[DML] Most DeLoreans Have Sat Idle For Most Of Their Lives

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As people debate DeLorean longevity, accident history, etc, they need to remember that extremely few DeLoreans have ever been driven as heavily as a normal car. 

Normal car usage in America is between 10,000 and 15,000 driven miles per year. Let's use the lowest end of that spectrum: 10,000 miles per year:

It is not at all unusual for a 1981 DeLorean to have 30,000 miles on its odometer -- 1,000 miles per year average use. That is *AT MOST* 10% of normal car usage. 60,000 miles on a DeLorean odometer translates into 2,000 miles per year average use, or 20% of normal car usage. Etc.

Only a DeLorean with at least 300,000 miles on its odometer can claim to be driven like a normal car. Only a DeLorean with at least 300,000 miles on its odometer can claim to have been exposed to the same accident risks as a normal car. Only a DeLorean with at least 300,000 miles on its odometer can claim to have been exposed to the same amount of wear and tear as a normal car.

The reason so many DeLoreans are still in existence today is simple: the little cars have been sitting idle for most of their lives. Any DeLorean driven less than 10,000 miles per year is *STILL* sitting idle by average usage standards. I am guilty of this myself: the most I have ever driven my own DeLorean is just under 8,000 miles in one year -- 20% lower than normal car use.

All a DeLorean has to do to survive 30 years sitting idle is not rust into oblivion from mere exposure to the elements -- a task these little cars are particularly well suited for (except for the frame of course).

All a DeLorean has to do to have fewer accidents than a normal car is simply sit idle. It is physically impossible to be involved in an accident when you aren't even on the road with other traffic.

Bottom line: DeLoreans are not normal cars. They are Prima Donna cars. Most DeLorean owners treat their cars like porcelain dolls. They coddle and baby them. If a DeLorean owner were to be honest and remove his or her rose colored glasses, he or she would admit that the minivan, the pickup truck, or whatever else is in his or her driveway gets driven much more regularly, and much more heavily, than their DeLorean.

A certain DML member made a negative post about my Brown F150 (I have two -- a Brown one and a Green one) yesterday. Let's finish this post by crunching some numbers: my Brown truck is a 1985 model with 225,527 on its odometer this morning -- an average of 8,674 miles per year over its 26 year life. Still slightly below normal vehicle usage, but helluva lot closer than a DeLorean. How many other 1985 model vehicles do you see ion today's roads anyway (1985 vehicles that were driven 10,000-15,000 miles per year have simply aged out -- been used up). My Brown truck gets driven much more heavily than my DeLorean if for no other reason than it often is parked behind the DeLorean (it would have to be started and moved anyway).

Bottom line: A DeLorean would face a much higher accident risk if it was exposed to 26 years of 8,674 miles per year traffic exposure, assuming it even could withstand that much use. 

DeLorean owners who hold these cars to a much lower standard than a normal car compromise every conclusion drawn therefrom.

IMHO.

Bill Robertson
#5939











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