New intro for a will-be DeLorean owner!

[Exige_240R]

I'm not good with these intro threads, i'm never really sure what to say... "Hi, my name is Tom, i'm 23 and I live in Surrey..." is that about right??

Anyway, as previously stated my name is Tom and i'm a huge DeLorean fan, I have been for as long as I can remember and i'm trying desperately to get my hands on the right car, when the time comes! Please do not be fooled by the user name, it is my online ID and comes from working at a very large and long established Lotus dealership until July this year,

A little about me perhaps since this is an intro thread?
Well I am cars, all my life I have live, breathed, played and now work with cars. My mum says I talked cars ever since I started talking as well!

I currently drive a 2000 Ford Racing Puma that I bought when I had my first job promotion 4 years ago, I still own the car and I believe it to be a bit of a future classic, especially given the rarity of it and the following it has.

I also own a 2004 Mustang GT V8 40th Anniversary, I bought in California in Feb '09 and drove across America for 3 months, 10,000 miles, and then brought it back to the UK and love and cherish it and use it pretty much daily.

So, this then brings me to now, i'd love to be able to say I could afford a DeLorean right now but as you probably guessed, my life savings kind of got used with the Mustang trip! So now it is just a waiting game...

My DeLorean background is peppered with the occasional drives in cars owned by friends in America, every year I help organise and attend an exotic car show near Orlando and each year I get to drive my friend's ~4,000 mile original DeLorean to the show and back again (3 years in a row so far).

I have also had the pleasure of driving (although not as far as I would have liked) a turbo DeLorean, which was a very easy and pleasurable car to drive.

And finally, the DeLorean I have done the most miles in to date is my friends BTTF DeLorean. I am sure there is a rift of those who love the idea and those that hate to see a car turned into a time machine. My friends use the car to raise money for 'Team Fox', which is Michael J Fox's Parkinsons charity.

I had the opportunity to drive the car in South Carolina and I have to say, it ws so much fun! The car has now been fitted with a Stage 2 engine since I drove it.

Well if you are still with me and not got bored or trailed off to sleep, I would very much like to participate with the forum, and until such time as I actually get to own one myself, I will enjoy reading about everyone elses!

Maybe someone will know this one, it is known by the crooked DMC badge on the front that was damaged during some filming, and is registered in South Carolina... then again, there are a few around so probably not! It also has the blender on the back now used for collecting donations to the charity.

[Guinney1971]

Hi "Tom, 23 from Surrey", welcome to the DOC-UK

Small world with your experiences and those of some of our club members - James
Hooper (his parents Mike & Mary have a RHD) has a Racing Puma, and Andrew
Westerman did the same with a DeLorean that he bought that you did with
your Mustang. That car was later sold to Patrick Kielty (and has since been
sold on again).

Sounds like you have heaps of fun in the US with DeLoreans - and you'll be
pleased to know that the DOC-UK has been raising money for Parkinsons UK
this year

You're very welcome to come along to any events were at - our big meet (with
the exception of Eurofest in Ireland next year) in 2011 is going to be a weekend
long meet in Derbyshire, and you're very welcome to come along.

regards,

[Dangermouse]

Welcome Tom,

I'm a bit of an interloper here myself, but 'll welcome you anyway.

Exige_240R Wrote:I And finally, the DeLorean I have done the most miles in to date is my friends BTTF DeLorean. I am sure there is a rift of those who love the idea and those that hate to see a car turned into a time machine. My friends use the car to raise money for 'Team Fox', which is Michael J Fox's Parkinsons charity.

I had the opportunity to drive the car in South Carolina and I have to say, it ws so much fun! The car has now been fitted with a Stage 2 engine since I drove it.

I assume you are referring to Oliver H. I have never met him, but his cousin bought something off me from Craiglist and told me who she was related to after see saw my D.

Exige_240R Wrote:Maybe someone will know this one, it is known by the crooked DMC badge on the front that was damaged during some filming, and is registered in South Carolina... then again, there are a few around so probably not! It also has the blender on the back now used for collecting donations to the charity.

The only BTTF car I know of in the South East is Oliver's, so if this isn't his, then I am stumped??

[Exige_240R]

Thanks for the welcome!

Guinney1971, my aunt lives in Derby so i'm sure I can sort some place to stay, i'll have to see if i'm free that weekend
Good to hear there is another FRP lurking in the DeLorean world!

DangerMouse - yes, it is Oliver's car! We met when he and his wife came to the show I help with (Celebration Exotic Car Festival) in 2008 with their DeLorean, and we have been friends ever since. They are the nicest people around, and are part of my closest and dearest friends.
Atlanta is not too far, maybe you could bring your D to the show one year? We average about 10-18 D's each year at the show, although I think this year there were slightly less...

