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Thread: In Defense of VIN Counters

  1. #1
    Senior Member Citizen's Avatar
    Join Date:  Jun 2011

    Location:  Houston, TX

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    In Defense of VIN Counters

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael View Post
    If anyone ever approaches me and asks for my vin I will assume it's just a crazy psycho who is obsessed with meaningless pursuits. I imagine Video Bob has a similar concern.
    I suppose the “crazy psycho” comment was meant for me. No worries though, I am believing/hoping that was an exaggeration, and no one really believes I (and others) are psychos.

    In response however, I would to point out the VIN counters actually provide a service of sort; in that collecting this information affords us the ability to know way more about these cars than we did before, form their births in Ireland, to their lives and deaths around the globe. This is interesting information for DeLorean specific car enthusiasts who are also history buffs. The information is free to those interested, and easily ignored by those who say it’s a “meaningless pursuit”. Here are some points of interest about the DeLorean automobile.

    A. We know MUCH more about their ORIGINS, for example.
    1. Over the years folks have thrown out production numbers from 6-10 thousand cars. But now you can accurately spread the true number at car shows and street-meets, etc., which is 8799.
    2. Of those, 33% had automatic transmissions, 66% manual.
    3. Of the total, 57% had gray interiors, 42% had black.
    4. Of the total, 73% had grooved hoods.
    5. Of the total, 29% had gas flapped hoods.

    B. And We know MUCH more about WHERE-THEY-ARE-NOW. For example:
    1. There are over 90 Back-To-The-Future builds world wide, with 68 being in the United States, 10 in the United Kingdom, and even 2 in Australia.
    2. There are (or were) at least 92 painted cars.
    3. There are at least 30 engine swaps, and another 33+ Eagle or Turbo engines, and another 56 Stage I, II, III. If you are considering an engine mod or swap, wouldn’t you want to know the VIN of some over 110 others who have blazed the trail ahead of you?
    4. California wins the count prize hands-down, with over 1100 cars last reported there, more than twice the next closest state.
    5. There are over 770 registered owners in the DeLorean Owners Directory (DOD), with active, verified email addresses, each who have voluntarily provided contact information for the benefit of other owners. My hat is off to these people, because any one of them may be the one that helps you one day, when you are stuck out on the road far away from home.

    C. And, we know the specific VINs of:
    1. At least 12 cars that have been signed by John DeLorean himself.
    2. At least 88 cars that have more than 100k miles clocked.
    3. At least 68 that are in museums around the world (thank you Dermot-Dangermouse )
    4. 5 gold cars, 7 electric and 33 Right-Hand-Drive cars.

    D. Also, did you know?
    1. The number one (highest sales) DeLorean Dealership was not in California? Nope, California can only boast having the 5th highest sales dealership in the United States. Guess which state has the #1 highest selling dealership?
    2. The VIN (that we know of) is 4915, with a whopping 365k miles. Impressive to say the least!
    3. The most research VIN is 16125 with some 1390 clicks, beating out pilots 19 and 20?
    4. Approximately 772 owners are currently listed in the DOD, with active, verified (within the last 12 months) email addresses.

    All the above information and more can be found HERE.

    SO, if VIN counters didn’t count VINs, then VINs wouldn’t get counted, …uh, …um, …well all of the above would probably be unknown.

    And finally, all of this is in fun (for me), so there is no offense taken or intended. I like dealing with data, and I have enjoyed working with the likes of Shannon, James, Sarah, Demot and many others who have contributed VIN information regarding DeLoreans. Hey, some people like to collect baseball cards, or like to watch birds. I like to count DeLoreans.

    : )

    Thomas

    ...

    (Ref.)
    In Search of VideoBob BTTF Build #22
    Keeper of the DeLorean Owners Directory, at www.DeloreanOwnersDirectory.net

    Get the world's only DeLorean Mobile App Here

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Sep 2011

    Location:  Middleburg Heights, OH

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    Michael meant a spectator, right? Like, some dude walks up to my car and asks the VIN. If he doesn't know where the battery is, he ain't finding out is my rule of thumb. You need to know about DeLoreans to know about mine.

    As for "crazy psycho", can we not make that a slur? Society's gone on long enough that the N word is just not okay at all, but if "crazy psycho" becomes offensive, I'm going to have to get all up in arms every time someone says "that's nuts!" as if I was personally insulted somehow. Fat people didn't complain when Marty McFly called everything heavy!

    Brain has nothing to do with it!!!

  3. #3
    Motors about after dark Michael's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Posts:    4,761

    My VIN:    Your VIN'S mom

    Actually I was not referring to you at all. If memory serves, I was referring to those who keep track of every DeLorean out there, cyber stalking every owner and regurgitating anything that happens to appear on Instagram, FB, CL, etc. about any DeLorean even if it pops up in the most obscure darkest corners of the internet at 245am.

    Now, what's your Social Security number?

