.

There is the purist that prefer every thing bone stock and unmolested.

To me, the stock engine is a bit under powered by today standards. There are a lot of family sedans making that kind of power now. The LS1 is an awesome engine that takes mods well.
The stereo is near obsolete not exactly Hi-Fi.
The interior could use a few more leather pieces.
The stock headlights aren't very bright and don't really project well.

If I seen a car that was modified in a way that addressed these issues I would not hesitate to buy it. To each their own.