Delorean buying / tuning advice

[steve.s]

Hi

personally i like the stock look and firmly believe too many out of period mods de-values the car.

i still have usa springs on mine (have a pair of lowered in my lockup.)

the brakes are fine for the period of car, just make sure you have good calipers, discs and pads.
in addition new suspension bushings and anti-roll bar.

i have the original craig radio and i like the retro look.

performance is ok, but like Nick i have an unfitted BAE turbo which is original 80's.
literature at the times states 0-60 of 7 odd secongs (if that is true)

if you hunt long enough you may find a twin turbo setup for sale (there was one on ebay a few months ago)

if you are going for a bit more power i would say the manual gearbox handles it better too (i gather the box is good for 200 bhp ish

however owning and driving this car is not really about 0-60 times.

it is a cool car, i had some work done at pj grady to get mine on th road. on the way back cars went tanking passed, saw me, slowed down, went behind...lots of photos.

petrol stations strangers come up and chat.

pulled up at the side of the road and a chap came up, shook my hand and said how cool it is.

i know it sounds a cliche, but very trip will be an adventure

i will be at the NEC Friday.

[jerzybondov]

Claire - when you say your car owes you £10k, do you mean you've spent £10k more on it than it's worth, despite the fact you brought it in for beans? Or that you were lucky and it's worth £10k more than you've spent on it?! Sorry!

Steve - thanks for your thoughts, I wouldn't be doing anything to the car that made it look any different (apart from the stereo ). Seen some with aftermarket alloys and it's HORRIBLE! I'll be at the NEC tomorrow so I might miss you I think...

[Guinney1971]

jerzybondov Wrote:Claire - when you say your car owes you £10k, do you mean you've spent £10k more on it than it's worth, despite the fact you brought it in for beans? Or that you were lucky and it's worth £10k more than you've spent on it?! Sorry!

sorry, should have made myself clear - total investment to-date, including buying the car, is
circa £10k. At the advice of PJ Grady who costmetically restored the car last winter, she is
now insured for £18,000.

I'd never sell my car tho, she's my baby and after 6+ years of owning her, I can imagine not
having her.

Soppy eh!! lol

[jerzybondov]

Thanks for your time and advice at the NEC today Claire - have to say you've done an excellent job with Flopsy- she looks like awesome

I was wondering if I could tap into some of the forum's collective wisdom about this car:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... ht_699wt_0

Putting 2 and 2 together would suggest that it's been in an accident of some description (salvage title, car having been painted). Are there any photos in particular that would shed some more light on the car's condition? I was thinking under the carpet in the bonnet, underneath the car from both sides around all 4 wheels. If it looks OK, is it worth a pop (at under $5k) or is it just too risky? How much work is it (time/£) to strip a car back to stainless providing there's no nasty surprises?

Thanks all - hopefully I'm not going to be too much of a pest with questions on the forum over the coming weeks

[steve.s]

Hi

i see already over $5700

could be worth bidding, but make sure they have the full title for registering into the UK

as it is salvage (so a rebuild was over 1/2 value of car roughly), there could be large damage to stainless.

interior does not look too bad, usual door pistons etc needed. Headliner is a fairly cheap fix...(you will not be able to reglue though, the backing disinegrates!)

on registering in the UK, as far as i know looses the 'salvage' title.

could do with lots more photos underside in particular. also he says stone chips, ie what exactly as paint damage to a panel means repaint to that and surrounding panels.

paint can be stripped, but is expensive to do, and could have extensive stainless damage. check the vin to see if it listed as a painted car.

would need a complete regrain at the very least if taken back to stainless, which Chris at PJGrady can do. but i am sure he will tell you further about putting right stainless damage on a painted car.

so i would say only ok if very cheap car

and if you want stainless, an unpainted ok condition may be a better bet.

steve

[Guinney1971]

jerzybondov Wrote:Thanks for your time and advice at the NEC today Claire - have to say you've done an excellent job with Flopsy- she looks like awesome

ah, you're very welcome mate, and glad that both Dan and myself were able to show you all the
various bits and bobs on Flopsy and DGS so that you know what to look out for.

Personally, I'd avoid a painted car, as you never know "what lurks beneath".

I cannot take all the credit for the work on my car, it has been a labour of love over the last 6+ years,
with various club members offering help, advice and parts, and of course I cannot thank Chris and
Darren at PJ Grady enough for the amazing job they did on the stainless and my interior. *bows down,
not worthy*

Good luck hunting down a De, there are stilll plenty out there, so no need to rush into it

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

This painted car looks OK for that price, but I'm always a bit wary when people are selling on behalf of a 'mate' or whatever - it's a convienient way to remove yourself from any blame when the car doesn't live upto it's description.

As Steve and Claire said - painted cars nearly always hide something underneath. It's not the norm to buy a stainless steel car and want to paint it to make it look better. If it's hiding any panel damage - sods law says it's the hood, doors or left front fender - as the other panels are cheap enough to just replace.

The frame is also a worry - clean doesn'ty mean that it isn't rotten. A quick paint over with Hammerite will make it look clean, but will it hold up against the screwdriver test?

Lastly, the engine. It may well fire up - but that doesn't prove it's good. A blown head gasket wouldn't necessarily stop you from starting the engine - but things would go wrong pretty soon afterwards.

The interior doesn't look bad on this car - which makes me wonder why they laid the car up for so long. For $6k, I'd probably take a punt - which getting it to the Uk would set you back around £6k....and I'd be expecting between £7k - £9k to get it restored....