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    Location:  Middleburg Heights, OH

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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael View Post
    even if it pops up in the most obscure darkest corners of the internet at 245am.
    Of all the times you could have picked dude. 2:45 AM here, last night, domestic dispute got so heated cops were called. Turned into a dumpster diving paradise. I passed on a full-size suitcase this morning because I have class

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael View Post
    Now, what's your Social Security number?
    7, why?

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Mar 2014

    Location:  Lansing, MI

    Posts:    490

    My VIN:    04194: 5-Speed, Black Int, 79 Peugeot 604 Manifold, 05052: 5-Speed, Gray Int, 78 Peugeot 604 manifol

    I certainly appreciate the statistical info! Any count on how many carb and EFI conversions have been completed?
    Andrew
    4194 Since 7/98
    5052 Since 7/14

    1972 Buick Riviera
    1974 Bricklin SV-1 177
    1982 AMC Eagle SX/4 (4.2 I6, 4 Speed)
    1983 Pontiac Trans Am (Knight Rider Conversion in progress)
    1985 Oldsmobile Toronado (daily driver)

    Solex carb and antenna television guru.

    "My carbon footprint is bigger than yours!" :-)

  6. #6
    Senior Member Citizen's Avatar
    Join Date:  Jun 2011

    Location:  Houston, TX

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    Quote Originally Posted by citizen View Post
    ...VIN info...
    CORRECTIONS:

    • The actual production number is 8798.
    • VIN 4915 is the highest mileage car that we know of.

    Sorry for the confusion.


    Quote Originally Posted by Michael View Post
    Actually I was not referring to you at all....[SNIP]

    Now, what's your Social Security number?
    Thanks Michael.

    BTW, my SSN is 3341.
    ...Oh wait, that's my VIN.


    Thomas

    ...
    Keeper of the DeLorean Owners Directory, at www.DeloreanOwnersDirectory.net

    Get the world's only DeLorean Mobile App Here

  7. #7
    Senior Member Citizen's Avatar
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    Location:  Houston, TX

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    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew View Post
    I certainly appreciate the statistical info! Any count on how many carb and EFI conversions have been completed?
    Thanks!

    Actually, we do keep Carb and EFI information, if owners feel so incline to reveal it. It's a bit harder to count, because it is kept in the notes part of the VIN database, and is not a specific counter item. The number for Carb and EFI could be derived (let me see what I can do), but we don't have any way of knowing of they have been completed (although this could be assumed).

    I'll be back.

    ...
    Keeper of the DeLorean Owners Directory, at www.DeloreanOwnersDirectory.net

    Get the world's only DeLorean Mobile App Here

  8. #8
    Nit-picking customer(as seen on TV) Iznodmad's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Lexington, NC

    Posts:    790

    My VIN:    #5000 (Grey, manual, SS chassis, intercooled twin turbo), #16128 (Grey, auto, efi twin turbo), #888

    Club(s):   (DCVA) (SEDOC) (DCUK)

    I personally love the vin registry website and visit it often to reference different things. I appreciate the efforts that I've seen occur over the past 20 years to accumulate all the info. I wish all the vendors would willfully add the info they have to make it more complete. I wish others wouldn't try and "reinvent" the wheel and start this process all over again. Thanks Thomas for keeping up with all this stuff. However, I believe the car with the most miles would have to be the Hollers car with 800k miles or so? Also, what about the claim that Barrie Wills makes that the actual number is 9200 (IIRC)?

  9. #9
    Senior Member Citizen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Iznodmad View Post
    I personally love the vin registry website and visit it often to reference different things. I appreciate the efforts that I've seen occur over the past 20 years to accumulate all the info. I wish all the vendors would willfully add the info they have to make it more complete. I wish others wouldn't try and "reinvent" the wheel and start this process all over again. Thanks Thomas for keeping up with all this stuff. However, I believe the car with the most miles would have to be the Hollers car with 800k miles or so? Also, what about the claim that Barrie Wills makes that the actual number is 9200 (IIRC)?
    The Hollers car, isn't that the MJF foundation car)? If so, you are most certainly right, and I will make that correction. The 8798 is only the number we have are able to verify. If Barrie Wills' number is the true number, we'll go with that, but at the moment we don't know what the missing VINs are to add to our DB to bring the count up to the real number. I'd certainly welcome Mr Wills' help!

    Thanks for the good words!

    Thomas

    ...
    Keeper of the DeLorean Owners Directory, at www.DeloreanOwnersDirectory.net

    Get the world's only DeLorean Mobile App Here

  10. #10
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Northern NJ

    Posts:    8,570

    My VIN:    10757 1st place Concourse 1998

    IMHO this is not to keep track of modified cars. That would include lowering, carbs, engine swaps, paint, etc. The notable cars should be tracked like early cars, the gold cars, celebrity cars, BTTF cars, that kind of thing. It would also be nice if we could track cars that had bad titles from fires, floods and crashes. This info is for everyone, just remember, you may own the car now but eventually someone else will too. You are only the steward of the car now during it's lifetime (hopefully longer than yours!).
    David Teitelbaum

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