[DML] Re: My DMC is a financial hole - what should I do at this point

["Louie" <louie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Ryan Wright" <ryanpwright@...> 
wrote:
> Such is the nature of the beast. It's not the DeLorean that's the
> problem. The cars are well built and reliable. The problem is the 
>age and type - it's a 26 year old exotic sports car. Unfortunately, 
>this is pretty well how most of them are. Especially if you want to 
>drive it regularly.

I tend to disagree with parts of the above. Build quality was highly 
erratic on DeLoreans, hence the inception of the Quality Assurance 
Centers. The cars were so bad out of the factory that many had to be 
completely torn down and rebuilt in America at the QACs. I've 
probably seen hundreds of cars over my years in the community, and 
no two are really exactly the same. Some cars they seemed to get 
everything just right... everything is tight and aligned well... 
other cars are just another story. They had reliability problems 
right out of the box too. Johnny Carson's car dying on him on his 
way home is a perfect example. People were getting locked in/out of 
their cars with dead batteries, windows wouldn't work, trim pieces 
would fall off, all from day one. There was a reason they portrayed 
the DeLorean as a lemon in Back To The Future in 1985... because the 
cars were known to have problems. Even in Stainless Steel Illusion 
published in 1983, they make notes of all of this. They predicted 
problems with the cooling and electrical systems... those of us who 
are owners know all to well.

What comment you SHOULD have said is it's amazing the cars are as 
good as they are. In truth they really aren't so exotic... they use 
mainly very mundane off the shelf parts. They do use some very good 
components... the PRV, while an funky little engine, will last 
hundreds of thousands of miles with little maintanence. It's the 
combination of all these off the shelf parts, and mainly the 
DeLorean specific engineered pieces, that give us trouble. What's 
amazing is the DeLorean that we know essentially was designed and 
rolled out into production in less than 3 years. Show me any car 
company today that can do that. ESPECIALLY a brand new car company, 
with a brand new line. It's unheard of. And the cars were not 
glorified kit cars like the Bricklin... they were very nice 
automobiles. So the fact that they were able to pull this off at 
all, combined with the fact the cars aren't nearly as terrible as 
they could have been, is quite an accomplishment.

Now back to the topic at hand. If you're going to continue ownership 
and not get completely burned out, you've gotta make some friends in 
the community who are close by. They can help you repair your car 
when it breaks, saving you thousands. You'll eventually pick up on 
how to diagnose and repair your own car some. Even someone as 
completely mechanically incompetent as I was able to eventually do 
some work to my car alone. Plus it always helped me when I'd get 
stressed out to get together with my buddies and vent. They can help 
you through it because they've been there themselves! Plus getting 
DeLoreans together is a ton of fun... and it reminds you of what 
drew you to the car in the first place.

So my biggest piece of advice to new/or soon to be owners is this: 
DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Read as much about the cars from any source you 
can. Hang out with owners, go to meets. I became very involved in 
the DeLorean community about 2 years before I bought my first car. 
Knowledge (and lots of cash!)is your best weapon to combat these 
cars. You have to keep in mind too that these cars are 26 year old 
cars which had questionable build quality and reliability from the 
start. Expect the worst... and you'll only be disappointed or 
surprised part of the time LOL ;-).

Louie Golden
Charlotte, NC



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