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People's reactions - Good and Bad
#1
I have seen many mentions of positive reactions to Deloreans out in the wild in the UK but what are your best and worst public reactions you have experienced with your car?

Has anybody had any problems with vandalism/negative comments, either at home or otherwise....any heart warming stories?

Also, how about reactions from friends, family etc when you told them you were buying a Delorean....positive or negative? Personally, I have told nobody about my thoughts on buying a Delorean yet, but I have a feeling I will get some mixed negative and positive reactions when I do.

Just curious to hear what I might have to look forward to Smile
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#2
[quote
Has anybody had any problems with vandalism/negative comments, either at home or otherwise....][/quote]
From my experience 98% of people (especially younger people) love the car and are really pleased to see one. The other 2% comment on owning part of it/it was a con/they never ran properly/doors stuck/ and all the rest of the comments. But the positive by far out number any negative comments. Usually it's the older generation that give the bad comments (50+) age group as they were around more when the money was invested (clearly forgetting what was invested in British Leyland/British Steel...the list goes on) But this really only happens at car shows anyway, out on the road I have only ever had positive stuff. never had any vandalism, unless you call fingerprints vandalism (people have to touch bare metal :evil: )
Chris
Membership Secretary DOC UK
2021's DeLorean event: http://www.deloreans.co.uk/forum/showthr...p?tid=6056
VIN#15768 Ex VIN#4584
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#3
...Like Chris said. They are VERY tactile cars. People have an obsession with touching them. Shiny bare metal, who can resist!? :lol: So be prepared to be ALWAYS cleaning yours. The cars don't come off well when they are all finger print stained etc. Definitely at their best when virginal clean and shiny all over.

I've only mostly had positive reactions. Mostly as Chris said, although I DID have a 60+ guy in the Tesco petrol station in Rugby last year ask me about it in the queue for paying for the fuel. He didn't recognise it at all!? He didn't recognise the name, the story, the controversy....nothing at all about the car. He just ended the conversation with "so it's quite rare then? A bit of a collector's item then??"....and then he scurried off back under his wee rock for another 30 years. :lol:

Only one negative story, and there's not much to tell. It was just a couple of boy-racers in a shopping trolley with alloys and a shopping list down the side. They really were giving me bother, revving their "engine", accelerating right up to the back of me, and then braking, repeatedly, and then got bored and overtook me while flipping the bird etc. a couple of wee boys. I was only concerned that they might slip on their feet and wet mother's milk, and crash into me or something if they dropped their dummies on to their lap. That was in Scotland a couple of years ago. Never had anything like that before or since.

Anyway...

...If you've not told anyone yet, then don't. Leave it a surprise/secret. It WILL be hard, but try. Here's why... (you better get a cup of tea. It's ok, i'll wait for you. Hurry though...)

Years go, from about the age of 17 (just around the time one learns to drive and has his provisional driving license etc) I started explaining to people that I was one day going to be driving a DeLorean. Everyone laughed and told me to get real. (This is mostly the parents etc of course, as unless you were a big Back to the Future fan like me from the age of 12, then you really didn't know what a DeLorean was....until someone like me explained it to you)
This went on for years....by this time, I was telling friends and colleagues etc. People got bored. Told me to get real, and that i'd never have a DeLorean, and that I should wake up and shut up, because quite frankly, they were all fed up hearing about it... One of my "friends" even said to me, that if he ever won the lottery, he'd buy as many DeLorean's as possible, park them outside of my house, and then set fire to them all in front of me, just to see the expression on my face.

Many many years later. 2009 in fact. I was internet shopping for a BMW. That got boring really quick. Just as a laugh, I searched online ads for dream cars instead. In those searches, in fact the last dream car search I then happened to stay with, was for DeLorean's. There were 3 available. I couldn't believe my eyes. In the 3, was my car today. It was too expensive. There was no way I could afford it. I saved the search, and closed it down. Another week passed, and I had another look. 3 was now 2. I felt sick. My car was still there. It was still the same price. Too expensive. Another week passed. I was getting ready to go out, and was just checking my emails etc. Last minute, I checked the Delorean search again. Still 2 cars. However! My car had been reduced! OMG! It was STILL too expensive! ...but, with a little wangling, I MIGHT just be able to make that amount, especially after being paid next. With clothes still half way on me, trying to get ready, I made myself late by sending an email of interest and questions to the seller of my car, and headed out for the night....late.