[Dangermouse]

Celebration is a bit far for my car at the moment. About 50 miles is the farthest I've gone.

I know it's a great show, so I must get to it one day even as a spectator.

[Guinney1971]

ayup Tom, well if your aunt cant put you up, we're all staying at a hotel
near J28 of the M1 (even those of us who live less then 10 miles away lol).

Should be a great weekend, be nice to see you there

[Exige_240R]

That sounds great, I hope to be able to make it and see you there

I've been a little quiet lately, just been too busy to get online, but in that time I have been offered a Stage 2 DeLorean, don't want to say too much just yet in case it doesn't happen, but i'm going to see / drive it on Thursday or Friday, which should be good since i've not yet driven a Stage 2.
If what i've been told about it is true (and I do not doubt my friend one bit) then in a couple of days I will be back making a new post with photos!

Time will tell

Dangermouse, definitely worth the trip, I mean, I travel the Atlantic every year for it, even if you take the daily down, it's a good weekend !

[Guinney1971]

wicked!!! hope it all goes well, and lets hope its good news!

[Exige_240R]

The news is indeed very good!
After a drive around the Las Vegas Speedway (sig pic) and a drive out to Red Rock near Las Vegas (avatar pic), the car is now mine

A quick overview of specs include the Stage II, black interior, Eibach lowered springs, very straight bodywork with no signs of blemishes. My only gripe is that is an auto and i've never owned and auto before. But apparently i've been told in this trim it is quite rare? Black interior with Auto box... can anyone verify that? It was rebuilt in 2005 at DMC Houston and I bought it from a relatively well known person who lives in Los Angeles, the car was in Las Vegas for me though, complicated situation, won't bore you with it!

It is currently safely locked away at the Speedway awaiting transportation to Florida, where it will be registered in my name and I will keep it in Florida until I go back in April so I will have a car to use both to get around and for the car festival. Then, well, who knows, unfortunately last week (1 day before flying out to the US) I lost my job, so it really will be a "time will tell" moment...

I guess I should make a new thread now that I have one to put pics in?
Not sure how it works around here yet!

Edit: I believe the VIN is often asked too, so here it is: 1819

[Guinney1971]

nice one!!!! nice spec too - auto's are rarer then manuals, and more grey
cars were built then black, so I would therefore say that you do have a rarer
combo there.

Incase anyone hasnt said so yet, you put pictures on here using the method, Photobucket is a common one, or your own webspace if you have it.

Sorry to hear about your job, hope you find something suitable soon.

[Dangermouse]

I think 25% of the '81 cars were B/A, mostly in the lower VINs. Very few '82s and '83 were B/A. As Claire says, most of the cars, particulaly late 81, and most of 82 and 83 were Grey.

[JamesRGUK]

Exige_240R Wrote:My only gripe is that is an auto ....

True the awesome power of the Auto box can scare some people.

But on a more serious note if you want to get the most out of a Stage II on the automatic trans you’ll probably find manually holding it in 2nd gear will allow you to make use of the increased power higher up the rev range.

Depending on set-up and whether you have an OEM computer in the gearbox they can be a bit lazy and change up to the next cog a little too quickly meaning you miss out on the benefits of the engine mods.

Around town I usually leave mine in 2nd (mine’s not Stage II) but I find that way it is far more responsive.

J

[Exige_240R]

I've only used auto's so far when they've belonged to other people so rarely played with them much (had a play in a new V8 Jag XJ-L when I was out collecting the D, sport setting is good fun though), good tip about holding 2nd gear, thanks.
I'll try give that a try when i'm next out in America. For now I have no inclination to bring it home to the UK, it is so clean after the resto in 2005 I would hate to ruin it on the awful rutted and really dirty roads we have over here, my Mustang is perfect example - 83,000 miles when I bought it in California in 2009 and still looked fresh, 2 years on at 106,600 miles it is beginning to show it's age, all in only 10,000 miles of those were in the UK

[Exige_240R]

I promised some photo's so sorry it has taken a while to post them - it's just been a difficult couple of weeks.

So here we are:

After a day at the Las Vegas convention centre for the CES show I took the car for a drive out to Red Rock state park to get to know the car a little bit.

It drives beautifully, the engine sounds good and pulls well (I love the higher profile cams of the Stage 2 engine at idle).









A couple of days later I took the car up to Las Vegas Speedway, I got to do a mini-photoshoot on the Speedway and drive a lap of the circuit - I could upload a video but it isn't all that spectacular from inside!




As you can imagine I took hundreds of photo's but this gives you a good idea!
The bodywork is immaculate, it is a little dirty from storage in these photo's, it will be cleaned up to a lovely shine in April when I will spend some time with it

[Domi]

That's a really nice DeLorean you've got here 8)