Re: [DML] black leather stats.

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxx>]

> I've noticed an unusual (and annoying for me!) trend, that
> there are very few 5 speeds for sale with black leather out there.

John,

Being the owner of a black interior automatic, I have some things to say
that you might like to know:

The only parts of the car that are leather are the top surfaces of the
seats. The rest of the seats and interior are vinyl.

There are two configurations of door pull-straps on DeLoreans. On '81
models, these straps have a D-ring. The end of the strap is threaded
through the grab handle and then through the D-ring which holds it on. On
later models, the strap was relocated to a point further back through a slot
cut into the door panel. I consider this later configuration more desirable
for two reasons: 1) When closing the door from the inside, it lines the
pulling force up between the hinges better making sure that the door doesn't
close with a twist. 2) It saves the interior grab handle from being torn
apart by the earlier style D-ring strap.

When I bought my car with only 8600 miles on it, my grab handle had most of
the rubber torn off of it because of the strap. This fact brings up two
important points concerning black interior cars: 1) The black grab handles
are made of a softer material than those used in gray interior cars and are
more subject to being destroyed by the friction of having a pull-strap
attached to it. 2) Black grab handles are as rare as hen's teeth
(particularly the drivers side). The last one I saw on eBay went for over
$100.

Another problem concerning black interior cars is that the vinyl upholstery
shrinks with age even if stored predominately indoors. This is also a
problem with gray vinyl, but to a lesser degree. (This is my OPINION
considering the 30 or so DeLoreans that I had a chance to look at closely.
An experienced vendor might have another opinion.) On my car, the
upholstery on both arm rests has shrunk and pulled away. There is not
enough vinyl left for glue to hold it where it belongs. There isn't even
enough vinyl to make it around the edge without stretching it. The vinyl
covering the windshield posts has the same problem. I've glued it before
only to have it pull loose again. Otherwise the vinyl in my car is in like
new condition. The fix I'm planning now is to hand-sew extensions to the
perimeter of the vinyl to give more surface to wrap under and glue.

Most people prefer gray interior because the black makes the car feel
closterphobic. For show and collector cars, gray is easier to see and less
contrasty to photograph. Personally, I like the black closterphobic feel so
much so that I even had my headliner done in black. I consider my DeLorean
to be a comfortable piece of active sports wear having a hard stainless
exterior with a black interior lining. While driving, I only want to be
aware of the road and have as little light as possible reflect from interior
surfaces. So have I sold everyone on the idea of black yet? :)

My advice for you is to go on and buy a gray interior car. There are plenty
available with cracked dashes & binnacles that need replacing anyway. DMC
Houston is going to have reproduction dashes & binnacles available soon. If
those are too pricey then you could recover the originals with vinyl. When
done right, it looks at least as good as OEM. The exception is that the
added seams around the binnacle match the seams on the center console which
to me looks just fine. I think I've seen a photo of one done on John
Hervey's web site, http://www.specialtauto.com

As for the rest of the interior, cover the seats with black lambskin or have
them reupholstered in black. The door panels, knee pads & center console
are a simple matter to replace the vinyl. The grab handles are just as well
left as gray. More difficult to change would be the glove box lid and the
center console section around the window switches. This could be recovered
or just left alone. The headliner backings don't hold up too well anyway,
so you might as well buy PJ Grady's fiberglass replacements. Have him cover
them in black. The gray panels that cover the rear speakers can be covered
in black also. Don't worry about reusing them for speakers because this is
a poor location for good sound. I doubt that there are any OEM rear
speakers in existence that are still intact and working properly. You will
probably want to relocate them to the rear parcel shelf anyway. And the
shelf is easily recovered in black, too. That just leaves the carpet which
on black interior cars is gray anyway, but a slightly darker shade than what
is used on gray interior cars (same with the rear parcel shelf &
headliners). I think DMC Houston is working on replacement carpets, too.
I've been following the Bricklin mailing list, and learned that some carpet
company is reproducing the form-fitted carpets for the Bricklin, so perhaps
they could be used to make reproductions for the DeLorean, too.

Walt Tampa, FL