Production started @ serial # 500. But just because a # starts that high, doesn't mean that anything existed before it. Much in the same fashion that P.T. Barnum, and other circus' would give their wagons, and equipment higher #'s, when they painted them on the side. It gave the appearance that the show was much bigger than it really was. And in the same way, it makes people go, "Wow, that DeLorean Motor Company. They crash tested, and practiced on over 499 DMC-12s before the production run, just to make certain they got their product right!" Obviously, neither is true. What happened to these cars in question? They're probably locked up by some hardcore collectors, who purchased them at various liquidation sales. What more can you say? Hell, the prototype car was over the hill from Las Vegas for MANY years, and no one knew about it. Dusty garages, sealed storage units, forgotten barns. Many cars are hidden, and will hopefully one day be found when someone discovers them. Like buried treasure that no one made a map for, and anyone who knew about it is now dead. It will just take some time for them to surface. Now, just like many corporations that provide company cars to higher up employees, these vehicles most likely would have been reassigned to various employees as they left, and joined the company. And in turn would have been disposed of thru some sort of sale/donation, when the new models were put into production. No, DeLorean Motor Company would not have been able to dispose of these cars in question via the dealership network. After all, that is reserved for *New* cars only. However, there is no law stating that a company isn't able to liquidate used vehicles from it's >>>fleet<<<. So once again, these are NOT pre-production vehicles. And there is absolutely nothing to indicate that anything in these vehicles production and assembly process dictates that were not meant for consumer usage, nor were intended to be destroyed. If these cars consumed components that were used durring the training process, that still doesn't mean/justify a thing, since these cars were products of an up and running production line, as they were stamped with VIN plates. Exclusion from the dealer distribution network does NOT mean pre-production! As for vehicles such as VIN 502, it too is nothing more than a production run vehicle that was excluded from the dealer distribution network for. Whatever it's purpose was meant to be doesn't matter. It's still a production vehicle! DMCL had no hand in these vehicles assignments whatsoever. -Robert vin 6585 "X" --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "cbl1739" <cbl302@xxxx> wrote: > > > I maybe totally wrong,as I have no "direct proof" I am basing it on > a article written in the DW magazine,back in 1987,when this type of > info was easier to gather, > I am just assumeing <SNIP> To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/