Thoughts of a potential DeLorean owner

[Guinney1971]

rotting from underneath isnt a major worry on most De's, but I will admit that after
around 100,000 miles my chassis is in need of attacking with a wire brush and tidying up
(the one on the car that is, I think 'my' bodywork is beyond salvage! :lol: )

As has been said, if you ever need any help with mechanicals, just make sure you've
got the kettle on, and plenty of comestibles, and a few of us will be more then happy
to descend on you and help out

Now, stop pussyfooting about, spend some cash and start living the dream!! 8)

[Leozack]

Haha as subtle as ever Your encouragement is appreciated though
Was just looking around again and suddenly there are auto's on sale! What are people's opinions of autos vs manuals? Sure autos mean no accidental rolling incidents in traffic (sorry dude behind me) and chilled out driving around town etc, but perhaps the edge of fun is gone as you can't slam it up through the gears and pretend you've got a lightning bolt to catch hahaha. But more practically perhaps what would people say on the differences? (perhaps it's make LHD easier too)
Further more, one of these says it's a 2002 build - from the factory spare parts I guess in houston. Would be newer/better yet less authentic - yet cheaper somehow? Any thoughts?
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/cla ... rno/145520
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/cla ... rno/117408
http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/cla ... rno/139551
I also chuckled when I came accross the performance upgrades site again
http://www.delorean.co.uk/delorean_performance.html

[Guinney1971]

I saw that car the other night for sale, it does look like one of the Houston
refurbished cars (I saw those when I went to DMCH in 2003). They were
about $42,000 IIRC back then depending on what upgrades you went for.

At that price, it is a cheap car for the mileage and condition.

Nice number plate too

[Leozack]

Yeah the rebuild one (so is it a new car build from spares or an old car that just had ltos replaced?) is a reasonable price for something that says it has "all upgrades" (what upgrades?) yet despite being a rebuild says "lots of work done by pj grady". Lack of work to do sounds good though. It's auto though - what do people think about auto vs manual? Are either more/less reliable? Is the auto a bit boring compared to the manual for the times you want to take it out for fun?

The netherlands one is really expensive and loks like a collectors car since it's under 2k mileage!

The cheap 14.5k one is a bargain but says it was a car to work on and thus needs work, including the door being dented - that puts me off desite it being a bargain! It's auto again though, up until now I've only seen manuals

[Guinney1971]

basically the Houston car will be one that they have restored, and upgrades probably
refer to things like their remanufactured switches, fuel sender, metal door handles,
stuff like that.

Havent seen the Dutch car, and AFAIK the £14500 is no longer up for sale.

Its not a car I've ever seen in the metal, so personally I dont know anything about it
but if its been to PJ Grady in the UK, its probably had a rebrush or some other bodywork
done, and possibly servicing, or UK legislation items like fog lights - no harm in ringing
PJ Grady for their opinion on the car or asking what work they've done on it.

As for auto v manual, I only bought a manual because I bought a project car and I had
to buy what I could afford at the time. Manuals are more common then autos, but I think
it all comes down to personal preference. Auto's can suffer sometimes with the governer
computer going haywire, but it can be fixed, we have plenty of people in the club with
electronics backgrounds who can fix these. If a clutch goes on a manual car, then it is
a 'big' job to do, and not something you'd want to tackle on your own on your driveway,
but it is do-able and you can get a clutch from somewhere like German and Swedish for
around £100.

Hope this helps 8)

[Leozack]

I've been mulling all this over (haven't forgotten about it don't worry) but more importantly watching the dates pass towards the meetup this weekend. Typically the 2 friends I was hoping would go have dropped out meaning I'd have to drive there myself purely to distract one of you from your cool activities to poke around the car. Right now I'm not sure I can do that or that it'd be fair to bug someone when you've got neat activities planned to be doing each day. So it seems as if I'll have to have a plan B (which sucks cos was looking forward to seeing lots in 1 place, and it seems anyone who owns one lives a good couple hours away rom bristol/bath!) So unless a miracle happens all I can say is enjoy this weekend

[Guinney1971]

hey, get back onto Plan A!!! We'll quite happily spend time with you showing you round
the cars, and if someones got a spare seat I'm sure you'll get a ride in one too. Its what
we're all about

C'mon, get yerself up here, you know you want to

[Leozack]

Not sure you'll get this as you're currently enjoying tram village, but I am planning to possibly drive up tomor if I can convince someone to come along and keep me awake again driving home Sunday is train-day it seems so hopefully I can find a way to meet up with you guys at the MRC and checkout the cars aswell as the trains Or of course I could fail to get hold of any of you and just end up walking around your cars looking like the world's most conspicuous cartheif ;P
-Jazz

[Guinney1971]

hiya, hope you had a good time today and got home ok.

Sorry I didnt get to chat to you personally - busy with looking after a toddler,
but Phill seemed to be doing a good job

Look forward to seeing you cruising in a De of your own soon

[Leozack]

Yup just got back - thanks to those who let me stalk their cars and even get in I'm now going to have to keep my eyes out for D's for sale and then psyche myself up again. I'm sure I'll have more "thoughts of a potential D owner" to add here (otherwise known as pestering questions haha). I can now say I've seen it all - not because I've seen teh "National Fork Truck Exhibition Center" but because I've seen your babyseat in a D

[Guinney1971]

lol, well I've got to transport my lil girl in style, and if your gonna do it in style, then do it in a DeLorean!

If I hear of any cars for sale, I'll let you know, otherwise keep in touch with people like Chris Williams, Chris Parnham
and Dave Howarth (contact details in Club mag) as they are usually first to know when a car becomes available.

Glad you got home safely, bet that was quite a trek up from the South West, so thank you for making the effort to
come all that way for a DeLorean fix

[Leozack]

It was a fix worth having, never got up close n personal with them before Unfortunately this was the only pic I got round to taking since I was so preocupied. Also with my brother filming around the place with an ubercam I figured I wouldn't need to lol. ps you should make a DOC UK facebook group

[Guinney1971]

Leozack Wrote:ps you should make a DOC UK facebook group

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3032

I had to set up a new one tho, as someone decided to hack our original group, pathetic really that
the person who did that has to resort to such underhand tactics to get people to unwittingly go to their site..... :roll:

Glad you felt the trip was worthwhile, and it would be nice to see the video footage that your brother took.

So, when you getting a De then?

[Leozack]

Ah strange - I couldn't find any groups on there it said 0 results but today it gave me 3!
http://www.facebook.com/deloreanclub?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/DeLorean- ... 18?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210312116
More D goodness to fill my spamming newsfeed
As for when I'm getting one - well that all depends on when smoeone decides to sell one doesn't it Preferably one that isn't on the "this is project car" list and instead on the "is uptodate and upgraded" list lol but you cant be too picky when hunting unicorns!
If he gets round to pulling the video together and putting it online I'll be sure to link it I've yet to see any myself haha

[Leozack]

And that's after I convince people spending 18k on a 30y car is a good idea, as opposed to a modern coupe that's actually "sporty" haha or better investments like a house!