DMC, BTTF, and other cars compared to the D.

["Robert Rooney" <DMCVegas@xxxx>]

 This one subject has spurned off into almost 3 differant ones. 
Some are long running debates. So I'll try to seperate everything.

1. Back to the Future.

I don't think that Back to the Future is solely responsible for 
the majority of car sales in the sense theat people who buy 
DeLorean's want to own Doc Brown's time machine. I think it's more a 
case of people see the car and want to know more about it, and once 
they find out more about it decide that they want one because they 
fall in love with the car. IMHO if DMC was still in bussiness today, 
and BTTF was never made, I still think that the same people who are 
here right now would still be here. If not BTTF, then DMC would have 
made us all aware of the car. For whatever reasons we may have to own 
our cars, I don't think that "Because I wanna be just like Doc 
Brown/Marty McFly" is at the top of that list. Yes BTTF has helped a 
great deal with the recognition of the DeLorean, but I don't believe 
that it is the direct cause of sales. I liked the 1989 movie Batman, 
but if my local dealership had batmobiles for sale, I wouldn't run 
out to buy one.

2. Comparing the DeLorean to other cars.

This is a touchy subject on many levels. First off it must be 
remembered that while the DeLorean was completed enough to get it 
into production, the company died before the car could realize it's 
full potential. So it is this factor that causes a good deal of the 
car's 'shortcommings'. And by 'shortcommings' I mean items that were 
never exploited to their own full potentials, i.e. engine power, 
exterior/interior colors and options, etc... I do NOT mean things 
such as engineering defects. While there are some factory items that 
do require certain corrections, there is nothing on the car that I 
would ever consider defective. All of which would have been taken 
care of by time. As an example, I would say the Corvette is somewhat 
of a good comparison car. Both it and the D were ment to give good 
performance, look atractive, appeal to people, and be sold in 
substantial quantities. Stat wise, only in the area of power does the 
DeLorean fall short. But this is something was was being rectified by 
the company, proof is VIN 502 and the other cars from Legend 
Industries. Comparing the DeLorean to cars that are in no way in the 
DeLorean's class is absurd. 
The Vega was a compact car from the early 70's. I don't know that 
much about the car except it had an all aluminium engine that cracked 
in half within the first 8 miles on the GM test track, the designing 
and marketing of the car was a battle, and sales of the car were less 
then expected. That and numerous first-hand stoires about the defects 
of the car. First-hand tales are usually something you don't find 
with the DeLorean.
The very first time I saw the Saleen was on it's website. It was 
the first time in a while that I'd had a good laugh! The car is 
nowhere near a DeLorean in any category. The concept itslef is 
uninspiring. Over all the thing looks like a riced-up NSX. "Counter-
balanced Gullwing doors", and "Rust-proof stainless steel body 
panels" are truly respectable features that you would find on a 
car. "Fully functional...Gill-like ducting", and "...extremely 
accurate belt-driven camshaft drive..." are not! And to think, they 
call these "exclusive" features, ha! Body styling; I've seen more 
creativity and originality on Hondas. Daily driver? Who in the world 
is goning to use that car to go to work in? 550hp is quite 
impressive, but does you little good in traffic when people on 
bicycles are moving faster then you are. But what Saleen Inc. may 
know about performance, they seriously lack in coach-building. The 
interior does not complement the exterior of the car at all. It's 
bland to the point where it begins to look cheap. The "hump" in the 
center of the car where the stickshift is reminds me of a kit car, 
and the seats don't look that comfortable either. Overall it reminds 
me of the G.I. Joe toy cars that I had when I was a kid. The DeLorean 
has a much more beautiful and complete look and feel to it. The 
doors? Don't even get me started on the doors! But, the absolute best 
has to be the quotes about the car. "The car, when seen in person, 
has an amazing presence..." Who is the one quoting this? The
owner of 
the company, which when you think about it is tragicly sad in a 
pathetic sort of way. Was the owner of the company the only guy they 
could find who had anything nice to say about the car? Good or bad, 
PLETNY has been said about the DeLorean, and always will be. But the 
ad campaign with JZD capures the true feeling, "Live the Dream!" Why? 
Because the car speaks for itself. If a picture is worth a thousand 
words, then the DeLorean is the equivilent of pi!
But I'm not writing this to simply trash other cars or anything 
like that. The purpose is to show how unrealistic it can be to try 
and attempt to compare to items that are incomparable. This is the 
quintessence of apples to oranges.

4. Myths and Misunderstanding about JZD & the DMC-12.

There always seems to be an almost infinate list of myths, 
misunderstatings, second-hand facts, and wild stories about both the 
man and the car. Some are confusions between other cars and events, 
some are just plain wrong. As it has been said before, JZD did not 
design the Vega (BIG thanks to Mike Substelny for helping clear this 
minsunderstanding up AGAIN). JZD isn't in jail now, nor was he ever. 
There is no helicoptor engine (Tucker), the doors are not hydrolic 
(Bricklin), and no cocaine was ever stashed in the wheel wells or 
tires in an effort to smuggle drugs into the country (Nissan). While 
everyone here knows by now (if always) that none of these things are 
true. While yes it does get annoying having to listen to all the 
comments, and sometimes put up with them. I wouldn't have it any 
other way. "Where's the flux capacitor at" is by far better then 
being ignored.

While this is a longer then usual post, I felt that it couldn't just 
be divided up into 4 seperate ones. Thanks for reading, and for your 
time...

-Robert
vin 6585
It's a DeLorean. What else can I say?