What made you want a Delorean?

[88Ngone]

Hi all!

Jared here with VIN #10541. Maybe I'm doing a repetitive discussion, maybe not, but I thought it would be fun to see what led each of you to buy your Delorean. There's so many cool stories involved with this car and I guess I just enjoy hearing them. So with that said, why did you buy a Delorean? What made you want the car?

For me, growing up I always wanted that amazing car. At first, I wanted a 1997 Dodge Viper, blue with white stripes. But when I got my first couple of jobs I knew there was no way I could afford that $75,000 car. I remember walking by the T.V. one day and back to the future was on. I always loved that movie and of course it was the mall chase scene. It was that moment where I said, that's it, that's the car I want, a Delorean.

It took roughly a decade, but fast forward in time and I had a great career and loving wife and child. I brought up my dream car to my wife, and over the next various months was able to convince her to pursue it. This was done by having my 2 year old daughter walking through the house and lifting her arms up like the Deloreans doors, and making a hissing sound to imitate the doors opening from the movie. My wife let me begin my search with 1 rule, you cannot spend more than $15000 loan wise. After that I began my hunt and found an awesome owner by the name of Ed Garbade. He talked to me for hours about the car and was as genuine as you can be, even offering to warranty the car for 1,500 miles. In May 2007, I came home in my very own time machine!!!

So how about you?

Respectfully,
Jared

[Col Bennett]

To be perfectly honest - "Back To The Future".

I went to see the movie as a kid with my Mum and Dad and as soon as the DeLorean rolled out of Doc Brown's van I was mesmerized. Like many of you, it's been my childhood dream to own one and after looking on and off for over 10 years (without really having the funds), I finally had enough savings to buy a lovely example in 2016, which I've been perfecting ever since.

[jackb]

BTTF is what made me *aware* of the Deloreans existence.
If the movie never existed and I just happened to see one out of the blue, I’d have the same reaction.
What made me want a Delorean? Just look at it. That’s your answer.

[opethmike]

I'm deeply afraid of attractive women, so I figured what better way to keep them at bay?

[AdmiralSenn]

I tripped over an old man at the market and roundly cursed him for being such a layabout in the middle of a public space.

Alas, the man was a sarcastic wizard of considerable power. My punishment is to bear this vehicle around with me for the rest of my days. Always garaged, never running, mocking me endlessly.

Also he burned down my house and murdered my wife and three children, but in the grand scheme of things the car is the far worse punishment.

[Spittybug]

Some harsh replies above!!!

I was a college kid '80 to '84 and therefore remember the "Living the dream" marketing..... Cool car. At the time I was driving my dad's '71 straight six Camaro when I needed it. I didn't have my own car until after graduation. The movie certainly didn't hurt, but the first attraction was being the right age at the right time.

Fast forward to 2006 and going to a big Houston car show with my young daughter and noticing the absence of any Delorean when usually we'd seen them. I came home and checked on Ebay to see if they were super scarce or anything and found an auction ending in half an hour. I joked with my wife, "can I buy a Delorean?" thinking the $14,000 price wouldn't last.... she said I had to sell my '79 Spitfire and I agree. Well, although the bid went up a couple thousand more, I won, much to my surprise...... "Honey, I just bought a Delorean...."

The last 13 years were the longest that I had owned any car. I did so much to it, especially after retiring in 2011. It was sufficiently easy to work on like other 70's or 80's cars, but had enough substance to it, modern features and value to not be something I would lose money on. Modernizing it to EFI, performing the necessary maintenance for a nearly 40 year old car and using it as a reliable 2nd car in the household was the agenda for years. Only the life change of building a new home in Hill country and the desire for a fun little convertible to enjoy in that environment was enough to get me to sell it on. My wife won't miss is though; she never liked sitting so low and getting in and out was tough for her.

All in all it was an enjoyable chapter in my automotive life, but time to move on. As I think back, I've had quite a few cars! In rough chronological order of owning....

