Looking to purchase a GT350R. Looking to learn as much as possible.

[thill444]

I would start with test driving a used one. I am not sure what you drive now, but I would cross shop with a Camaro Zl1/LZE, C7 Corvette, maybe an M2 Compeitition,etc.

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[Rusherific]

In 20 years everything will be electric or hydrogen and fossil fuel cars will be outlawed or gas will be $35 / gallon. . . . you will have to pay to get rid of your R.
BUY ONE NOW AND DRIVE THE CRAP OUT OF IT . . . . ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN.

The fact that this may be one of the last great pure NA motors is exactly why it has a chance at becoming a classic. Not saying it will, but you certainly know many who pay top dollar for cars currently often barely drive them if at all, and surely in the future there will be some "show and display" type registration for a price so that old guys can show off their stuff. Nevermind possible off-road/track exemptions, etc. Realistically of course that market will be for a few very already mothballed R's with no miles on them. But regardless it will be a long, loooong time before society ever reaches a place where people will not be allowed under any circumstance to play with their gas powered toys, there's too many rich people with influence to not carve out some kind of low-numbers loopholes.

 

[PP0001]

Oh I'm not buying a yellow one lol.

But there are other colors that are actually nice that are still low in total numbers.

The GT350 is a special car. The R is even more special. I don't even own one or driven one yet and I can see that. And in 30 years, it's going to be a classic. Mark my words.

If your looking to buy a rare GT350 I suggest that you try to locate a 2018 Kona Blue Base R model as the FRAP only produced 2 of these cool cars over the 4 years that the 135 Base R models were available.

The next two rarest of the 135 Base R's built was the 2017 Grabber Blue (3) and the 2018 Lead Foot Gray (3) then followed by Triple Yellow (4) with those cars being built in 2016/2017.

 

[shogun32]

Is 'rare' color really a thing? Watching Meecum etc. even one-off colors hardly seemed to made an impression on the price vs their similarly equipped peers.

 

[nmp1]

The fact that this may be one of the last great pure NA motors is exactly why it has a chance at becoming a classic. Not saying it will, but you certainly know many who pay top dollar for cars currently often barely drive them if at all, and surely in the future there will be some "show and display" type registration for a price so that old guys can show off their stuff. Nevermind possible off-road/track exemptions, etc. Realistically of course that market will be for a few very already mothballed R's with no miles on them. But regardless it will be a long, loooong time before society ever reaches a place where people will not be allowed under any circumstance to play with their gas powered toys, there's too many rich people with influence to not carve out some kind of low-numbers loopholes.

With how fast things are changing, the possibility exists for the GT350 to have a lot of lasts.

 

[nmp1]

Is 'rare' color really a thing? Watching Meecum etc. even one-off colors hardly seemed to made an impression on the price vs their similarly equipped peers.

everyone seems to value things different. rare vs best or first vs last.

 

[Rusherific]

I'm actually in your camp in that I think these cars are going to become "classics" someday for a number of reasons. But "being a classic" can mean a lot of things. People generally agreeing it was a great car doesn't mean its value will even outpace inflation. A 30 year old+ car maintaining even half its value is already a huge win, let alone sell for around its MSRP, let alone outpace inflation. Look at the E39 M5, in my mind pretty similar in terms of specialness, a fantastic engine, the last great hand built M car, etc etc. You can have a pretty nice one that probably wont blow up on you in the first year at least for a whopping....20-30k. Some for a lot more, but now you're dealing with much pickier buyers, and you're still not even talking MSRP. Will they go up higher in the future? Have some sold for 150k? Sure, but now you're talking about museum queens. Maybe the GNX is another good example. The all-out version of an already limited edition based on a standard american car. I love the things, possibly my favorite domestic car ever made. But they're a shitbox G platform Regal at the end of the day, low numbers or not. Just like my R is a spring break rental car with a dream at the end of the day. Yes 80k-100k for a 3k mile GNX sounds like a lot of money, but those things weren't cheap new either. ~20k return on 30 years of going to cars and coffee twice a year to me is not a good deal, and you can forget about even breaking even if you drove it any more than that. Are you sensing pattern here? Classic car values go up more or less relative to how many like-new examples are left, not because they magically gain value with age. People know these are great cars already, and that production is ending. Why wouldn't an R go for 150k right now then? Because there's a lot of basically-new ones left to choose from. If your car is not one of the very, very best available then it's irrelevant. Just because one example of a car goes for 200k at Barrett Jackson doesn't mean all of them are worth that.

All of this is to say that even if you think the R's will be classics someday, i don't think being worried already about "numbers matching" before you've even bought one because you might have to replace a bad engine is a healthy way to look at dropping 70k on a modern-technology track-focused car that is already being outdone in terms of performance, and has a lot of electronic wizardry that future buyers will be very suspicious of. Modern cars aren't restorable the way a 1964 mustang is. You rebuild a motor they still sell in crates, maybe CNC some parts, you're done. There's nothing to it. If I'm a buyer in 2060, good luck finding a spare Voodoo and magneride controller, or a Ford Sync 3 "guy" for when the touchscreen wigs out. And the modern low volume cars that do explode in value, neither you nor I can afford the kind of babying and maintenance that high tech collector cars like limited edition Ferraris and Porsches get in order to hold their value.

