What do you know about your PO?

[SS Spoiler]

The first DeLorean I ever saw was next to a jacked up Jeep at Park Jeep Burnsville Mn. The Jeep was so high and the DeLorean so low, it looked like you could drive right under. The light reflected just so....I was
entranced. Stopping to look at it stirred up something in me that fanned the flames of desire, that I was losing
sleep. After a month of reading about the car, I approached the dealer with cash in hand only to discover it
had been sold. heartbreak....hotel here I come. Six months later a gal in our church mentioned she thinks
there might be one of them funny cars at Trail Dodge. [after moaning about my missed opportunity to any and all] Turned out the car had been bought by an 18 year old that couldn't get insurance, and it ended up at the
repo lot.
You guessed it, straight to Trail Dodge, one mile test drive and it was ours. Did the worst thing I could have done, bought the first one I saw. Went into it cold turkey, knowing nothing of the car or its history. Later meet the original owner at his tiny one man apt. on the twenty second floor of a high-rise in downtown Minneapolis.
MN uses so much salt on the roads to melt snow that bridges are falling down. Probably why I had to replace the frame in 1988. [see "rust never sleeps" in DeLorean World mag.]
27 years later, and much wiser our car still gives my wife and I a thrill when on the road.

Paul / Kate Cerny #2691
Kalispell, MT

[wrkey]

I was dating the PO of Della when I found out she had it. I was not really that interested in the vehicle when she first mentioned it. Her and her ex-husband has bought the car new from the San Antonio, Texas dealer as their oil field consultation business was doing very well. She drove the car most of the time but never really liked it for the lack of power, visiability, ect. Since the car was sitting the garage most of the time, everytime the took it out it ran terrible and then they would spend a lot to make it run right. Then that cycle woud happen again. Aftr I had dated her about a year, she mentioned that her ex-husband was wanting to sell the vehicle and she didn't want to 'buy it back' (they traded the car back and forth several times since their divorce but never changed the title). We went and looked at the car in the storage unit (he had the title, she had the keys, go figure). I made an offer and he counter offered and I gave him my absolute final number and he accepted.

So, I am the second owner and after a good amount of work by DMCH and myself, I happily drive the car at least once or twice a week and she hasn't let me down yet. I purchased the car with 13k miles on her and now she has 21k.

[Mark D]

Chuck, the previous owner of my car purchased 06125 in June/July of 2001 when it had around 6,000 miles on the odometer. He's from Sandusky, OH and treated the car very well during his ownership until he sold it to me in 2008. He was fairly active in the DeLorean community during his ownership and attended a few major shows and events. Included when I bought the car was every receipt from every purchase he ever made for parts & service. I cataloged it all in a binder and logged it in an excel spreadsheet. I continue to document all work that I've done and keep a running tab of work and expenses.

From what I can tell 06125 was mostly original prior to Chuck's purchase from a local dealership in Sandusky. The car must have been stored indoors most of its first 20 years because of the minimal rust and great shape of the interior. After Chuck purchased the car he spent a few years upgrading the fuel system to resolve hot start issues and he did some cosmetic updates. He was meticulous about keeping it clean and the car has been extremely reliable since I've owned it.

Prior to Chuck's ownership I know very little about the car. The dealership listed on the previous title didn't have any history on it when I called about 5 years ago. DMV records are all private now due to privacy laws so I'm pretty much out of luck there...

The only potential lead I haven't exhausted yet is the Delorean Owners Association sticker in the passenger lower corner of the windshield...whoever owned the car prior to Chuck was most likely a member....Chuck said he investigated during his ownership but could never get a name of the PO. I haven't done much searching of my own but I'm interested to dig deeper.

In my 6 years of ownership I've done a lot of work to 06125 to restore as much of the car back to factory new...earlier in my ownership I used to email a few photos to Chuck every once in a while when I refurbished a part or after a fresh detail so he knew I was taking good care of the car. I've never gotten a response back though, so I haven't put any effort forth in a while to try and keep in contact. Maybe he doesn't want to be reminded of it, or maybe he just doesn't care anymore. Either way, I feel lucky that I was able to find a car that was well taken care of for so many years prior to my ownership.

Great thread by the way, I love reading about the history of other people's cars and how each car has been on a unique journey.

[GS450-Junkie]

Perhaps ancestry.com could branch out a bit more and have a classic car PO lineage section.

