Sacrilege? Cutting up a pair of Delorean Dunks for what???

[Michael]

Yup, I decided if I'm going to wear them, they better have something going on. I thought about this for some time, and since I have 3 pairs of DMC dunks in my size(including a press release box pair), I decided to start wearing a pair. Now that they are somewhat broken in I am going to do something I thought should have been done from the start to live up to the hype....ADD DOOR LIGHTS!!! I will add 3 door lights to each shoe. They will be centered on the front/rear/and outside of the black sole. A small rechargeable li-po battery encased in the sole will power each shoe.

I think the Nike Mag release pushed me along to do this. There are only 6 weeks of cruise ins left so I would like to have these done to wear in time, I doubt I would wear them lit up anywhere else but a car show. I will spend the next week or so on these. I mocked up a prototype pair and yes it will work! Construction starts this weekend!

The goal: install these


Onto these:


To begin, I bought batteries. I had LED's and plenty of resistors. I wired up a simple test circuit to see if my batteries would power them for an extended period:


Here are my batteries: 3.7V 1s Li-po batteries 500mAh. Pretty tiny! They will power the shoes for at least 6-8 hours!


My LED's wired up and ready


A switch I installed in my mock-up shoe..not sure how or if I will use a switch, or simply pull back the sole liner and connect the JST plug on the battery.


A cutout has been made so the battery fits flush in the shoe(the liner covers this)

A idea of what they will look like on my mock-up. Note I have not cut the lens to size yet.


I hope to have the lights installed this weekend, and maybe have the lenses cut and finished by the end of next week. I'm using bicycle pedal reflectors for the lenses, and once they are cut, I will secure a black trim around them, (just like the car) before attaching them to the shoes.

[dvonk]

creative idea! im interested to see the final product.

[Dracula]

To play Devil's Advocate, wouldn't a better mod for wearability of the shoes be something that makes them more comfortable?

Despite my typical stance against cutting up or destroying anything that's inherently rare, I see no reason not to do this. The only thing about the shoe that's really special is the tail light pattern on the bottom and I'd imagine that would wear off very quickly in actual use. Even if it doesn't, that's one of the least visible areas on the shoe. I suppose, though, my lack of concern for them comes from the fact that they were never made to be worn as shoes. I can't understand this or shoe collectors, so my opinion is "have at it." I know you're not seeking approval; aside from a shoe collector forum, (which I'm assuming exists,) this is the last place you'd post if that was your intent.

My suggestion; get a stainless computer switch that mounts flush and use that for your control; something like this one:



You'd also be adding some actual stainless to the shoe that way.

[yellowmxwheels23]

I can't understand this or shoe collectors

Shoe collecting is pretty easy to understand. You buy a pair of shoes for say $125.00 in a few years you turn around and sell them for $500.00.
There's 2 different kind of shoe collector. One will buy shoes and never wear them hoping they picked something up they can triple their money on when they sell them. The other will buy a ton of shoes to wear once or twice, mix in a few he will never wear or sell.
It's kinda like playing the market.
I've had shoes that I held onto for a long a long time that made me some pretty good money. I'm talking like upgrade to a stage 2 kind of money. Can't really say that about many stocks. I did buy into Sirius satelite radio at .8 per share and sold when it was leveling off at $2.15 per. My Disney stock will always hold its own but you can't be certain on any stock. Shoes you can be certain of, if you pick up something that has a limited release, rare colorway,actual 1-23 Air Jordan, Dunks, etc.. your going to make money. Thats all there is to understand about shoe collecting.

[Dangermouse]

So it's more shoe investing than shoe collecting?

[Dracula]

I understand you can make money off of it, just like you can with anything, but doesn't it severely hurt the value of a pair of shoes if you wear them?

I collect a lot of things; vintage stereos, cars, watches, and a lot of other things. The big difference is that I'm able to use my 100+ year-old watch on a regular basis and it doesn't hurt the value. Heck, my best watch has enough gold that its scrap value is comparable to a new Rolex, yet I use it every time I put on my Civil War uniform. The same goes for some of my stereos. I have a non-US-market '70s Pioneer tuner and cassette player that are a matching pair and both work quite well, so I use them when I'm going through my daily routine, cleaning, or just want to hear some music. I paid $50.00 for the pieces, reworked them a little, and could sell them at $300.00 minimum any day (before the economy got tight.)

I suppose it just comes down to the fact that I can't see buying anything solely as an investment and, though it serves a clear purpose, not using it for that. I get that the shoes are made to be collectible, yet if they're not worn, they're made for nothing, or some are so rare that people won't wear them. It may be a good form of investing, but it seems to me a lot like buying a painting you can't stand the looks of because you think it'll go up in value.

[SoCalDMC12]

Some collectors see certain shoes as art, and want to preserve them. While I can understand this, I agree that it's kind of a shame to simply buy them to store away. Kinda like having a car that never leaves the garage. But, to each his/her own... whatever makes ya happy!

Oh... neat mod... looking forward to seeing the end result!

[sean]

Eagerly looking forward to the results!

[SIMid]

Eagerly looking forward to the results!

+1

Even though I don't have a pair (which I do want them), interested in your final creation.

[Bitsyncmaster]

My wife needed a new battery for her old cell phone. Got 4 of them on Amazon for only 2 or 3 bucks each. I think they are smaller (thinner but wider) but have more power than yours.

model
LGLP AHKM