1,800 miles, no reserve, $71,000: the best Gen 2 RT/10 result on BaT this fall

Eighteen hundred miles on a 2000 Viper RT/10 is almost unheard of. This one stayed with its original owner until this year, and it came to us the way a car like that should: Viper Red over Cognac Connolly leather, 8.0-liter V10, six-speed manual, both the hardtop and the soft top, the tonneau, the window sticker, the owner’s manual and the service records.

It is the last year of the second-generation RT/10, which means no ABS, no traction control, side-exit exhaust and a clamshell hood. The purists want exactly that, and they want it unmolested. This one was.

Why we went no reserve

Vipers of this era have been moving at a steady clip on Bring a Trailer, mostly in the $40,000 to $60,000 range for driver-mileage cars. A 1,800-mile example is the top of that market, and with a car at the top of its market there is nothing a reserve protects you from. The bidders who want the best one will find it and fight for it. No reserve just tells them the fight is real.

We put Michelin Pilot Sports on it, shot it properly, and wrote the listing around the two things that mattered: the mileage and the paper trail.

The auction

Seven days, 3,900 views, 599 watchers, 15 comments and 17 bids. It closed on Thursday, October 8 at $71,000.

What the number means

$71,000 is the strongest result for a first- or second-generation Viper on Bring a Trailer in the past month. The closest car was a 3,600-mile 1998 GTS coupe, bid to $70,000 three days earlier and not sold. An original-owner 2000 GTS brought $61,500 in September; a 31,000-mile 2000 GTS brought $56,500. RT/10 roadsters with real miles on them have been landing between $39,000 and $44,000.

The spread between a 30,000-mile car and a 1,800-mile car on this model is about $30,000. That is what the first owner’s restraint was worth, and the no-reserve format is what let the market pay it.

If you own one

The cars that bring top money on Bring a Trailer share three things: low miles, complete paperwork, and a listing that answers questions before they’re asked. If you have a Viper or anything else you’ve been thinking about selling, we’ll tell you where it fits in the market and what we think it will bring. We’re a Bring a Trailer Local Partner and we handle everything from photography to the last comment.