Hey all,
I've now formally come to the decision to get a DeLorean. I ain't got the cash so I've decided to go all out, sell my house and rent a place with a bigger garage, then get a loan to cover the amount. At the moment I got around £5k banked, so gonna need to take a loan for £10k - £15k I reckon. Given myself the goal of getting one before this time next year, so... where do I start? Anyone any suggestions on how to find a good car? Here are the particulars of what I'm after:
Grey interior
Manual gearbox
2nd generation bonnet (with groves and hidden petrol cap)
Decent - good condition as I'm no mechanic (yet!)
I've been told the pros and cons of shipping in from the US and, to be honest, I'd probably prefer buying from the UK, although I'd reconsider if the right circumstances arose. Any ideas/recommendations appreciated
Cheers,
Steve
How handy are you with DIY car stuff?
Not really good at all at the moment, I've had no practice! But it's the type of thing I reckon I could learn - I'm not bad at problem solving
have you got anything suitable in the pipeline Martin?
The only cars I know of for sale are black interior ones, and I know one is
an automatic with LPG but it needs TLC from what I've read on the advert.
I don't think I'd mind an automatic, it was only a light preference
But yeah, I think it needs to be in reasonably good nick
Hi Steve,
The good news is that the configuration you're after is the most common DeLorean spec so theoretically you should have more examples to choose from. There are however a few questions you should ask yourself early on:
Will this car be my daily driver or a second car?
Any DeLorean is around 30 years old by now. If it's going to be your daily driver I'd want to see evidence that the car has had money spent in the right places (regular servicing and maintenance, electrical updates, possibly overhauled suspension, brakes etc). You need to know that it's going to get you to work for 9:00am on a rainy Monday morning and the only thing worse than getting a rollocking off your boss for being late is the nagging doubt that you might break down again on the way home. If the DeLorean will be your second car you can sort out the little niggles over time and if you do happen to break down on a leisurely Saturday drive, you can be laughing it off in the pub by Saturday evening knowing that you've got all next week to investigate the problem without worrying that it has to be back on the road by Sunday night.
How confident am I that I can fix things myself?
This is the big one really and ties in to the question above. As many owners will tell you, your DeLorean will test your patience from time to time as things will wear out and break. Hourly labour costs at a decent classic/specialist car garage are not cheap so the ability to fix things yourself will save you a lot of money and therefore stress, especially if you're on a strict budget. You will also get to know your car inside out and you'll be able to keep an eye on areas which might need attention in the future. If you've not had a lot of experience with car DIY, buy yourself a copy of the DeLorean workshop manual before you get the car and start familiarising yourself with how things are assembled. After all, you're definitely going to need a copy of the workshop manual anyway, so you might as well buy it now.
How bothered am I about originality?
If you want your car to look like it came out of the factory last week then one major area of cost will be the interior. If you're sourcing a car from one of the hot states in the USA the interiors can be brittle and, in the case of grey interior cars especially, the dashboard area can be burnt brown by the sun. DMCH are now selling replacement dashboards but I've yet to see the quality of these firsthand. Different people take originality to different levels of obsession but if the car is going to be your daily driver you'll need to be more bothered about whether the cooling system is working than whether it's got the correct texture of carpet or whether the decals have all rubbed off the interior switches.
As you can see, the answers to these questions will dictate the type of car you'll be looking for. Make the right choice early on and in time you'll look back and wonder how you ever got along without your DeLorean. After nine years of DeLorean ownership I still get the same excitement from it that I used to in the early days.
Cheers,
Steve,
First off I got my D 11 years ago so some things may have changed out in the market place.
You can try looking in off beat places for people selling a D for example my car was advertised in Exchange & Mart.
Not the best place to sell a specialist car.
I would say don't buy the first car you see, however in my case the first car I saw was painted red but only had 7500 miles on the clock. It was mint. But it did not run.
I could not bring myself to buy a painted D.
Well with what I know now I could have started the car there and then :roll: .
It also turned out to be a car painted for the factory. In other words a very rare car.
I could have taken it away for £7500......DOH!
Never be shy on making a cheeky offer. My car was up for £14k. The classic car loving guys I worked with at the time fed up with me talking about DeLoreans told me to ring the bloke up and make a offer. £8k and it was mine
.
Nick H
ayr41 Wrote:Don't know if this is any good, noticed it on Car & Classic site, car is in Cardigan Wales if it is still available?
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C233417
This is Stuart Rees's car, previously seen on E-Bay as per another thread just recently.
I dont like to be a wet blanket, but DeLoreans are a luxary...a boys toy and I personally dont believe in borrowing money for a toy, keep saving up and one will come along eventually at your price, but they do need a bit of maintinence...get friendly with a chum who is handy with his tool kit.
Just my opinion.
Chris P Wrote:I dont like to be a wet blanket, but DeLoreans are a luxary...a boys toy and I personally dont believe in borrowing money for a toy, keep saving up and one will come along eventually at your price, but they do need a bit of maintinence...get friendly with a chum who is handy with his tool kit.
Just my opinion.
I have to agree with Chris.P on this one. I didn't want to be the wet blanket, but since that towel has now been thrown in by someone else first....
I think that changing your personal standard of living to buy a luxury big boy's toy is a bit crazy. I saved for 20 years for my car. Before i bought it, i had a steady, reliable and safe job, i had a house with a decent chunk of mortgage paid off, and also backup emergency savings in the bank in the form of an ISA etc before i even considered myself to be in a position to buy a D'.
I would urge you to do the same. Have patience. You'll appreciate it all the more when the day of purchase finally arrives. If you think it's hard now, not having one, think how hard it will be if you rush into it, throw every other consideration out of the window, only to be hit with reality further down the line, meaning you then have to sell your pride and joy in order to get by again.
That would break your heart more after putting your heart and soul into it.
Much more than the car that only lives in your head right now which you are so desperately wanting to make a reality.
In the same theme,
When I was 18, ( i'm 62 now) I borrowed £90 to help buy a minivan, ( i'd got £30 to go towards it) It seems a laughablie figure now, but I was living with my folks and only earning £9 a week.
It took me 2 years to pay it back and I was fed up with the car well before then. I made a vow with my girlfiend, (now my wife of 40 years) that I would never borrow any money, ever, for anything except our house, I never have. It is my proud boast that I have never paid a penny in iterest. Yes the first 10 years were very tough, 3 children, 1 wage, mortgage, but I frequently changed cars ( bangers rearlly) always with saved up money.
And I tell you what, if you have scrimpted and saved, you make sure you get a good deal when you do buy anything!
Having said all that I am just borrowing a huge amount of money as a sort of bridging loan to buy our "Final" house/ Home. Yes, Parnham Palace will be on the marked next spring.
Hey guys, thanks so much for the feedback. I know what you mean about not taking a loan of changing my lifestyle for something that I don't actually need. It's a move I've been considering for some time. The thing is that I'm starting to get to that age (im 28 next month) where I'll likely be settling down soon and I just dont want it to be a case of finally having the money available but being unable to spend it because the future wife thinks it's more important we buy a new patio!
The thought of waiting another few years, particularly now I've got accustomed to the decision to buy, is awful. Figure you're only young once so I may as well go for it
Steve, do whatever makes you happy !
Oh, and not all of us girls think that its better to spend money on a new patio then a car :lol:
A little update on my position, Parnham palace sold, parnham cottage finished as of now, vin 522 running and book re-started with the assistance of Andy W and Barrie Wills.