Re: [DML] Re: Fixing up a D: Is it worth it?

[MPolzin@xxxx]

I currently have two Deloreans that I paid $5,500 each. The one restoration
is now complete and I have a beautiful car to show for a lot of work. I too
laughed when someone told me I would end up spending a boat load of money
trying to put the car back on the road, however I'm not laughing anymore. I
put in excess of $11,000 into my first restoration. Is the car worth the
grand total of $16,500? I would definitely say yes and then some, but that
about doesn't include the many hours of labor that went into this car.

For me it was a journey, something I wanted to do to learn about the car. I
probably wasted some money along the way too because I simply didn't have
the knowledge of these cars that I do now, you tend not to make costly
mistakes twice. I might have also been quite a bit more picky about the car
than I needed to, but I wanted a car I could be proud of as well.

My second car is already running well and I took it out for a short spin
this past weekend for the first time. I've only got about $550 into this car
to get it to this point, and will probably need to spend another $600 - $800
to complete the mechanical restoration. There are still cosmetic issues with
the car that need to be resolved, but right now I just need to get this car
back on the road so it doesn't continue to go downhill from sitting.

I think the bottom line is that there is nothing wrong with someone buying a
project Delorean, even if they aren't familiar with the mechanics of the
car, as long as they know they can stick with it (ups and downs included)
and understand that they are going to have to spend some money to put it
back on the road. The Delorean community is amazingly helpful, better than
any of the other cars I have been involved in previously. The DML and people
like John Hervey who answer my calls for help at 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon
make it possible to tackle this task. Dave T and others have also been very
helpful along the way and I can't even begin to express how much I've
learned from them and other on the DML along the way.

My main reason for constantly buying projects (a third project car is on its
way) is that I have the satisfaction in knowing that I put the car back on
the road. In addition to that I never seem to have $15 - 20K to lay out at
any one time, but I'm very good at nickle and diming the project along to
completion. Dedication to the project is the key, if you can't stick with it
then don't bother, but if you can then give it a shot.

Mike Polzin