After a couple of emails to the seller, and starting to think that I really was interested, and that this was not so much a dream, more a possibility instead, I talked to my dad on the phone. Told him I was speaking to a seller of a DeLorean. No-one had ever heard me talk about DeLorean's for quite a while by this point. Not since the public DeLorean bonfire threat... My dad, once again, telling me not to be silly, and that it didn't matter that this was my dream car. He said, if I ever owned one, it would become by worst nightmare. He said, "remember how you are with your car now....the slightest squeak, the littlest rattle, and it drives you crazy." He said "just imagine what an old car like that would be like! ...You'll be driven crazy in no time at all!" ...I left it at that.

Another few emails later, and about another few days to a week, and I was starting to arrange going all the way down the length of the country from Glasgow to Oxted to see this car. I phoned my parents to say I would not be coming to see them that weekend, since I was going to go and stay with this DeLorean seller for a night, talk all things BTTF and DeLorean's and view this car of his. My dad, in his usual way, told me (getting worried at this time) not to be silly, and not to waste my money etc. He pointed out I didn't have anywhere to keep it, even if I DID buy it. He said very loudly over the telephone "...And where do you think you're going to keep this car!?".... there was a long silence between us. No-one said anything for what seemed many minutes. "Oh now wait a wee minute! ...If you think you're keeping a car like that in MY garage, you've got another think coming!" 8 weeks later, it was in his garage. Secretly, I think he's quite proud now. Especially when people like British Gas come round to read the meter etc, and my dad has to open up the garage to let them do this. People's reactions, he says, is priceless! ha-ha!

Anyway, yeah, I told my parents. Only my parents. I needed their help to pick up the car and drive it back to Edinburgh via Rugby. They told my sister. My sister was disgusted. Never spoke to me about it directly, but was trying everything to persuade my parents to stop me buying this DeLorean. They couldn't however, it was MY money.

By the time I got the car all the way up to Edinburgh, after a short few days stop in Rugby to fix the brake lights, indicators etc (since they were barely working, and really dim) My sister had arranged to come over from her B/F's to see everyone, since I was home etc. Nothing to do with the shiny new/old car she and my parents were so controversial about, and had failed miserably at warning me off the idea of buying....supposedly. When she walked up the driveway, and saw the car sitting there. She literally stopped. She put her hand to her mouth, and was agasp! You could see the face-wide smile creeping out from behind her hands (as i was looking secretly from behind the curtain of the lounge window so she couldn't see me). This of course, I knew, was a good sign. I rushed round to the front door to greet her. "Oh My GOD!!....I love it Chris! ...You have your own sexy little sports car!!! I take it ALL back, it's amazing!!" she said.

..Now on to the friends. I still didn't tell ANY of my friends what i'd been up to. Not one of them knew of my latest purchase, or what i'd been doing for the few weeks preceding. One by one, I invited them round, since I was home for a bit and they could see me if they wanted. They agreed. Their reactions were like my sister's, but more along the side of complete disbelief, and shock at what they were seeing sitting in my parents driveway. Desperate to have a sit in it etc. They just kept shaking their heads in utter disbelief. It was so funny getting all these reactions from people. It'll always be something i'll remember. It would never have happened if I hadn't kept it all a secret though.

Needless to say, after all the commotion had subsided, I spent days clearing out my dad's garage ready to put the car into before I had to leave Edinburgh again and go back to work in Glasgow.

THE END. :wink:
Rissy
(Forum Member 288)
(DOC Member 663)

May 1981 vin#1458 "LEX"
Grey, Flapped, Black
Chassis: #1073
Engine: #2839

Main Car(s):
2005 BMW M3 in Velvet Blue
2010 Honda Civic Type R in Sapphire Blue (1 of 115 made)
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#4
Well I think my family thought I was slightly mad for buying one site unseen from the States - especially as I could have bought a nice 911, TR6, Lotus Esprit for the same money over here. And colleagues at work generally rip the piss outta me, cus in their eyes, I've bought a bit of a 'rubbish' car (they then did say they were 100% jealous though!)

I am getting a lot of BTTF references (beginning to get a bit tiring, although love the films of course.) Including from one nice lady who quoted on the insurance for it (not the cheapest, so sadly she lost out).

Haven't actually driven it yet. Still with Chris N being renovated. But I should imagine it will garner a lot of attention - not really something I want tbh. So we shall see what ownership is really like. Still any nice old car will get a lot of attention to a certain extent. Just maybe the DeLorean is x10 (or x100 - we shall see).

