[DML] Re: AutoWeek Delorean Article.

["Louie" <louie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's interesting that Autoweek has made this comparison of the 
DeLorean to the Boss 302 Mustang, because I've made it a thousand 
times. My Dad has owned his '69 Boss 302 since 1973, when it was 
traded in at my Grandpa's Ford dealership. I have to say I really 
doubt there are less Boss 302's around than DeLoreans from my 
experience though. I've been a part of Mustang clubs and the classic 
car hobby in general all my life because of my Dad's Boss, and I've 
come across countless Boss Mustangs. I've only ever bumped into ONE 
DeLorean at a car show without my knowledge that the car would be 
there, but Boss's seem to pop up about everywhere (I saw yet another 
one in someone's driveway last week). Like the DeLorean, Boss 302's 
were pretty much collector cars right out of the box, and they seem 
to have a higher survival rate than many collectible cars.

If it isn't the rarity difference, then what really makes the Boss 
more valuable than the DeLorean then? It certainly isn't their 
handling or braking... the Boss is downright frightening in those 
departments, I know first hand lol. And critics always moan about 
the DeLorean's build quality and reliability... let me tell you the 
Boss's are less than stellar in those departments too. Boss's are 
loud, crude, ride hard, don't brake, or corner worth a darn, break 
easily and often, yet are still worth about twice as much as 
DeLoreans are (average retail now is $42k+ for a Boss, which 
originally stickered for $3.5k new).

It's really a combination of things which make the Boss such a hot 
collectible. First and foremost... racing. They barnstormed the 
Trans Am series in 1969 and 1970, pretty much slaughtering the 
competition and really turned the racing world upside down. The cars 
were really just built for homologation purposes, so that Ford could 
race at Trans Am. This makes the Boss *different from the start*... 
the DeLorean, though a unique automobile, was really in essence just 
a standard production model... it had no fancy varients (except the 
handful of Legend cars, which DO fetch Boss prices and THEN SOME!).

I think even more importantly, the Boss was important to a 
generation which now has LOTS of disposable cash, the baby boomers. 
Many people from that generation want the car, and can and DO pay 
big bucks to acquire one. From what I've seen the baby boomers are 
largely disinterested in the DeLorean... they're all about Muscle 
Cars for the most part. Does that mean all hope is lost for the 
DeLorean? Not hardly! Kids who grew up in the '80s with the lore of 
JZD, and more importantly, Back To The Future, are now in their 20s 
and 30s. They're starting to have enough money of their own to buy 
THEIR dream car, the DeLorean. I'm a perfect example... I'm 23 and 
have owned not one, but TWO DeLoreans. My guess is that DeLorean 
values will only continue to rise (especially over the next 10 
years), but Boss 302 values will plateu, and eventually begin to 
fall off as the generation that cherishes that car begins to age 
further and die off.

And there is my little thesis on collector car values :-). I told 
you guys I wouldn't totally disappear after I sold DeLorean #2!

Louie Golden
VIN: plotting on how to acquire DeLorean #3 :-)







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