Re: [DML] DeLorean Replicas?

["Sean Howley" <delorsche@xxxx>]

This question comes up from time to time. The common (and probably best)
response is that a DeLorean original will cost less to purchase (and in
almost any condition including the ones sold by Houston) than a replica
would cost to build. It is this reason that there are no replicas out there
of our cars. In fact, of all of the kit cars available, they will pretty
much fall into two categories: (1) kits based on actual cars - Lambos,
Ferrari, Hummers (as mentioned before), specialty exotics, etc. and (2) kits
of original design (ie. not based on an actual car). If you look into kits
available today (based on actual cars) as well as kits from companies that
have long since gone away, they are based on cars that are out of the
monetary reach of most people or are in such short supply (and extreme cost)
that any that are around are nailed to the floor of the museum they are
sitting in. As far as cost is concerned, there is no way that a kit version
of our car would be less expensive - even with fiberglass panels.

I am currently finishing up a kit myself of a Porsche 550 Spyder.
Initially, I had 4 choices of suppliers with 3 having cars that would cost
me approx. 18k - 20k for the kit - not including assembly, paint, engine,
transmission, gauges, ... The forth was 7k for essentially the same thing
as above minus the frame which I had to supply (it is a VW bug '73). I did
some detailed calculations and came to the conclusion that it would cost me
about 16k to finish including paint. Right now (a year later and this is
working on it all of the time), I believe that I am about 2-3 months away
from it being 100% complete and am well above 21k - I still have not
purchased any paint or equipment to do the painting (I will be painting it
myself). This is all from a kit that is advertised as the "easiest to build
Spyder" which makes me wonder about how difficult the other 3 kits would
have been.

If a kit is what you are wanting to start with that fashions gull wing style
doors, look into a Bradley GT which you can perpetually find on ebay in
their kit car section. These cars will run you about 5k max for a good
running car with the gull wings. There are several others out there too.
If you are interested in building your own, look into Kit Car magazine.
Every September or November (I think), the magazine has an issue dedicated
to all kit cars available new today. It is a great source for info as is
the Kit Car web site www.kitcarmag.com.

I hope this helps,

Sean Howley
VIN#2345