Darren

[jerzybondov]

Thanks for all the advice on that listing. I emailed the guy and he's since put up the extra pictures of the underside and underneath the hood which helps. He replied and said this when I asked about the engine:

The engine was running and sounding very smooth and seems to idle nice and slow on its own after a bit. I did not have to hit the gas to calm it down, but as of yesterday, the car seems to not be getting gas now. Maybe the fuel filter is clogged?? I am not sure but it was running great just the other day. It sounds great too!

I don't know enough about the D engine to read much into this, but it's not really a brilliant sign. I think the best thing to do is to keep a beady eye on it and see how it pans out. Don't think it's worth spending more than $7k on as there's just too many unknowns.

One car I am DEFINITELY going to bid on though is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... t_1249wt_0

Reckoning on $6k worth of work needing to be done on the car (in excess of his estimate) and allowing for shipping/VAT, I think it's worth me bidding up to $12k for it and seeing what happens. It may go for more than that of course, but it's worth a go. Have a look at his answers to my questions on the ebay page - nothing scary is there?

Thanks again everyone! Darren, you'll certainly be getting hold of whatever I bring into the country so let me know if I'm onto a shocker

[PJ Grady (Europe)]

No problem,

I'll have a flick through the eBay questions, etc a bit later.

Generally though - the main point is not to think that you're getting the bargain of the century or whatever. Normally, if someone is selling a DeLorean for $5k, it's because it's a POS - they haven't normally 'inherited it in a property deal', 'lost an uncle', etc - and they aren't normally selling a gem of a car for a freiend who's just TOO busy to login to the computer for 5 minutes to sell his own car!

You sound pretty realistic in what you're expecting - so I'm sure you'll be fine. With DeLoreans, anything can be fixed - we have all the body panels here, replacement engines aren't impossible to get hold of, rotten frames can be replaced or repaired and galvanised - and Ed over in Hollland can supply you with all the parts you'd ever need.

People tend to come unstuck when they spend their whole budget on a car and don't leave enough for repairs that the previous owner neglected to tell them about.

Also - somewhere on the PJ Grady website, there's a whole section on buying cars - and various scams, etc....worth taking a read before bidding....it'll on the www.pjgrady.co.uk website - under Delorean BUY/SELL.

Enjoy....

Darren

[Guinney1971]

Good advice there Darren - hopefully you and Chris will be getting calls from people wanting
cars, as we gave away leaflets advertising you to lots of people at the weekend

[jerzybondov]

Thanks for the advice again Darren. Your website has some great information on it too. If you do get a chance to have a look at the questions on eBay and see anything that's dodgy let me know, I'll be hanging around on the computer till auction end tonight

But yes, you're right - I think it's all about leaving yourself enough in the budget to put right unforeseen problems. I'm pretty much expecting any car in this price bracket to cost much more than it would first appear on sorting it out!

[bozzzydmc]

jerzybondov Wrote:Thanks for all the advice on that listing. I emailed the guy and he's since put up the extra pictures of the underside and underneath the hood which helps. He replied and said this when I asked about the engine:

The engine was running and sounding very smooth and seems to idle nice and slow on its own after a bit. I did not have to hit the gas to calm it down, but as of yesterday, the car seems to not be getting gas now. Maybe the fuel filter is clogged?? I am not sure but it was running great just the other day. It sounds great too!

I don't know enough about the D engine to read much into this, but it's not really a brilliant sign. I think the best thing to do is to keep a beady eye on it and see how it pans out. Don't think it's worth spending more than $7k on as there's just too many unknowns.

One car I am DEFINITELY going to bid on though is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... t_1249wt_0




Reckoning on $6k worth of work needing to be done on the car (in excess of his estimate) and allowing for shipping/VAT, I think it's worth me bidding up to $12k for it and seeing what happens. It may go for more than that of course, but it's worth a go. Have a look at his answers to my questions on the ebay page - nothing scary is there?

Thanks again everyone! Darren, you'll certainly be getting hold of whatever I bring into the country so let me know if I'm onto a shocker

Hi

2 things stuck out for me on his ad :-

"Replaced Front main frame Section
Replaced Front Crumple Tube"

And the message he left for someone else ....

"Gez, The car was up to the shell in mud under some tree that leaked sap that took forever to clean off, The car hauler took 2 hours to get it out of the mud so he could load it, The closing panel was rusted out, the crumple tube came off the car as did the front frame cross support(I have replaced with new metal & good crumple tube) "

These are actually the same thing and #not# an easy part to replace... maybe ask him who carried out the work and how this was done... the origional piece is welded to the 'main' frame and carries all the the anti roll bar and steering rack etc .... Perhaps ask for some additional photos of this and the frame ....

Regards

Mike

[Guinney1971]

erk!! if its been up to its axles in mud, then lets hope it isnt all rusty under the pretty paint job.......

There's summat about this seller that I dont *like* if you get my drift?

[Tourettes Tony]

yeah and he wants 18k $'s so its not going to be 10k i spent 6k and spent another 7 doing mine up and i had a complete car just be wary TT

[jerzybondov]

Well, just won the auction for $9,600 so I guess it's a little academic now! Thanks for the advice guys- hopefully at this price it won't be the end of the world if I need to spend a bit extra on getting it sorted...

Aaaagh- what have I done?! Excited, scared... will ask him about how he did the job on the front of the car...