• Hand me down '71 Camaro (GREAT car. Brother inherited after me and ended up abandoning it for back parking tickets...ugh.)
• Used Honda 175cc motorcycle that I wrapped around a tree, rupturing spleen and fracturing back... no more bikes.....
• Used '79 Dodge Challenger (Misubishi by then.... troublesome)
• Crown Victoria LTD (company car, ugliest thing you've ever seen with blue Brougham top)
• Chrysler LeBaron GTS turbo (company car, quite nice)
• A couple of Tauruses (company cars, boring but hey, free)
• New Ford Festiva (wife's)
• Pontiac Grand Prix (company car, but I bought it)
• New Isuzu Trooper (wife's - love the old boxy style)
• Used '79 Triumph Spitfire (too many parts missing, sold it to get the '79)
• New Nissan Quest (wife's)
• Used Acura TL - 5 cylinder (short lived, got pickup)
• Used Nissan Frontier pickup
• Used '77 Triumph Spitfire (frame off restoration - beautiful)
• New Honda Odyssey (wife's)
• Used '79 Super beetle convertible (frame off restoration - labor of absolute love - for wife who didn't drive it much....sold to Alaska customer)
• Used '81 Delorean (just sold to Canadian customer)
• New '08 Infiniti G35 Sport (WOW)
• New '15 Ford F-150 (turned in right away after discovering stuff about towing...)
• New leftover '14 Ford F-350 Superduty (WOW, power for towing RV)
• Used '16 BMW 228i convertible (new toy!)
• Next toy car for life in Hill Country????????

[Bitsyncmaster]

When I saw the ads for the DeLorean in car magazines in the late 70s I said right there I would own one someday. Thirty five years later it was possible for me to buy one since my kids were out of collage. The BTTF had nothing to do with my need to own one.

[Quinn]

I was actually shopping for a used Lotus Esprit, but when I learned of the great support network and parts availability for Deloreans, I decided it was a safer bet.

[bfloyd]

I'm 52 years old now and grew up in they heyday of the 80's. When I was a kid or early teen, my dad would take us to look at cars after church on Sunday's. We never bought anything... just looked. One Sunday afternoon we stopped by Capitol Chevrolet in Nashville and they were the Nashville Delorean dealer. They had a Delorean set up in the showroom with the doors up and I was just mesmerized. My dad kept walking, but I was just stopped in my tracks. Several years later BTTF came out and that was the first time I had seen the car since that day at the showroom. It made an impression on me.

Fast forward 30+ years, I still liked the car, and with the invention of the internet, finding pictures and wallpapers of them was much easier. Still infatuated with the car, I had all but given up on ever owning one now that I was married, a dad to 3 boys, a house with a mortgage, and just general life gets in the way type of things. I still talked about Deloreans, but that was about it.

One afternoon I was having lunch with the mayor of a small town here in middle Tennessee when he asked me, "Did you ever get that silver car you've always wanted?" I said no, and he replied, "You know Homer's boy has one for sale right down the street sitting in his front yard don't you?" After lunch I took off down the street to go look at this car. It was a Delorean all right, but not in the best condition. Fascias were ragged out, intake manifold sitting in the front seat, a real fixer upper. They guy wanted $8,000.00 for it. I called my wife when I got back to the office and told her. Much to my surprise she said, "You've been talking about those cars ever since I've known you.... just go get it!" After work that night I drive 30+ miles back to this small town to buy this car. Knock on the guys door and say I want to buy the car. He says, " I've changed my mind, I don't think I'm gonna sell it." Leaving dissapointed, I had back to the office to wrap up some paperwork. Once I got to the office I was still operating in the mode of "My wife gave me permission to go buy a Delorean" . I began doing a nationwide Craigslist search to see if anything popped up. First result was Vin #3294 which had been listed 4 hours earlier in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Called the guy and bought it on the spot. Paid $9k for it. Fantastic shape, original everything (belts, hoses, tires,fuel lines, etc.) with only 8,637 miles on the odometer, but it hadn't run in 20 years. Rented a trailer and drove up on Friday to get it. Took two years to get it roadworthy again.

[eight8toy]

The movie definitely. Seeing other people get excited when I drive mine is what really makes me want to keep it and deal with all of its nuances. Otherwise it isn't that great to drive in my opinion, my old M5 on the other hand...