You asked for it, Bill! Long one.

["James LaLonde <deloreandmcxii@xxxx>" <deloreandmcxii@xxxx>]

Well I arrived in wonderful Montgomery City on the day before 
Thanksgiving. 
I approached the car with a fluttering heart (what if this car is a 
P.O.S... what if the seller lied.. what if what if what if!). That 
wasn't helped by the obviously misfiring engine of the already-
running car... that had been stored WITH gas in the tank.

Well no harm-no foul. The miss sounded me like a simple problem 
(ignition or fuel injection problem)-so I dismissed that out of 
mind. Now looking at the car, I was very PLEASANTLY surprised. Not 
only had the seller not lied about the cars cosmetic condition... 
but it was better than he made it out to be. No dings, PERFECT 
interior (save a small crack in the face of the 170mph speedo, which 
you can't see unless you have a light pointed at it), EVERYTHING 
works right (save the misfire, and the spongy hydraulics.. both 
clutch and brake). Not only that but he HAD lied... CD player not 
cassette. Being that I don't give a rats behind about this sort of 
originality, I also liked the custom exhuast and high-quality (for 
the early 90's) alarm system that were installed. 
Now the paint was probably a 8 of 10 in quality. But the black parts 
(lourves, bumbers)were shiney - not matte... which I abhore (no 
offense to you shiney-lovers out there), and the gray was lighter 
than the stainless (I prefer it "stock" mismatched... slightly 
darker than the Stainless). But I knew I'd get it repainted anyways.

So, being that the car was already running and I had already noted 
that the previous owner had installed a check valve/new style banjo 
on the old style fuel pump (with the check valve already 
integrated... ??) and another check valve (used as a banjo bolt) on 
the fuel distributor's fuel intake line -- I took the car for quick 
drive. I could sense the engine struggling for fuel and the clutch 
slipping like sh*t on a brick, but could also feel how much power 
the exhaust had added... I'm sure you understand the feeling, you 
can feel the power of the engine even though it's not getting all 
the way to the wheels. Other than the misfire, and once you got past 
idle, the engine ran and sounded smooth and healthy... if louder 
than stock.

Since I've begun work I also notice the previous owner had 
installed another smaller fuel filter/screen in the tank. And the 
rubber hoses were now more like putty. 
Now the cleanliness of the car was very nice, but was only skin-
deep. The intake manifold now removed... I see the 8 pounds of dirt 
collected under there. (since cleaned)

We trailered the car home, not wanting to chance-it with the poor 
idle and old fuel system. My dad kept getting pissed at other people 
on the road for sitting right next to the trailer, and not letting 
him switch lanes. It wasn't until 1/2 way through the trip that he 
realize why. They were gawking at the car! It was though, an un-
eventful trip back home... other than our speechless praise of the 
combination White Castle/Krispy Kreme restaurant we saw on the way 
back.

Update on my bolt; we managed to get a hole drilled through the damn 
thing with a right-angle chuck attachement, and we got a bolt 
extracted to bite on the bolt, but... once it gets under some torque 
that drill simply un-screws itself from the right-angle attachment 
rather that twisted the bolt (the right-angle attachment obivously 
wasn't meant to be used in reverse). I'm close... but may have to 
drop 100 bucks into a stub-nose drill.

Thanks for your interest Bill! We all know how much each other loves 
talking about our cars! Interesting how much desire we have to hear 
about and even look at other DeLoreans.. considering (unlike most 
other collector cars) they all basically EXACTLY THE SAME. 
Surprising how well the car shows do...(I know, I know.. it's more 
for the people than the cars... and yes I am planning on being at 
Pigeon Forge)

I don't think I annouced to list my substanial settlement on the 
car, either. I was pleasantly surprised here too. (I hadn't posted 
it during the settling, I didn't want to jinx it). They wanted to 
give me 20,500. But I settled for 18,500, plus me keeping the scrap 
without the title changing hands (no salvage title). Then as you 
know I sold 1697 to Dumb @ss (I mean Erik) and Fred Geerdink for 
$3,800. So I netted $21,516.56
I must say... they paid me WAY too much. But I won't complain.
BTW, I paid $11,800 for 4009... if you care about any of this you 
may want to know that too. :P

All in all, other than the world's loss of a DMC-12... the situation 
turned out well.

-James L 004009
(Just kidding about the dumb @ss. Erik... just a comedic recall to 
your previous post :P)