In my opinion, Dave is the definitive authority on restoring cars, let alone a DeLorean. 'Nuff said on that. The part I most agree with, is the part about the "project car spiral". I was in the Persian Gulf, barricaded in my hotel room on Sept. 11th last year when I decided I would do this. I purposefully bought a DeLorean that needed work because I was tired of geeking out on my computer in the basement and wanted a serious project. I love cars. Now that I have it, I find myself fighting the spiral once in a while when the money dries up. It's a race, between your wallet and the clock, and your patience. If I made a single dollar less per hour than I do now, I'd might regret it. (of course, raining for 30 straight days doesn't help) I must be pretty serious about it though..I'm so intense that my wife looked me square in the eye last week and said "I want one too". Rich A. #5335 -MD --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Dave Stragand" <dave.stragand@xxxx> wrote: > Hi All, > > I've seen my name come up a few times in the last week about restoring a > D. Here's my standard advice: Are you looking for a project car so you > can get a D at a lower price? If so, that's false logic. It just > doesn't work that way. In fact, it's exactly the opposite. I'll > explain: > > An important bit of wisdom was imparted to me early on in auto > restoration: "The difference between a $15,000 car and a $20,000 car is > around $10,000." It's strange but true. You can almost always get a > better deal (when all told) by buying a car that is great to begin with, > than by fixing up one that needs work. I'm at around $22,500 into the > Vixen project, and I'm not done yet. The "Rule of 20" has been just > about right in my case. The "Rule of 20", if you are unfamiliar with it, > is Cost of DeLorean + Cost of parts and service = $20,000. That's about > $5,000 more than a D in nice shape to begin with... > > Now I, on the other hand, bought -my- car for the express purpose of > fixing it up. The process itself is what I'm interested in, more than > the end result. Will I have a $25,000 car if I spend $25,000 restoring > it? Most likely not. And to make financial matters worse, I will have > invested a couple-thousand- hours of work to boot. > > Sometimes though, the journey is better than the destination. My '58 > Plymouth has around $30,000 invested in it, but is still only a $17,000 > car. Where did the $10k go? It bought one heck of a lot of fun. A LOT of > fun. And it's worth it, IF you can afford it. > > I see a lot of posts asking for a cheap D, by someone who will finance. > Originally, that's how I approached the original owner. I did pay him > cash though when the deal was struck - I wanted to start with a clean > slate. I do remember what it was like to be young, and dreaming of that > perfect car. You'll do nearly -anything- to get it. However, trust me on > this one: DO NOT BUY A COLLECTOR CAR UNLESS YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO MAKE > IT RUN AND KEEP IT RUNNING. Now it doesn't have to be perfect at first, > but at least drivable. If you spend every cent buying a car that'll need > tons more money before it's streetable, you will stress yourself to > death. You'll start to see the car as an endless drain on your wallet, > and it may be years before you ever get to drive it. Besides, it's a > race against time. The longer it sits, the more it will need. > Eventually, you end up selling the car for less than you layed out, and > you'll be depressed & broke, as well as carless. This is what my friends > call the "Project Car Spiral". Avoid it. > > I'm at a point in my life where I have most of the cash and time I need > to responsibly restore a car. If you don't have enough of both to begin > with, then you won't be happy when you get the car. It took me -12 > years- to finally get my '58 Plymouth. It took -15 years- to get my D. > If it's worth doing, it's worth waiting, and that advice works on a lot > of levels. > > Trust me. I've been there, and done that. > > -Dave Stragand > VIN #05927 > <http://www.projectvixen.com/> http://www.ProjectVixen.com > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]