I have a decision to make and I'm looking for opinions and input. I have a turbo 99 camaro ss that's a big power street car. It makes 1k at the tire on e85. I've had it for a long time now, 11 years, and I've built the whole car from a roller. I love the car, but as much as I love it I hate it too. It's older, it's loud, it's hot, it's useless for anything other than making me smile or racing. Plus, as anyone with a big power car knows, it's constantly breaking things. A few months ago I got absolutely fed up and bought an 09 ctsv manual with a little work done. It's a super low mile, very nice car. It's very comfortable and drives very nice. I recently had the tune touched up on it and got a dyno number too, it makes 700 wheel. Which isn't bad, but compared to the 1000 pound lighter f body it feels like a slow battleship. So I'm at crossroad now. I can only keep one. Neither car is even remotely close to being a daily, so they're only for fun. But I'm honestly not sure which to keep at this point. I love the camaro, but it's kind of a pile and it's only good at one thing. The cadillac is an excellent car, but it's very pedestrian by comparison and honestly a little boring. I'm looking for any input as to which you ask think I should keep. I have a list of pros and cons for each. But I'm interested in outside opinions. Maybe from someone that's been in a similar situation? Well any input is appreciated. Thanks. I attached pics of each car too

 

I gave up on the idea of having only one toy a LONG time ago. That just won't do for me. So I have three now; the '71 Nova is my "hotrod", the '74 Cutlass is my nice comfortable cruiser that I could drive endlessly to any destination, and the '98 Camaro is purely a show car. None of them are boring to me, but each one has its strengths and weaknesses. And then I have a daily driver too, so none of the toys ever have to be used for that purpose.

If I could only have one toy, it would have to be something that could be pretty good in every category that matters to me. So it would have to be reasonably show worthy, reasonably quick (which I know is a very subjective matter), and reasonably nice/easy to drive (meaning not a pure race car). If I was suddenly dropped into your shoes, I would likely consider selling both cars and look for a 4th gen that's as nice (in terms of condition) as your CTS-V but maybe a little less intense of a build than your Camaro. That would be a nice compromise, IMO.

 

The camaro isnt worth a ton of money so your gonna lose ALOT on what you have in it.
The V is SICK but you can probably sell it and get most if not all of your money back.

I always look at it this way...... if I didnt own said item, would I buy it / build it back or buy something else?

So just pretend you didnt own either on of them, but they were both forsale.... which would you pick?

 

The problem is I would buy both lol. The V is such a good car. It does all the things a good car should do but, it kind of bores me. The camaro however is a terrible car and is only good at one thing but, it excites me. I think for a car that's more of a toy, excitement is what I want. On the street that car could kill you if you don't respect it, and I like that. But I can put my whole family in the V and do car things too. That's why I bought it. The reality is that it's not fully paid for and I don't exactly love paying for a thing that I'm not in love with.

 

Excitement is definitely paramount for a toy; I mean, why else have a car that you don't specifically need for basic transportation? It's only purpose is to bring you joy one way or another, and that's it. If you are bored, then it's not the right candidate. Also, I refuse to owe money on something that I don't *need* so that would make the decision even easier in this case.

Exciting as it is, obviously something about the Camaro wasn't quite doing it for you otherwise you wouldn't have sought out the V in the first place, so I still think something in-between might be the best bet. Although it would be hard to raise the funds necessary if the V isn't paid off, so that makes this option more difficult.

 

What would it take to make the Camaro nicer in a way that would make it feel like less of a one trick car? I mean, ok, 1000 HP monster is probably not going to be a great car at much more than one thing but let's just say you sold the V, and put some money into some comforts and nice appearance things on the Camaro (body work and paint job, maybe some interior upgrades like sound deadening and comfier seats and audio system). Basically, give it a little bit of refinement while keeping the 1000 HP insanity that makes you smile so much.

Just an "out there" idea.

 

what it needs to be nicer is ac lol, but that's not possible with the turbo. It's also on e85, and there are only 9 gas stations in east Tennessee that sell e85. So anytime i take it out there's a real fear of running out of fuel. I don't really think there's any way to make any f body as refined as the cadillac, but that's ok to me. I like hot rods and it's a hot rod, I don't expect that kind of refinement or quality out of it. The paint i actually find a positive, being able to keep a black car that clean is not easy and honestly not for me lol.

 

Both of these are true. I have realistrealistically spent far more time under the Camaro than in it. I just got tired of constantly breaking, and everything that's capable of handle that kind of power is also much more expensive. So that got old too. That's also a mark against the V, everything is more expensive for it. A corsa AXLE BACK, not full exhaust, is almost $2k, I think that's a lot for exhaust. It's also true that I intended to pay the V off with the sale of the Camaro.

