[DML] Re: Over-valuing our D's/repair costs

[Mark Noeltner <mark@xxxx>]

At 09:34 PM 3/9/00 GMT, you wrote:
>My experience with the DeLorean is for the most part they are over priced. I 
>have looked at many DeLoreans and have seen prices upwards of 28K for cars 
>that should be selling for around 15K. The fact is these cars are 20 yrs old 
>and the parts reservoir is, lets face it slowly depleting.


That really doesn't make a bit of difference. If a car is unique enough it
becomes collectable and the age doesn't matter. And I think it's hard to
argue the uniqueness of the DeLorean.

And the parts supply NEVER completly drys up, somebody will have new ones
made if there is a demand. Sometimes at better prices (adjusted for
inflation), sometimes much more, depending on what the part is and how hard
it is to build. They've been doing it for years with other car makes.

I think that the current pricing just reflects a combination of two things.
One, the car is not yet old enough for many people to consider it a true
collectors car. I know many of us do, but a lot of car buffs in general
don't. Two, supply and demand. The Internet has allowed people who are
looking for a DeLorean to very quickly locate quite a few of them for sale,
giving them much more choice than they would have had before the Internet
was around. Prior to that you had to be aware of Hemmings (not everyone
is), or just watch for the rare car that would pop up in a local paper. Now
you can locate lots of them online in just a few minutes.

I think that as the car grows even older the value will increase. Not to
the point that I would recommend it as a financial investment, but probably
a nice steady increase.

On a related note, there was a recent article in DeLorean World magazine
blaming this mailing list (not by name, but you could tell it was) for the
recent decrease in prices. The author essentially said that the
"complaints" about the car on the list were scaring people off and/or
making them unwilling to pay more for the cars. Personally I don't agree
with that at all. I still think it is just a variation on the supply and
demand theme caused by increased awareness of the availability of the car
at this time.

Anyway, didn't mean to go on so long.

Mark N
VIN 6820