Steve
Stephen Partt
Bristol
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#5
Cool story Chris! To echo what you said, my family were the same regarding my decision to buy a D, so in the end I didn't tell them I'd bought one, let alone bought one on the other side of the world. The first they saw of it was when I'd picked it up Canvey Island after Chris N had finished working his magic.

SteveyP Wrote:But I should imagine it will garner a lot of attention - not really something I want tbh.
Kinda goes with the territory Steve. I'm quite a shy person until I get to know someone, so having complete strangers want to come and chat to you about your car is a little strange at first - all I can say is, you'll get used to it soon enough. Smile
VIN# 04708, Grey interior, 5 speed, October 1981
DOC 649
ex DOC 562
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#6
Wow, excellent post Chris....some really interesting stuff in there and I think I can expect some similar early responses from parents Smile

Some really interesting stuff in this thread overall Smile
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#7
just to add my 2pth, my car used to live on the road outside my house when I lived in Stevenage
and I never had any bother with vandalism.

Just to echo what most on here have said, you'll get very few negative comments from 'jo public'
about the car, but you will get the "I own a piece of that" brigade at car shows, and also you get
(normally men) telling their wives a complete pile of drivel about *your* car at shows, whilst their
standing next to it, completely oblivious to the owner sitting in the car - I sometimes can't help myself
but correct them in my own, inimitable way Wink which often has Phill and RichH cringing as I reduce a
previously smug git down to a "oh really, I never realised that", backtracker who now looks a total
prat infront of his wife - but hey, thats just me, I enjoy a bit of sport with the punters at times lol :wink:

On the whole tho, the car gets a very positive reaction wherever it goes, although you will rapidly get
fed up of being asked "where's the flux capacitor", "what happens when you get to 88mph", "is there any
cocaine in the bumpers", "so how do you get out of it when a car parks next to you" - and the classic
"so what do you clean it with?" - which is usually said whilst they are rubbing the bodywork with their
greasy fingers that have just been round an offering from the nearby burger van.

Enjoy !! 8)
Claire Wright  - Club Treasurer
Jul 1981 DeLorean - Flopsy #2292 
Aug 1989 Cavalier 1.6L - Guinney
Apr 2021 Mokka-e Launch Edition - Evie
#170
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#8
Having just taken my DeLorean to her first car show, I've got to agree with the general consensus in here. Most people were really positive about the car, wanted to get pictures with it and had lots of questions to ask. A lot of them had never seen one in person before, and had lots of questions about the history of the car and the company.

A few were generally negative and liked to tell me why I wasted my money, often with them telling me I was wrong about the car when I corrected them about incorrect "facts" in their almost rehearsed speech on why I was wrong. Most of the conversations ended with me asking them "So when did you own a DeLorean then? Oh, never? Well that must be why you're such an expert". Only a few people pushed me to being that rude though, and when they did they mostly shut up after that.

I didn't get any criticism from the people who brought along their cars to the show. Every single other classic car owner I spoke with was genuinely curious about the car and seemed impressed. Had a nice chat with a bunch of Lotus owners who had no idea about the Lotus connection, and pointed them at Nick Suttons' book which they seemed interested in.

I managed to dodge most of the Flux Capacitor questions by strategically placing this on the center console;

[Image: DSC06452.jpg]

Was enough to give most people a chuckle and have them ask me about the car rather than quote the movie at me Smile

Sadly though I have to say I've had one incident of vandalism on my car only having owned it a month Sad I had taken the car out for a quick run after completing some work on her and decided to stop in a countryside pub on the way back for a quick celebratory (non-alcoholic) drink, and on coming out the pub found scratches on the hood. I don't think it was their intention to scratch it, but it looks like somebody tried to slide across the hood and scratched it.

Still furious about it :evil:
VIN 4494, Grey interior, 5 speed, October 1981
DOC 757
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#9
yeah, sadly you do get the "know it all" types who think they are an expert of everything they've never owned.

