[DML] re: Delorean wanted

["Jonathan Heslop" <gatewayaag@xxxx>]

I totally agree. Any DeLorean under $10,000, much less $5,000, is going to
be a problems. I bought an 81 (#000697) with 34K in early June of '99. I
traded an 87 Cadillac Allante, a hardtop, and some cash for it. I figure it
was a $13K or $14K transaction.

Anyway, lately it's about a $100 a week in parts. So far I spent a few
thousand dollars replacing mostly cosmetic parts (plastic and rubber). I
haven't had any mechanical problems (yet). While these parts weren't
absolutely necessary, I felt they should be replaced.

The only parts that have left it undriveable were the broken door handle,
the broken front door latch, and a some cracked weather seals (in rain
only). Those were the only things that kept it off the road.

Sometimes I wish I would have spent an extra 5-10 grand and bought a really
nice D. Although, I am having fun repairing this one. The local club,
Mid-States Delorean Club had been a huge help!!

I learned my lesson a few years ago on a 91 Cadillac Allante. I own 92
which is my show car, so I decided to buy another for daily driving. I paid
$17,500 for one with 56K in good/driver condition. Needed some work to make
it nice again. Anyway, the 4-5 months I owned it, there was about $7,000 in
repairs (most still under warranty). But I did spent at least $2,500
non-warranted parts. It was an abused car.

My 92, which was identical to the 91, had never been a problem. I went
cheap a got in trouble. I traded it plus a bunch of money for a perfect 93
which hasn't had any problems at all. I bought a second 93 a year ago and
it's been trouble free as well

Needless to say........I will never go cheap on buying a car again. Even
though I'm having fun with this DMC, I wish I had a perfect one for a
driver, then this D as a project car.

All of the above comes down to this. In my experience, a good portion of
the money I've saved by buying a low price car has gone into parts in less
than a year. In each case, I could have started off with a nearly perfect
car and not had to suffer through the problems.

I'm sure you want to drive it to high school. I try to drive mine to school
everyday too. But because of the cold and little problems that pop up on
the car, I only get to drive it a few days a week. In summer, it just gets
way to hot out to drive it. During the Fall it wasn't as bad. In ANY
season, I still don't get to drive it as much as I'd like too--and it's a
fairly reliable good condition D.

Just something to think about.............

--Jonathan #000697


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My personal opinion: Any DeLorean you buy for under $5000 will (more
than likely) be undrivable. You might want to consider saving your money
for a car that will not cost you a fortune to simply make it road-worthy.
Also, few of us have the knowledge, time, opportunity, or just plain bravery
to pull of something like our buddy Dave is going to do. --But $5000 might
get you a nice downpayment on that left-front fender....


Jake
----- Original Message -----
From: chandlur3-@xxxx
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 11:27 PM
Subject: [DML] Delorean wanted


> I'm a 17 yr old student and im looking for my first car, i need some one
out
> there to have a delorean that they could sell me on finance for under
5000$
> if possible please contact me anyone
> thanks