Re: [DMCForum] Response to DW D1 add and Extreme Prices for DOA Las Vegas event

[Bob Brandys <BobB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey, I value my car, too!

Unlike many other DeLorean vendors, DeLorean One refuses to sell LED 
door lights, improved spark plugs, or xenon headlight kits. These parts 
are not original equipment, and DeLorean One worries these parts may 
?reduce the value of the car? to a prospective purchaser.? See page 20 
of DeLorean World Magazine, Winter 2007.

Let?s put the value of concours aside for a moment and admit to 
ourselves that the stock DeLorean was only 80% perfect off the assembly 
line. Granted, our cars will almost never rust. Our PRV engines have 
been known to crank out over 250,00 miles. Our sleek stainless 
body-lines are bold and powerful. John DeLorean said they built his car 
with the quality and precision of a BMW. He called it ?the ethical 
car.?  These are all reasons why we love our cars.

Can we also admit to ourselves that our roof seals leak, our alternator 
belts break, our windows are too small, our door locks drain our 
batteries, and our cooling fans fail? I strongly believe that DeLorean 
Motor Company would have fixed these issues, had they not been shut 
down by political pressure. Now the responsibility for reengineering 
and improving the car ? falls on us owners. As owners, we have two 
choices ? we can stagnate and cling to what the car was, or we can take 
our cars of the future forward and explore what the car would have 
been. As an owner, I feel I owe it to John to fix the few problems that 
snuck through before he had time to fix them. I want to take the dream 
that was pulled out from under DeLorean?s feet and make that a reality.

If you are of a similar mindset, no doubt you?ve explored some of the 
upgrades available from the many vendors out there. Vendors make 
upgraded cooling systems, door locks, door poppers, trunk poppers, 
improved alternators, stainless steel frames, and LED door lights, just 
to name a few things. All these upgrades use technology that didn?t 
exist in 1981, or was prohibitively expensive at that time. As 
technology improves, we should embrace those improvements in our cars, 
take out what is now obsolete and upgrade it to the industry standard, 
keeping our cars timeless into the coming decades. Some vendors may 
feel slandered by the DeLorean One advertisement. These vendors deserve 
our respect, because they pour hundreds of hours into developing these 
modernizing kits. They work hard at keeping the dream alive.

What made the DeLorean unique was the way it defied convention. JZD 
always expressed his interest to move forward to new technologies, 
while GM and others continued to stagnate. In his book, On a Clear Day 
you can see GM, DeLorean says that corporate stubbornness to embrace 
the future is exactly why he left to start his own company. And, when 
JZD spoke to DeLorean Car Show attendees in Cleveland, we all saw how 
excited John was about carbon-fiber bodies, because they are lighter 
and stronger. If DeLorean had been allowed to stay in business, would 
he still be using plywood shelves, defective fan relays, energy-wasting 
lock solenoids, and other substandard parts? Or would he have pushed 
his car forward, closer to the perfection embodied by the phrase, ?live 
the dream? ?

In my college ethics class, we learned the difference between intrinsic 
and extrinsic value. The intrinsic value of a DeLorean is the fun you 
get as you enjoy driving it. The many imperfections in the design hurt 
the intrinsic value, because your DeLorean experience is less joyous. 
The modifications I made to my car allow it to operate more reliably 
and confidently than when it left the factory. If I enjoy my LED door 
lights because I can leave my doors up at shows, who?s to say a 
?potential purchaser? isn?t going to find intrinsic value in leaving 
his doors up too? As the recent Barrett-Jackson auctions have shown, 
old cars with updated electronics and modern improvements generally 
sell for substantially more than cars with All-Original-Equipment.

If you?re worried about the resale value of your car, then you don?t 
value the car intrinsically, you value the car extrinsically, or as 
means to an end.

Ethics teaches us that it is immoral to treat people as means to an 
end. A person should have final value, not instrumental value. If you 
believe that John DeLorean?s dream has final value, then you shouldn?t 
be greedy about the potential resale value of your car.

Any DeLorean owner who clings to the failings of the past out of a 
sense of nostalgia, or intends to increase their car?s dollar value by 
reinstalling faulty components is a hypocrite. These DeLorean One 
purists misinterpret the essence of what it means to live John 
DeLorean?s dream. There is nothing about living the dream that involves 
backward-thinking or bean-counting. If you care about how much money 
you can get in exchange for your car, then you should sell it, and go 
buy a Bentley. There?s no room for prostitutes in the DeLorean 
community I know.

-Ryan Brandys, VIN #4190
www.deloreanmacmini.com
	





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