Hello there! My name is Charles and I've been a lurker here for a short while. I've been interested in DeLoreans since I was a kid, but I never knew much about them other than that one was in Back to the Future, and I liked the doors a lot. Now I'm a bit older and I realize that there is a lot more to like about the car than I recognized as a kid. I've been hoping to purchase a "project' car within the next couple of years and think this might be a candidate, but I have a lot of questions. A little background- I previously owned a 1966 Ford Mustang that I had intended to work to restore over the next several years. I bought it from a dealership about two years ago and overpaid for it. I hadn't done as much research as I would like to think I had done at the time and jumped at the opportunity to own one. It turned out that I had a lot of underlying rust and body issues that only came to light after an unfortunate accident at a stoplight. A woman rear-ended me and led to my car being totalled. Nobody was hurt, aside from my poor ride. Since then my wife and I agreed that if I look into another vehicle it must be a bit safer than the old Mustang, but I want something that is unique, looks cool, and that I can work on myself. I'm a huge fan of the 80's and I recently got to see Back to the Future all the way through (I'm ashamed to say I had only seen bits and pieces as a kid), and seeing the DeLorean on screen again sparked something in me.

This community seems to be a wealth of knowledge, and I would like to avoid repeating the mistakes I made last time. Do you have any advice for me, and do you think that this car is worth pursuing? Are there things I should know that perhaps only someone who has driven one would know? Like I said, I'm looking for something that I can work on as a bit of a project, but that I could conceivably use as a daily driver too, and I'd prefer a manual transmission. I imagine a lot of this will come down to condition, which is another area I could use some advice in- I've gathered that $30,000 to $40,000 seems to be the general price range that I can find currently, are there some specific items or conditions that warrant a higher or lower value?

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts, comments, and if there are some specific threads/topics that you think would be good places for me to poke around I'd be very thankful.