Bummer about the bonnet - you can buy 'blending pads' online or in car parts shops for a few quid, they can come
in handy for hand rubbing (carefully) out minor imperfections.
Claire Wright  - Club Treasurer
Jul 1981 DeLorean - Flopsy #2292 
Aug 1989 Cavalier 1.6L - Guinney
Apr 2021 Mokka-e Launch Edition - Evie
#170
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#10
Guinney1971 Wrote:you can buy 'blending pads' online or in car parts shops for a few quid

I've found that 300 grit sand paper works quite well with the grain on LEX. I've managed to remove garage wall scrapes from the doors which Jay put there before selling to me...
Rissy
(Forum Member 288)
(DOC Member 663)

May 1981 vin#1458 "LEX"
Grey, Flapped, Black
Chassis: #1073
Engine: #2839

Main Car(s):
2005 BMW M3 in Velvet Blue
2010 Honda Civic Type R in Sapphire Blue (1 of 115 made)
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#11
During last years TT festival I had the car at a show and I had the rear covers up showing the engine. Whilst I was talking to a guy about the car a bloke came up bold as brass pulled of a couple of bits from the engine then starting walking away!

The crowd of bikers around the car couldn't believe what they'd just seen and on mass mobbed him and promptly retrieved the bits.

That said the poor D at the Ulster transport museum has been picked clean of trim bits so guess I can't complain too much.
VIN 17152 - The Manx 'D'
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#12
jwrayth Wrote:Sadly though I have to say I've had one incident of vandalism on my car only having owned it a month Sad I had taken the car out for a quick run after completing some work on her and decided to stop in a countryside pub on the way back for a quick celebratory (non-alcoholic) drink, and on coming out the pub found scratches on the hood. I don't think it was their intention to scratch it, but it looks like somebody tried to slide across the hood and scratched it.

Still furious about it :evil:

Oh, thats really not fair.....such a short time of ownership and that happens already...not nice....sorry to hear that....hope you get it cleaned up without too much trouble.

Manxmann Wrote:During last years TT festival I had the car at a show and I had the rear covers up showing the engine. Whilst I was talking to a guy about the car a bloke came up bold as brass pulled of a couple of bits from the engine then starting walking away!

The crowd of bikers around the car couldn't believe what they'd just seen and on mass mobbed him and promptly retrieved the bits.

That said the poor D at the Ulster transport museum has been picked clean of trim bits so guess I can't complain too much.

Thats unbelievable! Amazing that anyone would have the audacity to do that....anybody else had issues with having bits stolen? Especially those who have to keep there cars on the road or driveway?

It's becoming pretty clear that people can be a little annoying when it comes to the Delorean either by their misinformed negative comments or irritating jokes...but I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth...and luckily the smooth is more common Smile
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#13
Quote: a bloke came up bold as brass pulled of a couple of bits from the engine then starting walking away!

The crowd of bikers around the car
Shock I'm amazed he could walk away after doing that surrounded by a group of bikers who are even more passionate than car owners about property. Funny old world.
Chris
Membership Secretary DOC UK
2021's DeLorean event: http://www.deloreans.co.uk/forum/showthr...p?tid=6056
VIN#15768 Ex VIN#4584
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#14
Stunned I think describes it best, however once the items where returned and the bit of shouting was done it became apparent that either alcohol or some form of extreme aspirin replacement was at work.

My biggest pet hate are those adults who jump into the drivers seat without invitation. I remember talking to an Italian biker who plonked himself in the seat, when I asked him what he'd do if he'd found me sitting on his bike without his permission he admitted he be very cross so I said exactly so GET THE FRACK OUT OF MY CAR!!
VIN 17152 - The Manx 'D'
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#15
Most folks are very positive about the car. If it's the first D in the area, expect to get LOTS of attention for at least the first year.

As others have mentioned, you get a lot of flux capacitor jokes, JZD dodgy geezer comments and the occasional "which bit do I own?" remarks.
Rather than irritate me, they make me smile - I don't see anybody talking to the owner of the next car in the line, no matter how misguided their remarks...

Car shows are really the worst places...

Folks like to help themselves - A LOT. It's very common to find some Joe sitting in your drivers seat having their photo taken.
I once closed the doors (but didn't lock them) to go and get an ice cream, when I came back some doofus was sitting in my seat, can of coke in my ashtray, having a good old poke around... I was speechless....
I've caught a couple of folks trying to get a look at the engine, and then dropping the louvres from a foot up, like a normal car bonnet Shock
Parents think it's some kind of playpen for their kids and then get huffy when you ask them to extract their sprog from your car.

Watch out for souvenier hunters. I always swap out the cigarette lighter and my pull straps are sympathetically tie wrapped to the door handles!
Richard H. DOC 365 VIN 1274
http://www.deloreans.co.uk
In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
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