Re: [DML] Restorable or Parts Car?

["sweitzel_2000" <sweitzel@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I guess you also have to ask yourself if you're going to do a full
restoration to show condition, or "refurbish" the car to be at least
driveable. Here's some facts to compare your situation with mine. I
paid $8500 for an Aug-81 that had been sitting in a garage with 4858
original miles on it for 15 years. The car was 100% complete and
original. The body was about 98% perfect (a small ding on the hood and
a cracked front windshield) and the interior was mint except for the
headliners. I still sunk nearly $4000 worth of just parts alone into
the car to get it running and reliable and I'm still not done yet.
I've done 100% of the labor myself (except for getting new Dunlop GT
Qualifiers mounted on the rims) and even was able to save $400 by
replacing the bad injectors and fuel distributor with ones from a
wrecked 83 Volvo GLE. I've put easily 100 hours of my time into it and
 wouldn't have even imagined trying to make repairs on my car without
a fully equipped garage of air and hand tools.

After looking at the pictures, I'd guess that you're looking at
probably $6000 worth of parts from the vendors to get it going again.
It's missing what looks like most of the K-jet system plus the rest of
it will most likely have to be rebuilt with new parts. The brakes are
probably all shot. ALL of the three million pieces of coolant hoses,
tires obviously, the necessary suspension repairs and upgrades. the
safety recalls, the necessary electrical upgrades and repairs. etc
etc. $6k seems like a lot but most of these parts nickel and dime you
to death. $100 here, $150 there, $399 here, etc. I think it's worthy
of a restoration or refurbishment, but I don't think I'd give the
owner more than $3000 to $4000 MAX.

-sean

> The dash took most of that burden, I'm afraid.
>  
> I'm encouraged by the number of overnight responses to this post, and
> I also received a number of emails asking how much the car is.  The
> current owner bought it from a guy's widow along with another, much
> better condition car, which he subsequently gave to his grandson in CA
> somewhere.  This one became the parts car as it wasn't running.  After
> looking it over and showing him how bad it was, I still asked how much
> he wanted for it.  "I want a good price for it" was my answer, time
> and again.  $500 or $5000? No idea what he thinks is reasonable, but
> I'll post pics and take recommendations, as I'm not the best haggler
> when I'm excited.  Here's a link to a quickie page I made.
> 
> http://johnspangler.com/whitedelorean
> 
> It's ironically sitting next to another rear engine car.  I didn't get
> to the passenger side door at all, 'cause basically I'm afraid of
> spiders and didn't want to venture between the cars.  Maybe next time.
> 
> And yes, I'm a bit smitten with it, and I only got a few hours of
> sleep thinking about it all night.  I think if I can get it for like
> DIRT CHEAP I'll give it a shot, and at the very least have a car to
> learn with so I don't mess up a nice one someday.  It fell precisely
> into my criteria of what I might consider buying, a late '81 with less
> than 25k miles on it, straight stainless panels, good door fit and
> gray interior.
> I've got a few weeks until my garage is finished, so I've got some
> time to think it over.  Another short while in the sun isn't going to
> make a difference at this point.
> 
> Decisions, decisions...
> 
> -John






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