Re: [DML] Re: WANTED: Angle Drive

[mike.griese@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Lotus did not "cripple" the DMC to keep it from competing with the
Esprit.  "Lotus" was acutally three different companies under a single
corporate umbrella - Lotus Cars, which designed and built the road 
cars, Lotus Racing, which designed, built and ran the various classes 
of race cars that Lotus was into at the time, and Lotus Engineering, 
which did contract engineering services.  Lotus Engineering did the 
work on the DeLorean.  

The divisions were run independently, particularly Lotus Engineering, 
since it was engineering expertise they were selling.  If there was even 
a hint that Lotus Engineering was not giving their clients 100% of their 
effort and expertise, they would cease to exist.  Lotus Engineering often 
did work for other manufacturers on cars that competed directly with 
products in the Lotus Cars line.  They still do.

What "crippled" the DeLorean was the design points that DeLorean
insisted upon.  Non-structural stainless steel panels add a lot of 
unnecessary weight.  The engine layout (rear-mounted instead of
mid) impacted the handling dynamics of the car.  The engine selected
was not as powerful as other options available, but the price and
volumes were right.  The Esprit frame was more rigid than the DeLorean
frame because of the location of the fuel tank in the DeLorean and
the drivetrain layout.  The fuel tank forces the frame to split 
up front, providing nice long levers for introducing torsional 
stress into the center section from the front suspension pickups.  Putting
the bulk of the drive train mass behind the rear axle center, along with
the overall dimensions of the car that DeLorean insisted upon, 
prevented the use of a triangulated tube frame like rear of the Esprit.

Lotus Engineering had to work within constraints set by their client.  

The Esprit was also priced significantly higher than the DeLorean (about $10k)
with much lower volumes.  It is more economical in that case to hand trim 
the cars in leather than to do a production run of interior parts for higher 
volumes.  An added benefit is that Esprit customers could have the 
interior customized from the factory.  

One other thing to keep in mind is that the DeLorean went from a prototype
of completely different construction to a manufactured car in about 18
months.  Lotus Cars was on their 3rd series of Esprit after 4 years
of production.  That's a lot more development time.

By the way, the Esprit did not have a full-size spare.  None of the
wheels on the car (front or rear) will fit into the space for the spare.

--
Mike


-------------- Original message from "cbl1739" <cbl302@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>: -------------- 


> 
> 
> I was comparing it to a 1983 Esprit,which a friend of mine 
> owns,comparing the engineering on a 83 delorean to a 83 Esprit,just 
> the frame alone is/was(Esprit)far superior to what the DMC was 
> engineered with,the interior was better done,with better materials 
> applied,they EVEN engineered a FULL sized spare into the trunk..You 
> would think with a head start on their car and engineered the 
> problems out of it,they would have reflected it into the Delorean.. 
> It just seemed that lotus was doing everything possible to make sure 
> that the Delorean failed..yet at the same time trying to present a 
> fully engineered car,at a minimal level of engineering,and 
> engineering parts into it that came from sub-par vendors/bins,and 
> making them almost impossible to obtain for a DIYer,unless they went 
> through a DMC parts department.DMC had a huge plant to work with and 
> some of the most high tech equipment at the time to make a superior 
> car, with some of the best Minds at Lotus Engineering to Develop a 
> car far superior to the Lotus,but instead engineered a car with 
> almost every component having some defect or problem or being sub- 
> par.That is one of the reasons the Delorean was a car to be avoided 
> in the late 1980's and 1990's,until a established Vendor market was 
> created,which in turn today makes the Delorean a diserable car...JZD 
> BUILT a perfect car for the Vendor market since the OEM parts were of 
> sub-par structure,and needed a aftermarket to re-engineer the total 
> car(ie: frame and all the components) to make it into the car it was 
> always meant to be. 
> 
> Claude 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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