True "cost" of a Delorean DMC-12

[Darren C]

I was wondering about the “true” cost of a Delorean and whether the current market value reflected that. After a little investigation I found some interesting data that I thought I should share.

In January 1981 the £ (GBP) was very strong to the $ (USD) at an exchange rate of 2.4USD to the GBP.
Great time for JZD to start production in the UK and sell in the US

The car we are told sold for $25,000 USD when new. This would have been a price set early on and pre-production or at least just as the first cars were being assembled we have to assume.
$25,000 USD equated at the beginning of 1981 as £10,416 GBP

This is at a time when the average UK house was £24000.
So a Delorean cost 43% of the average UK house.

Some of the first cars sold for $10,000 USD above the $25K, making them a staggering £14,582 GBP

Now….if you look at a chart for 1981 USD to GBP you will see in December 1981 the exchange rate had dropped from 2.4 to 1.82 USD to GBP. This was one of the largest single year drops in the last 30 years!

So by the end of 1981 a $25,000 Delorean related to £13,736 GBP. In effect JZD was getting 32% more than initially anticipated for each car sold!

By the end of 1983 the exchange rate was 1.5 USD to GBP so the very few last Deloreans being auctioned off (based on the $25,000 USD sale price) equates to £16,666 GBP.

All of this does not consider the rest of the shenanigans that was going on.

Ok what does this mean to us…..well in 1981 a Delorean cost 43% of the average UK house.
Today (2014) an average UK house is £180K, so a Delorean new today would be £77,400.

Food for thought

[Darren C]

That's £77,400 at the start of 1981 and £104,00 by Dec 1981 (in comparison to today's money)

[88mph]

:lol: That's why they went bankrupt!

[88mph]

Of course, he actually hoped/priced to sell them for $12k about £4.8k.
About a 5th of the average house price, so £36k in todays values, for a brand new Delorean. :wink:

[Guinney1971]

I'd heard it was supposed to sell for £12k, ie the same price as a Corvette, but when
it ended up being pretty much double that, it was in Merc SL and Porsche 911 terriotory,
all the looks but without the performance to compete.

It true what I was told many years ago, that the price spiralled due to Lotus trying to change
everything and re-engineering the car?

[Darren C]

Yep that's right Claire (we all know at $12,000, that's why it was called DMC-12) but it sold for $25000 from the start.

What is interesting is that just the simple exchange rate fall must have been a godsend as towards the end of 1981 it was costing a US based company 32% less to make the car in UK when the price remained fixed at $25K in the US.
Under normal circumstances the business should have boomed with this added re-investment.....but we know it didn't, which just raises more serious questions why not?

[JamesRGUK]

Darren C Wrote:Yep that's right Claire (we all know at $12,000, that's why it was called DMC-12)....

Funny how people talk about the '12' being definitively related to the propsed selling price.

Many years ago I spoke with Mike Loasby, he said that as far as he was concerned the '12' had nothing to do with the selling price, it was the DeLorean Motor Company's model no.1 and a 2 seater body type.

The 2nd model was to be a 4seater and hence designated the '24' , had there been a 3rd it would have been the DMC32 or DMC34 and so on.

Interested to hear others thoughts on that concept, personally the idea of designating a model number to a proposed selling price sounds ridiculous but it does seem to be the common concencus.

James

[Darren C]

Thanks James,

I have two Delorean "books" both carry the price reference to the 12, and a TV documentary. But that's not to say they all contain the urban myth, most car history authors just bang out books with little concern for accuracy. As for TV, we all know how inaccurate that can be.

So following your model ref the Delorean Bus DMC-80 must have been a flop with it being the 8th Model a bus with 0 seats :lol:

[JamesRGUK]

Darren C Wrote:Thanks James,

I have two Delorean "books" both carry the price reference to the 12, and a TV documentary. But that's not to say they all contain the urban myth, most car history authors just bang out books with little concern for accuracy. As for TV, we all know how inaccurate that can be.

So following your model ref the Delorean Bus DMC-80 must have been a flop with it being the 8th Model a bus with 0 seats :lol:

And wasn't there a DMC50, which was effectivly a quad bike, hey I'm not saying the system's perfect lol

j

[Chris P]

There may be a book out soon that is more accurate and factual than most!!

Fingers crossed……I should have a couple of final draft proto-type copies for the NEC, they are being printed as we speak with a few copies Fedexed over on Wednesday. I will be taking advanced orders in person. No inter-webs orders yet please. Distribution still being finalised.

[ROBLAMROCK]

I met John DeLorean at his home (Lamington Farm) on 23rd June 1993 and he agreed to do an exclusive interview for DeLorean World magazine.
Robert Lamrock: "Could I start, John, by taking you back to the very beginning and ask you why the car was called the DMC 12?"
John DeLorean: "Well, that was an internal code name that had developed right in the very beginning when our projected price was $12,000 and that was, of course, a much simpler car than the one we ultimately wound up with, so it sort of hung around. I don't know why, but it just did."

So now you know. Someday I will get around to putting the audio cassette of that entire interview on to a website...

Robert Lamrock

[88mph]

Well, that seems pretty conclusive.
As we speak is Chris desperately amending?......... :lol:

[Darren C]

Thanks Rob for taking time out to post a definitive answer.

It must have been a surreal day with JZD.

I've met many key figures in the design and evolution of the automobile, but never did meet JZD.