Completely stock vs Mods

[ironreaper23]

Trying to get an idea on the direction I should go with my 03 cobra convertible. I picked it up as completely stock with ~70k miles. I've been looking through the engine bay and can't find any signs it was ever touched.

How desirable is a completely stock cobra vs one with some of the basic mods (exhaust, pulley, tune)?

Thanks for the input!

 

[P49Y-CY]

imo stock is only desirable if you want to sell it. it isn't desirable if you want to drive it.

 

[va boy]

imo stock is only desirable if you want to sell it. it isn't desirable if you want to drive it.

I'm with this guy^^^^^

 

[cj428mach]

The car has 70k on it, so its not like its a low mileage bone stock cream puff. I'd say light mods are probably a plus if I was a buyer. My car had a pulley, ported blower and cai but nothing else. Everything bone stock down to the original tires.

I didn't want to spend $700 on a catback, $250 on a mid pipe, $150 on a shifter, $400 tuner, so I took all that stuff off my old car. There is a lot of little stuff/mods that adds up to a lot of money. Now don't think you're going to make money off of mods but to the right buyer they can increase the value over stock ever so slightly.

 

[05satinGT]

I could never leave my Cobra stock.

 

[getTwisted]

My Cobra is bone stock minus the exhaust. To be honest I could care less about modding it. It's still fun to drive for me and it sounds good with the stingers and X-pipe. Regardless of not wanting to mod it, I have a baby on the way and a new house and mods are not in the budget anyway. So its going to stay stock forever.

A lot of people enjoy modding their Cobra's and for good reason. I like having an unmolested Cobra myself, its what I enjoy about it. That puts me in the 1 percentile category, but like I said, that's how I get my enjoyment out of the car.

There is a ton of ways to have fun with a Terminator and to each their own.

 

[4601S/C]

I bought my Cobra pretty much stock. It's still pretty much stock. I enjoy it too. I do plan to mod it more significantly eventually, but it's nothing I'm in a rush for. 390 bhp is no small number. The suspension is competent enough for my level of experience & what I use it for. There are several little things I want to focus on right now. The car is plenty fun for me how it is, but I know it could be better.

Maybe as I get closer to the limits of the car I will want more, but for now I quite content. As far as resale goes; Personally if i had to buy 10 more Cobras, it would be 10 more stock Cobras. Even if they were destined to be modded. I want my cars built my way & exactly the way I want them. It's more fun to mold blank block of clay than one someone else has already worked on;-).

 

[canadianbullitt]

Mod it. Not like a 70k stock Terminator will ever demand a premium price.

 

[Woody6799]

Mine was supposed to be stock... then svtp happened...

 

[CobraBob]

imo stock is only desirable if you want to sell it. it isn't desirable if you want to drive it.

^^^ Definitely THIS! ^^^

 

[Jibber]

IMO stock is good.
However, If you know the seller of a modded car and his driving behaivors, then that would be fine too if you are cool with all that.
I bought my car slightly modded (2.3 Whipple with supporting mods and nothing else) and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Lastly, what's your definition of a MOD?
Is changing your Diff cover from Stock to the FRPP cover a mod?
Is adding FLSFC a mod? Or are these things considered an "improvement" over what some would say should have come from the factory in the first place?

 

[ctgreddy]

Mine was supposed to be stock... then svtp happened...

LOL.

OP, like everyone said you have a sort of high mileage terminator so it's not gonna be super desirable. and only some people like bone stock cars. I'm like most when I say i'd rather buy a car with a lot of the intro mods done, like I didn't want to dump 1000 bucks on a heat exchanger, head cooling mod, and idlers knowing they wont gain much of anything but are a very good mod. So I found one with all that plus usual bolt ons and snatched it up.

 

[getTwisted]

Mine was supposed to be stock... then svtp happened...

:lol:

 

[Montana]

Trying to get an idea on the direction I should go with my 03 cobra convertible. I picked it up as completely stock with ~70k miles at a ridiculously low price. I've been looking through the engine bay and can't find any signs it was ever touched.

How desirable is a completely stock cobra vs one with some of the basic mods (exhaust, pulley, tune)?

Thanks for the input!

I am under the same dilemma. I bought my Cobra a couple months back. It is untouched stock....but only has 9,750 miles on it. If it had the same miles as yours, I would already have been beating up my credit card.

 

[cj428mach]

I am under the same dilemma. I bought my Cobra a couple months back. It is untouched stock....but only has 9,750 miles on it. If it had the same miles as yours, I would already have been beating up my credit card.

I picked mine up in November with less miles on it and I already added the twin screw, so get the credit card out and have fun.:beer:

Seriously though I just put every original part that came off of it on the shelf. Buy spares of consumables, and mod carefully. I managed to add a BAP with out cutting/splicing or even touching the insulation on one wire. A terminator with a twin screw is amazing, you might not find the need to own a GT500 after it, lol.

 

[Zemedici]

i picked mine up in February with 69.5k, with wheels and catback.

Since I've added.......a midpipe, short shifter, and HIDs That's it, aside from wear items. I want to get the outside near perfect before I mod the inside. I've been touching up the paint where it needs it, as well as detailing it, and getting the interior pristine again. :beer:

Its your car, do whatever YOU like to it.

 

[Montana]

I picked mine up in November with less miles on it and I already added the twin screw, so get the credit card out and have fun.

A terminator with a twin screw is amazing, you might not find the need to own a GT500 after it, lol.

That sounds like a clean build. I had started making inquires about mods, then the wife started looking at new houses. Which we could use a larger place for sure....mods are on standby for now. It would be very hard to get read of the '14 GT500. It's such a great car all around. But I have never gotten to even ride in a modded terminator. :nonono:

 

[ajt9229]

I am under the same dilemma. I bought my Cobra a couple months back. It is untouched stock....but only has 9,750 miles on it. If it had the same miles as yours, I would already have been beating up my credit card.

I bought mine last year with 12.4K miles I drive it like you only live once and you can see in my sig the miles and mods I've put on it. Don't be scrrd. By the time these cars start going up in value we'll be to old to care.:rockon:

 

[ironreaper23]

I bought mine last year with 12.4K miles I drive it like you only live once and you can see in my sig the miles and mods I've put on it. Don't be scrrd. By the time these cars start going up in value we'll be to old to care.

Thanks for all the input! All great points, I'm going to do some mods. It comes down to the miles that are on, if it was under 15k maybe consider it completely stock as a collector, but it is not. The exterior is in great shape and interior is practically brand new. No accidents and just driven by an old guy before I purchased it. Since it was a larger dealer, they even gave a 2 year powertrain warranty (which I really couldn't believe, but they were a Toyota dealer).

Now the goal is to see if I can get it to keep up with my 11 GT with Roush TVS and Tremec Magnum.