Re: [DML] Delorean Economic Climate (was: People Magazine)

[Al Nelson <z52vette@xxxx>]

I'll de-lurk to clarify the Corvette information. 
Chevrolet did NOT "stop production of Corvettes." 
True, there were no 1983 Corvettes sold to the public.
What was to be the 1983 Corvette was delayed due to
assembly/quality issues not being up to par for the
new model. During that time, it was discovered that
the new car could meet 1984 federal standards and big
$$$ could be saved by just introducing the car as a
1984. So, the 1982s kept being built and the 1984
debuted very early in March of 1983. This extra long
model year for 1984 contributed to the second-largest
production run in Corvette history of 51,547 cars. 

It was not a conscious decision on GM's part to skip
the 1983. On the contrary...it would have been the
30th anniversary model year with, undoubtedly, some
special "anniversary edition" being offered (and they
always sell as many of those as they can make). The
point is that there was NOT an entire model year
skipped. 

Al Nelson
1987 Corvette (vin 00123, built August 1986) :-)

--- Mike Substelny <msubstel@xxxx> wrote:
> 
> While we've mentioned it before, this is a great
> place to point out that GM
> picked this particular point in history to *stop*
> production of Corvettes
> completely. They phased out the old "Coke Bottle"
> 'vette after 1982, and did
> not sell another production 'vette until the 1984
> model year. That awful
> slump in sports car sales sure was a convenient time
> for GM to do this. Was
> this dumb luck for GM, or genius planning?
> 
> GM sold zero 1983 Corvettes. Then 1984 hit the
> second-highest sales volume
> in Corvette history. One can only speculate that
> 1983 might have been a
> propitious time for DeLorean to swoop in and fill
> the 25,000 - 50,000 car
> void. Too bad officials of the Thatcher government
> had picked February,
> 1982 to put DMC into receivership. Few consumers
> will buy a durable good
> from a company on the verge of bankruptcy, no matter
> how strong their hunger
> for the product.
> 
> If I had a yardstick to measure wisdom, I would
> probably find the decisions
> made in London at this time were even more stupid
> than the decisions made in
> Detriot were brilliant.
> 
> - Mike Substelny

[MODERATOR NOTE: This clarification to my earlier comment will be the end of the Corvette tangent. However, any additional information about the DeLorean part of this thread will be welcome.]