[Dangermouse]

Haha, my PO was called Chuck too. I'll throw together a short history later

[DMCVegas]

No much. PO died years ago and the car was left to rot since he was the only one in the family that apparently liked it. One of his surviving children decided to sell it off, and felt that it was not prestigious enough for him. This is all that I know since the car was at a service center being sold, and the seller and all family wanted absolutely zero contact with the buyer for reasons I'm not entirely certain of (though I think I may have an idea given price discrepancies on the paperwork).

After some research, all I was ever able to find out was that the son in charge is some guy that broke off and helped found some splinter faction of Amway. Still trying to sort it out, but it looks as though the PO was a lawyer and then a dentist (if he was a lawyer, it's a first). 2 months after buying the car brand new, his step son died. The mystery just gets deeper and deeper....

[Dangermouse]

I guess I am fortunate to be able to trace the owners of my car all the way back to the stone age. Or at least 1981.

Claude T (the owner/builder of AristoCraft Boats) bought 2743 new from Hub Motor Company in Atlanta in October 1981. I assume that it came in through the East QAC but I am still researching that bit

Claude lived (or possibly still lives) In Roswell, a short 5 mile drive from Hub. He drove it for 32,126 miles before he (or his family) auctioned it off in June 1997 to a guy named AJ in Kennesaw GA (PO#2). AJ lived 21 miles from Claude. It had 32126 miles on it. AJ was a CEO of a major carpet retailer that seemed to get into some financial hot water around about the time that he bought 2743.

AJ Auctioned it 9 months later in April 1998 to PO #3 Chuck in Atlanta. Chuck lived 22 miles from AJ (and 1.58 miles from the OO, Claude). He immediately had it repaired and the invoice shows 32216 miles, which could easily be a number transposition and AJ didn’t turn a wheel, or at best AJ put 90 miles on it.

Chuck undertook considerable renovation with Byrne H in 2000/2001 and I bought it in 2008 with still only 35000 miles on it. I am 20-ish miles from Chuck and only about 22 miles from the original dealer, Hub.

I don't think it has ever left the state and may not have been more than 100 miles from it's aptly named Hub dealer. Though that is pure speculation as I have no idea what Claude did with it.

[David T]

Tracing the "Chain-Of-Ownership" can be an interesting experience. You do a Title search in the last State of known registry. In some States the search is very reasonable and in others it is expensive. Sometimes one State leads to another and another depending on the number of previous owners and where they lived. Like a Carfax you see dates, mileage, owner's names and addresses. Don't be surprised if previous owners are not as enthusiastic about the car as you are. Always ask if they kept any mementos or extra parts, you will be surprised at all of the stuff you can get!

[sdg3205]

Tracing the "Chain-Of-Ownership" can be an interesting experience. You do a Title search in the last State of known registry. In some States the search is very reasonable and in others it is expensive. Sometimes one State leads to another and another depending on the number of previous owners and where they lived. Like a Carfax you see dates, mileage, owner's names and addresses. Don't be surprised if previous owners are not as enthusiastic about the car as you are. Always ask if they kept any mementos or extra parts, you will be surprised at all of the stuff you can get!

I think it's fair to say when you get the car in terrible shape, the PO is probably less than enthusiastic. Gene, my PO (the 3rd owner) didn't care much about the car from what i could gather.

[TTait]

I got a lot of documentation with my first D, and knew the original owners name, and that he had worked at Universal Studios about the same time I did (he sold to Universal and I rescued it from them a dozen years later). Every couple years I googled him but he keeps a low profile. Finally after 5 years he popped up on linked in and I got in touch. By this time he was then working at Disney, and moved over there shortly thereafter as well.

We scheduled a lunch, but his schedule got tight, so we just took a 20 minute drive in the car. The resto was still in progress but he he was pleased to reconnect with the car nearly 20 years after he last saw it. I invited him to come see the car at the company car show a few years later, not sure if he made it or not as it was a busy day. Unfortunately the car was totalled by a yahoo in a pickup a few months later - did not have the heart to tell him.

I know the name of the PO of my second D - he's from Taunton, MA which I have driven through many times heading for Cape Cod. Have not looked him up. The car was pretty jacked up when I got it so I'm not sure he had a lot of love for the car, so what would we talk about?

T