If there's anything "investment" about our cars to me it's that I want to take good care of it and pass it along someday to my kids or whoever, and maybe at least not lose my shirt if I ever have to sell, but that's about it.

If you're even thinking about ever driving it at all, let alone tracking it once you can forget about ever making money on the car no matter what the best ones are worth someday. So yes you can keep it in temperature controlled storage underground somewhere rolling the dice that you might in 30 years maybe double the value on it, but I wouldn't make that a reason to own one, certainly not if you have any interest in driving it.

I got an extended warranty myself, which at around 3-4k is cheap insurance. Which if you're worried about the engine I would recommend. But like others have said, besides the improvements they've made if you still get a bad motor it's most likely it will show itself early and you'll get that out of the way. I'd be much more worried about the gadgets like magneride and taking care of the CF wheels etc long term.

 

[Rusherific]

Is 'rare' color really a thing? Watching Meecum etc. even one-off colors hardly seemed to made an impression on the price vs their similarly equipped peers.

Yeah I think it's a common mistake that hopeful car sellers make to confuse rare options with desirable lol. "This is the ONLY green 1996 Ford Taurus with a factory pink interior and no A/C!!!"

Kona Blue is a nice color but someone has to want it real bad for it to be worth anything over the 37 other blue's 350's have been painted in so far.

That said I am sad lead foot grey wasn't an option for me :(

 

[PP0001]

Is 'rare' color really a thing? Watching Meecum etc. even one-off colors hardly seemed to made an impression on the price vs their similarly equipped peers.

Of the 37 R models that Ford built for the 2015 MY only 1 R model came in Race Red and if that car ever came up for auction and based on that car being the only 2015 Race Red R built I would suggest that it would do very well being a 1 of 1 2015 R model all subject to mileage, condition and provenance.

Based on wanting to get down to a couple of cars I took one of my cars to Mecum in Indy last week and thought that my 1 of 1 color combination 2015 GT350 did okay especially compared to other 2015's presently for sale in the market place whereby those same cars had numerous 2015 GT350's built in the same color combination and are not getting as good money.

Despite what you might think rare color combinations on high performance cars do bring more money in most circumstances.

 

[Rusherific]

Of the 37 R models that Ford built for the 2015 MY only 1 R model came in Race Red and if that car ever came up for auction and based on that car being the only 2015 Race Red R built I would suggest that it would do very well being a 1 of 1 2015 R model all subject to mileage, condition and provenance.

Based on wanting to get down to a couple of cars I took one of my cars to Mecum in Indy last week and thought that my 1 of 1 color combination 2015 GT350 did okay especially compared to other 2015's presently for sale in the market place whereby those same cars had numerous 2015 GT350's built in the same color combination and are not getting as good money.

Despite what you might think rare color combinations on high performance cars do bring more money in most circumstances.

I don't disagree that color is a factor, but it would be odd to me to specifically look for a newer car in a certain color for the express purpose of it being more valuable someday, possibly, regardless of my own preference, never minding the tedium of trying to find that 1 of 1 car unsolicited and hope that it can be had for a profitable price to begin with. I don't know what difference in price you're talking about from your recent experience but all that trouble certainly wouldn't be worth just a few grand to me. If you did better than that, well then congratulations! I'm glad you did well.

 

[thill444]

Engine reliability will be the big caveat. If you look at Porsche and the IMS issue, it really devalued the car and hurt resale. Too early to tell.

 

[PP0001]

I don't disagree that color is a factor, but it would be odd to me to specifically look for a newer car in a certain color for the express purpose of it being more valuable someday, possibly, regardless of my own preference, never minding the tedium of trying to find that 1 of 1 car unsolicited and hope that it can be had for a profitable price to begin with. I don't know what difference in price you're talking about from your recent experience but all that trouble certainly wouldn't be worth just a few grand to me. If you did better than that, well then congratulations! I'm glad you did well.

My motto is buy what you like first and foremost and secondly if your car ends up being a rare color combination then that is a huge bonus.

In the case of my car back in June 2015 I have always liked Black or Red cars therefore went with a Shadow Black with Blue OTT stripes Track Pack car as I really like that color combination and like it so much that I ordered one of the last Base R models for 2018 in that same color combination and it ended up being a 1 of 1 color combination for the 21 Base R models built that year therefore that worked out real well for that car.

With respect to my 2015 there was no trouble at all and really enjoyed the experience of ordering the car the way that I wanted with the selling price being a bonus.

As mentioned find a car in your color combination that you really like and if it is rare then that is just icing on the cake!

Good luck!!

 

[JR369]

Hit up @ltcolton to see if he's ready to sell the last production base R ever built.

 

[PP0001]

Hit up @ltcolton to see if he's ready to sell the last production base R ever built.

My understanding is that a different individual has the very last 2018 Base R built.

What is his chassis number and what is his build date?

 

[stangman638]

As far as driveways or even parking lots for that matter, need to go over slow at 45 degree angle and you should be good.

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