Re: "Preproduction" car on ebay?

["dmc6960" <ultra@xxxx>]

Without talking the seller, I can tell you this....

This car has later style (than what would really have been on a pre-
production car)...

-Door pull straps
-Inner weatherstrip
-Coolant return hose
-Wheels
-Exhaust tips

Now, if this was a DMC employee's car, they could have easily gotten 
each one of these updates as they were released into production.

These are some very intersting things I noticed on the car and which 
also may point to an early-production car...

-Door sill vin plate missing, thin plate is in its place
-Rear bumper letters non-existant (you see that Walt?!) However that 
could have easily been done when painting.
-Center console and passenger kneepad obviously different from 
production. However, these could have easly been custom fabricated 
by the owner. (these are similar, but not apparently identical to the 
ones in the preproduction photos in DMCNEWS resource files)
-Throttle spool entirely different. (mounted below coolant bleeder, 
cable attaching on driver's side of engine)
-Coolant expansion bottle different from stock
-Unknown plastic bottle in back of engine bay
-prop-rod for engine cover
-wire-looms in engine bay with different wiring routes
-coil appears to be mounted outside of electrical box
-electrical box does not appear to be rounded
-marker lights butting against fascias (this WAS a pre-prod trait)
-kick-panel speakers (very likely aftermarket)
-shift knob different
-parking brake trim not carpeted
-seat belt latch (and possibly the whole system) different
-seemingly one door switch on driver's side, but kinda hard to tell
-door guide has 2 screws, (mine at least) has 3
-screws holding the door sill (like the early VINs)

There are probably more, but I need to head home now. If I think of 
anything else (while driving my later [November 81] production D) 
I'll let everybody know. What I would really like to see though is 
an up close photo of the different door jamb vin plate, and the vin 
plate thats supposed to be on the dash, (who knows if it is there).

Jim Reeve - AKA "Timmay"
MNDMC - Minnesota DeLorean Club
DMC-6960