RE: [doc] 'Black cars'

["Chris Parnham" <chrisparnham1@xxxx>]

Thanks Thomas I'm glad you dog likes your new RC DeLorean.,


Re "Black cars", the most common interpretation of the Black cars, is that,
as we know, the first proper "production" cars start at vin 500, With most
of the earlier cars being used for a verity of testing / training purposes.

When the factory got into their stride, they found a way of keeping the size
of the under-bodies, more or less similar. In the early stages of
production, they varied by as much as an inch! This was due to tweaking the
curing/ processing times of the fibreglass etc.

Don't forget, the under bodies were the only item actually "made" in the
factory. Everything else was shipped in for assembly at the factory.

With the central purchasing office located in Coventry, it is no surprise
that many of the suppliers were very local and well used to supplying
British Leyland etc.

This is why we have so many "cross-over" parts in the UK. Why re-invent the
wheel? If you were Lockheed- Girling and were approached by the new
DeLorean "buyers" (who you had previously worked at Jag or Reliant etc) and
they were wanting say, brake callipers, why not see if the Ford Cortina
fronts would do, or the Jag rears? This is what we ended up with.

A "parts bin" car, a modern concept.

OK we had "state of the art" US air-con units and Radios,. But most stuff
came from the west midlands of England.

Back to the "Black cars" Andy and I have loads of pictures of them, at all
stages of their lives, some were used as "training" cars, and were
constantly stripped down and re-built, some were used for crash testing etc
and many were placed in storage in a chicken shed near Andover in Wiltshire.
Andy and I have visited and photographed the Farmer and actual chicken
sheds! All will be revealed in our new book "Stainless Steel Legacy".

Of course the reason they were near Andover was "Wooler Hodec" who were
sorting out the RHD work. They also got the contract for scrapping the early
miss-shaped under-body's cars. This is why many very early RHD cars have
truly awful panel fits. (Photo's again in the new book.)

Nowadays, most manufacturers "buy in" parts, but in the early 80's, most
manufactures made most things from scratch. Again the DeLorean was ahead of
the game, ahead of its time. Another reason why even today, in 2003, it
still looks "state of the art".
(to my eyes anyway).

Chrusty, your secretary.





-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Mc Auley [mailto:mcauleydmc@xxxx]
Sent: 04 December 2003 16:13
To: doc-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [doc] 'Black cars'


I didn't mean paint, I just didn't go into detail as I assumed you would
know what I was talking about- the cars that were used to train the
workforce, and they didnt have stainless panels, they had fibreglass panels
instead-would you know what happened to them? I hope they weren't scrapped

BTW Chris I got that car today, its great, probably play with it for hours.
The dog is fascinated at it lol.

Thanks



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