 

Selling the 2DR to pay off the 4DR?

You just might live to regret that decision! How much do you think you can get for the 4th Gen car anyway? Always breaking **** on the Camaro sounds to me like there's weak links in the driveline. I know I'll never get back the $$ put into my SS but if someone were to offer me 25K I might be inclined to sell.

 

It's probably only worth $20-25k. You are always going to break things drag racing,even if the component is rated for your power or more. Eventually everything lets go. That's just the nature of performance parts and racing.

 

OK so I preface this by saying I have no idea what exactly lives under that hood and how hard it is to change things around, but how hard would it be to convert it back to running on premium gas to alleviate the fueling concerns?
I wasn't talking about making it as refined as the Caddy - I have an fbody too and yeah there's no way to do that but like you, that's part of what I like about the car. It is a little more raw feeling (though obviously not near as much as yours!) and I like it. Just was thinking to add a couple nicer things to be not so on the bleeding edge constantly. I hear you on the AC though. My AC has been broken for years, so on really hot days I don't drive the car because it is just too uncomfortable. Is the turbo stuff just too big to route with AC still intact? I know some here have working AC and turbo but not all are running 1000 HP either.

 

Personally, Id be hard pressed to sell either but I wouldn’t have bought the caddy unless I paid in full. That would make the decision easy, park it keep it.

You won’t get much if you sold the Camaro, better off parting it out which would be difficult (mentally) considering you built it from the ground up. At least it would be for me. Labor of love and all that ***** .

 

This whole comment is exactly how I feel

 

the radiator is stood up, and the manifolds are down and forward. There's no room for any of ac components. I had considered going to pump gas, but that would mean turning the car down, and who wants to do that lol. But I had also thought about flex fuel too. I've even got everything to add flex to the car actually. The biggest hamper on my car has been tuners. I have been absolutely screwed by two tuners who had my car for a year and 2 months combined. Just for a tune, no mechanic or electric work, just the tune. Then the tuner that I found to be pretty good actually died Jan 1 2023. So I've had no one I trust to even tune the car. I've tried a couple local guys who are complete clowns but think they're all the greatest. I took my V to James Short and he's going to be my guy from now on. So I have a new found want to race and build dumb **** again. Thus my reasoning for thinking about selling the V and keeping the Camaro.

 

I would probably keep the Caddy for the extra comfort. I have often thought about selling my Camaro to get a Caddy. I haven't done it yet because the Caddy costs a lot more, and the aftermarket parts/upgrades are not as available. 700hp at the wheel is insane, even for a heavy car. It sounds like you just got spoiled with the Camaro. As you get older, you probably won't miss the extra power, and will probably learn to appreciate the extra comfort of the Caddy. That's my .02.

 

There's a lot truth in what you said. I was thinking the same things when I bought the V. Realistically thought, 700 wheel in the V feels like my camaro when it only made 430 wheel. It's kind of nuts. My but dyno says that it would probably be mid to lower 7's in the eighth. I'm not exactly young lol and there's also no doubt the V is superior in terms of refinement, I'm just not convinced yet that that's enough.

 

You know, you can retrofit electric A/C now. Just a thought for getting the Camaro more comfortable. I'm sort of in the same boat as you, I have one big power car, and one slower, but more comfortable car. I have no interest in selling either, however. I get something different out of both. Maybe the Caddy just simply isn't for you, you know? Keep the Camaro, refine it. Sell the Caddy and think a lot about what you'd really want to replace it with. Also, getting older doesn't necessarily mean less of an interest in power. I'm turning 50 this year and I can tell you, there's a 2000+ HP street car in my future

 

I had looked into that at one point. But I felt like the require a lot of power (amps) ? I know it's a little ironic to say in a fuel injected car with electric pumps and a stand alone, but I try to keep as simple as I can lol. I wonder how much complexity those ac kits add?

 

If it's going to be a long term keep, the Camaro is the winner. A perspective not many think of is long term repair. Camaro is super simple, huge aftermarket support. The V is way more complicated and tons of stuff to break that you may/not be able to fix at some point. The longer I am in the car hobby, sustainability becomes a thing.

 

I started looking at it for my car ( I also have a no A/C turbo kit ) and I think it might be easier to put electric power steering on it and put a regular compressor on the driver's side, or mount the alternator over there. Where is your alternator? I don't see it. You might possibly be able to fit one of ICT Billet's top mount A/C brackets on yours. Hard to tell from your pic.