Fw: [DML] On Buying a DeLorean...a Primer!

["Chris Parnham" <chrisparnham@xxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Les Huckins" <jhuckins@xxxx>
To: <dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 10:46 PM
Subject: [DML] On Buying a DeLorean...a Primer!


> First, read a copy of Stainless Steel Illusion, that will give you the
> background you need to make a proper selection. I've purchased 2 Ds in
> the last 10 months, I did my homework, here's what I came up with:
>
> After reading the book you'll note there were a lot of changed made
> month by month, there's a certain VIN segment that is more attractive
> than the rest. Best suggestion is get the latest one you can find,
> preferably an '82 or better, or if you find an '81 you like, it would be
> best if the VIN is 5000 or better. This is important.
>
> The consensus is you should not buy a fixer-upper, it'll kill you in
> time and money. Best reasoning is something that has been driven with
> some regularity but not a high mileage unit, around 30,000 miles is
> about right. What you really want is a nice car that someone else has
> spent the fixup money on, you'll see advertised a car with $15,000 in
> fixup costs and the car is for sale for $18,000. That would merit a
> look.
>
> With that, my first purchase was an '82 with 35,000 miles on it,
> previous owner had paid $17,000 for it and spent several thousand on
> fixups during the 5 years of ownership. New upholstery, new battery,
> new brakes, new steering wheel, new metal radiator and overflow bottle,
> new steering bushing, new door pulls, new shift boot, painted the dash
> and facias, no dents, no eyebrow (drooping over the headlights), new
> tires (Yokohamas), no dents, looked good and ran very well. Asking
> price $18,000, I bought it for $17,000. I've put another 3500 miles on
> it with no problems except the otterstat fell off because the metal clip
> was discarded in favor of a sealant. The really terrible thing is the
> "mechanics" who get to a car before you do and throw things away that
> you have trouble finding and who also change factory settings such as
> wiring and vacuum hoses. Anyway, nice car, no regrets.
>
> Fast forward: about September of this year there was an ad on eBay for
> an '83 with 8,245 miles on it, like new, no known problems, asking
> $16,500 with no bids and was in CA. I negotiate the price down to
> $15,000, now here's the part to pay attention to. The VIN number is
> listed on eBay ads, with that I went into the owners list on the DML and
> found that although the current owner (from NJ) wasn't listed, the
> previous owner in NY was. Called him and found the car had been
> purchased from PJ Grady and that they had owned it about 2 years, the
> NJ owner had had it about 9 months. I called Rob. Rob remembered it
> well and said it was a really nice car, he had gone all through it and
> given it a 1 year warranty. I . Armed with that info I took a check
> and went to see it. Awesome, very much like new, the tires, the
> upholstering, everything. Brought it home and have added about 500 very
> happy miles, only thing I've done to it is change the exhaust tips, as
> recently mentioned, it had the tiny pipes without tips. Has Lockzilla
> and Fanzilla the braided clutch line, all kinds of upgrades, a dream
> car.
>
> What I'm saying is that first of all it's very much a buyer's market,
> there are a lot of cars around, do your homework first, get a nice one
> you can enjoy, and at a reasonable price. Don't get dazzled by the
> first one you see and/or by a cheap price, take a little extra time to
> get it right rather than spending a lot of time regretting a hasty
> choice.
>
> Addendum: I only do 5-speeds, the consensus is the automatics tend to be
> a little slower off the line and do have some exotic things go wrong
> with the electronic shifting etc. but that's personal choice, it may be
> worth the extra pain to have an automatic.
>
> There's a nice one out there waiting for you to discover it but first DO
> YOUR HOMEWORK!
>
>
>
>
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