My first aniversary of ownership

["Walter" <Whalt@xxxx>]

Today is my first anniversary of DeLorean ownership. I drove across Florida
and bought VIN #3633 from a motorcycle dealership. I paid $17.5K for a car
with black interior & auto transmission. The car looks like it had never
been stored outside and only had 8600 miles on it. Today the odometer shows
over 14200. I would have put even more miles on the car, but I have had it
apart for extended periods while working on it. During this time, the car
has never left me stranded (except for about 1/2 hour the first day I owned
it -- a bad relay stopped the fans from working.) Today the car is in much
better shape than when I bought it. I have spent over $9K on parts bringing
the car up to standards. About a third of that price is for stuff that the
car really didn't need, but low profile rims and a decent stereo system are
a must to me.

For those of you trying to put a value on DeLoreans -- don't under estimate
what it costs to bring a typical car back to life after years of storage.
If a DeLorean has had factory or age related defects repaired, then I would
add the costs of these repairs to the value of the car. If I wanted to
recover my costs of parts and labor if I sold my car, then I would need to
get around $30K or more.

My advice to someone who wants to buy one: Unless you are a good mechanic
or have a good relationship with a DeLorean savvy mechanic, then buy a car
that has had all of the factory and age related problems already fixed. And
expect to pay well over $30K. Unless you find a super deal, then to the
extent that you pay less initially, expect to spend more later fixing
everything that should have been fixed earlier. Otherwise you will find
yourself leaving the thing parked waiting for the next owner.

Apparently most of the DeLoreans still in existence are being stored either
because of collectability or because the owners couldn't keep them running.
After spending $30K +/- for the car new and hardly putting any miles on it,
these owners are reluctant to sell at a loss. As time progresses, I expect
to see more and more of these cars come out of storage. DeLoreans used to
never show up at general interest car shows. The last major show I went to
had 5 there. The local cruising car show I went to last night had 4! I
expect to see these numbers continually increase as new owners get these
cars running and keep them on the road.

Walt Tampa, FL