Tell me if this makes any sense. We go out and buy a nice C5 with low miles for 20K or so, maybe more. Then we commence to spend obscene amounts of cabbage adding every possible mod you can imagine to look different, go faster, sound better, better tune system and on and on. So at this point you have upwards of 40K into it. You drive it for a while and turn around and sell it for around what you bought it for. Why do we do this?????? You could just drive it around stock and enjoy it for what it is, and in turn sell it for close to what you paid. I believe it is a disease or addiction or something as a sane financial person like myself does not do this!

 

Or you can be on th back end of that deal, the PO of my car is the guy that put all the $$$$ and mods into it and I was able to buy it for $17K.....good for me 👌👍

 

You only live once?

 

I bought a nice one , modded it the way I want and will drive it till I die !!!! Next want a ZR 1 !!!!!

 

Switch to buying very well maintained 100k+ base coupes and modding those out. It's a lot cheaper an regular maintenance turns into an excuse for new performance parts!

 

Bought mine new. Going on 20 years, 47000 miles. No plans to ever get rid of it. Worth every penny I paid. Getting my money's worth. Still worth some pennies.

 

Nature of the beast I guess, why stayed in a nice hotel when you can buy a cheap tent and camp ? Guess because I can afford the hotel now than when I was a young pup !!!

It come down of your preference but you also have a point my friend.

 

The only way you can look at it is the delta between what you bought and what you sold for is what you paid for the experience of owning the car, good, bad or indifferent.

A beach getaway done right is easily a couple of grand. That's money you'll never see again. If you think about it like that, it makes things a bit easier...maybe?

Quick personal story. I had wanted an 89-95 Toyota Xtracab 4wd pickup incredibly bad in HS but at the time they were just too far out of my budget for a decent one (circa 2001) so I never got one. Once I got my first apartment after I had been out of college a few years I realized I had some spare cash and no parking limitations (living at home my Mom wouldn't let me get a second car because we had no place for it in our driveway). I tracked one down for $3,300 and promptly dumped $2,000 into big knobby tires, some replacement body panels and a plate steel bumper. I ended up developing broken timing chain guides, which is a silly expensive repair on those trucks if you don't do the work yourself and it failed MA inspection for suspension work. I sold it for $3,300.

The $2,000 for the year or so I owned it was WELL worth checking it off the bucket list. To me, it was like having a fling with the girl you had a huge crush on in HS. You know it's not a long term thing, but you always wanted to. I look back fondly on that truck and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Just my $0.02.

 

This guy thinks like me!!!

 

I don't plan to sell mine. I think that with very rare exception future resale value is a poor way to buy ones cars. Again with a very few exceptions, very few, a car is like a loaf of bread. You buy it, put stuff on it, consume and enjoy it and when it's gone you replace it. An automobile is a consumable, not an asset or investment in almost every case.

And these cars are relatively cheap fun. I have a good friend who loves vipers. He wanted a custom set of headers, went to fat alberts down in phoenix to have a set fabricated and spent 18k on freaking headers. 4K more than I spent on my entire corvette. And it brings him a lot of enjoyment just like my C5 brings me. He love it and can afford it so in his case I consider that money well spent.

One of my track buddies has a $250k Porsche. He spent double what I did for my car on a brake set up. Again, he can afford it. I'm happy to see him enjoying his car. In his case, money well spent.

It's all relative.

 

To answer your question simply, nothing.

 

My 1982 Collector Edition, in my opinion, was perfect when I bought it, well thought out paint scheme, beautiful 5-color leather interior, loud enough exhaust. I did not do a single mod to it.

The C5, however, in my opinion, is the perfect blank canvas upon which to "tatoo" our own individual likes and preferences.

I dropped over $10.000.00 JUST THIS WEEK on the Pewter C5, some of the stuff is not installed yet, but when done, she will look exactly what I want "MY C5" to look like!

I LOVE this C5 Corvette, it is such a great road trip automobile, I plan on keeping it forever and leaving it to my Daughter who is a physician. I think it is a good "Doctor-looking" car!

When the rest of the stuff is installed, I will post pics with details.

P.S. Spending thousands on mods is the nature of the beast! Mod On!

 

Honestly, most of us will decide if this mod will suit our personal need for a performance sports car to perform to higher expectations. There is nothing wrong if each one of us to do decide to make these modifications to our Corvettes.

 

...or you inherit yours from your late uncle after he installed ~30k in mods...

 

 

People modify their cars for a variety of reasons - they want their car to reflect more of themselves (personality), they feel they can improve on a factory design, or they simply do not want their car to look the same as any other C5 out there, just to name a few. It's not really a disease or addiction - it's just one of the many facets of being a car enthusiast.

I would say many, if not most, owners mod their cars knowing full well that their ROI is not going to be in their favor when it is all said and done. But if it gives them pleasure and they feel the expense is worth it, what harm does it do. Only their financial situation is the determining factor.

If I chose to keep my car stock and in mint condition and drove it for a number of years, I certainly wouldn't expect to be able to sell it for close to what I paid for it. Cars, with very few exceptions, depreciate. It's what cars do. If you can keep yours stock and sell it for close to what you paid for it (assuming you didn't get a killer deal in the first place), then congrats.

Bottom line is this - to those that feel keeping their car stock is the only way to go. And to those that love to spend the money and mod the heck out of them. There really is no wrong path to take as long as the owner is the one that is happy.

 

I bought mine to drive and prefer to keep it stock. It costs enough without doing any mods. It's been 5 years and I can get about 2 to 3K less than I paid for it. Not a bad deal.

 

Ask yourself if your buying the car as an investment or to actually enjoy it . Cars are about the worst investment you can make . They are pretty much gaurenteed to lose money everyday . We are not on earth for a very long time so if you have the means get what you want and have some fun with it while you can

 

Because a lot of us Corvette people aren't the brightest bulbs in the box!

 

No answer needed.
Sir, you are not a hot-rodder.