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Thread: 5470

  1. #1
    Senior Member rickjames8's Avatar
    Join Date:  Jul 2011

    Location:  Northern Virginia, near Washington DC.

    Posts:    214

    My VIN:    5470

    5470

    So I am making this thread for me to track the history of my car, and what I've done with it since buying it. If the day ever comes that I sell the car, the new owner can have bit of history on what's been done to the car as well.

    For starters, I bought the car off of William Randy Smith from Martinsburg, WV. He was a car collector - not in to Deloreans, but just in to interesting cars. He will have moved soon, so anyone trying to track down previous owners in the future will need to do a wider search.
    s-l1600 (1).jpg s-l1600 (2).jpg s-l1600.jpg
    It was an eBay auction where the buyer didn't come through and I bought it outside of the auction.

    The odometer had 4772 showing, but it was stuck there for 15 years, and had clearly been once-around at some point.
    Looking at Carfax, it looks like the car was from CA and driven pretty regularly during it's first few years. About 3000 miles a year for the first 12 years. Then the car took a wild jump of 60,000 miles in 2 years. It's unlikely that's accurate, and more likely that a speedometer issue back in '93 meant trying to find a used replacement regardless of the mileage (new units would not have been available back then). So, combine that with the 15 years of no speedo, and I'd say that the mileage could actually be pretty close to correct, although that's just a guess and this car will be forever branded "true mileage unknown".
    DMC history.jpg

    I do know that the previous owner drove it once every 6 months, just to keep it going, and that was 2 miles back and forth to town. He said he didn't enjoy driving the car.

    The guy I bought it from, bought it from a guy who lived 3 hours away, not in CA. He told me that when he wanted to buy it, he told the seller, "drive it here, if it makes it under it's own power, I'll buy it". I don't know that owners name, or the one in CA.

    There are numerous fixes that indicate this was a much driven and much loved car at some point. Randy displayed the car with the doors open for 4 years, and I fear that some of the door alignment issues I now have may be a result of them bending over time.

    i bought the car in November of 2016, planned to change the oil and coolant immediately, but upon checking both, they both looked like fresh fluids, so I am waiting until warmer weather.

    I drive the car pretty regularly, and took it on a 100 mile round trip the other day, with no issues.

    I needed to replace a wheel bearing, steering rack, and tie rod ends to pass inspection. I also had some loose wires that needed cleaning.

    I've made a tiny mod to the hood latch handle and added a spring.

    I have bought Spax shocks, and have lined up some lower springs and will install them shortly.

    I took out the 1990 Sony CD player and put in a nicer Pioneer. I'd like to upgrade the stereo to a double-din unit someday, and relocate the vents, as some others have done.

    I changed out the door struts.

    I fixed the eyebrows - there are now metal bars in the fascia.

    I have bought a PRV carb manifold and will hold on to it. If the k-jet starts acting up, I am prepared to carb and store the k-jet for the next owner. If I have more catastrophic engine issues, I will look at doing some sort of a mild swap, to a V6 in the 200hp range.

    I'm working on a tail-light mod, but this is a pet project that may not get a lot of attention.
    Last edited by rickjames8; 01-11-2017 at 10:54 PM.

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