Starting My Journey

[DMC-81]

Just curious, any BRP members on here? How was your experience?

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Yes. I completed my restoration under DMC's Budget Restoration Program (BRP). Besides the discount, when I completed the car, I got a very nice framed certificate of completion and a handwritten Thank You card from James Espey. I bought certain parts from other vendors, but DMC earned the lions share of my parts business.

I don't have as much time to read and respond to posts on this forum lately, but when you get a car and restore or work on it, you'll find threads here when I was restoring my car, plus I have organized pictures and comments in the album section of my profile. Hopefully they help you some.

Good luck with your purchase.

[jackb]

Buy the best car you can afford, but barring any dealbreakers (rotten frame, non-running engine, significant cosmetic damage) any Delorean configured the way you want (transmission type, interior color, and hood if you care) within your budget will do. What you need to do is ensure the cars current condition is appropriate for the price. No matter what you’ll end up spending plenty to continue improving it. The only “customization” dealbreakers for me would be significant modifications, like fuel management or a painted body. (I think vendor stage engines are ok, but I’d stay away from a swap unless it was very professionally done, with significant records/history).

Example- I paid $21k for mine a little over 10 years ago. It was in turnkey condition, no major issues, mechanically good, cosmetically decent. I drove it home 4 hours the day I bought it. I added up my receipts a few months ago and I’ve put over an additional $20k into it. 90% in parts alone; I do almost all my own labor.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, all the (correctly configured) Deloreans are right for you, just make sure their price is tolerable and correct for their condition.

[5dmc1]

@DMC-81 @Jackb @TimeRanger Thank you all for your kind supportive words. I went out to get pre-approval on a 45k loan today and it was just way out of my ballpark to buy one of the DMCH cars..which really got me down But coming home and reading your messages, believe me when I say your words mean the world to me and the positive reinforcement really helps more than you know, as I stated before I have a lot of self esteem and confidence issues due to a lot of trauma during my upbringing. So from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all 3 of you for your kind and encouraging words. On a brighter note, my cousin made me an offer for 25k on the Camaro and I might just take it, its ballpark what I want and it will be kept in the family, and going to a home where someone who has the money, time and facilities to fix all the rust and stuff on it does my heart good, not to mention is giving me most of the funding for the D.

But that being said, I have 3 cars I am looking at, but I wont be moving on any of them until I get pre-approval on my loan (which now will be considerably less), as well as read the DeLorean Buyer's Guide front cover to back cover. Then Ill start making some phone calls

[mhanch]

Good luck on your hunt! I'm sure you will land the right car in the end.

[David T]

Borrowing money to buy an old car is not the best plan. Let's say you got that $45K loan. Is there any money left over to fix the inevitable stuff that will go wrong with the car, even a refurbished car? Don't forget it isn't just the purchase price. There is taxes, registration fees, Title fee, and insurance. You may want to personalize the car, maybe a radio, or something. Then there are the wear-out kinds of things like tires, brakes, battery, struts etc. And what happens if the car breaks down and you don't have the money to fix it? You still have to come up with the money to cover the loan but now you can't even enjoy the car. This is the worst position to be in, Now you must consider selling a car that doesn't run just to get out of the loan and sell the car at a loss. Save up for a car and don't get "in over your head". In the meantime you can look and learn more so when you do find a good one you will know it.

[CFI]

Borrowing money to buy an old car is not the best plan..

Neither is sitting around thinking, hoping, dreaming, and telling yourself “someday....”.

Life is short. For many of us there will never be a “perfect” time to buy a DeLorean. Yes, try not to put yourself in the poor house with a used car purchase, but also realize that every year you wait is another year you can’t get back. You can make more money, you can’t make more time.

[5dmc1]

I am well aware of the possible woes of a loan for a old car. But I have done all my math and I will still have 1000 dollars left over each month after all my bills. I'm merely financing it to build credit and I have a 5000 dollar emergency fund for high expense items that fail. I think I'm good. I dont plan on getting a car from dmch anymore unless they offer me an exceptional deal. I found 2 more cars last night that are under 30k, run, have been daily driven and are in decent shape. So I may just get a smaller loan, buy one, then when the camaro sells, pay it off immediately (I am aware there are consequences of doing that) if money becomes an issue (which I dont think it will). I have done a lot of research and this isn't my first old car. I had the camaro break down a few times, parts were considerably cheaper than DeLorean parts, but none the less I was able to repair it with my own 2 hands at a cost under 100 dollars each time. I'm really not that concerned. The only way I could get royally fubar is if the ecu burns out, which I have never heard of happening on these cars.

Fuel pump, lines, switches, relays, etc are what I see are common to go bad on these, please correct me if I am wrong but that doesn't sound so bad. I know how to perform all fluid flushes/changes myself and I can do anything short of body work or changing tires as I don't have the specialized equipment, but I'm not concerned with that. Brake pads are 100 bucks a set, I can do them myself, same with caliper rebuilds or master cylinder replacements, clutch jobs, etc give me a book with all the torque specs and he'll I could even tear down and rebuild the engine (heaven forbid). Point is..I'm no novice to restoring or working on classic cars. I may be young, but I'm far from naive. I understand how much goes into these cars in terms of work and maintenance, but I am more than capable of performing 90% of it all. I can even do upholstery work.

As the last guy who posted said, time is the issue here. Everyday prices go up and cars get destroyed. I have to move on this before they become out of reach forever for me. 10 years ago, a fixer upper that went for 15k is now 25k and a nice car that was 30k is now 40-45k, I cannot wait any longer or my dream will remain just that, a dream, for the rest of my life. Not to mention due to the rising price it will be a good investment.

Tirade over lol

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[jackb]

You’ll be fine, and you’ll find the right car. When I bought mine I had enough in the bank to pay all cash, but I financed half. It didn’t seem prudent to not keep anything in reserve for the low cost of a little interest to not wipe me out.

Additionally, you and CFI are 100% right about time. When I bought mine I was single and had nothing but disposable income. Now I’m married, two kids, wifes student loans, mortgage, kids school tuition, bills out the ass... there is absolutely zero chance I’d be in a position to buy today if I wanted.

I had an epiphany back before buying that caused me to begin actively searching for my Delorean- I could afford it, I’d always wanted one, they are available, and I’ll kick myself in the ass for the rest of my life if I don’t do it now and later can’t because any one of those reasons became an obstacle in the future. A few months later I drove my Delorean home.

[David T]

Sounds like you have a plan. Also sounds like you can do the majority of necessary work, and that certainly keeps the costs down. Get Espey's book and check out the big ticket items like the frame and drivetrain. Always try to buy the best car you can afford. Even though you can do a lot of your own work, it is still cheaper to get a car that someone else spent money on. If the car drives you don't have to do everything right away. Get the car reliable before spending a lot on cosmetics. Don't jump and buy the first car you see. Try to see as many examples as you can and you will learn something every time you see one so when you see the right one you will know it. If you do get a loan try to negotiate it so you don't have a pre-payment penalty and if you do have one, try to get it reduced as much as you can. At the very least it should be go down the longer you run the loan. Yes, borrowing money and paying it off can actually improve your credit rating but everyone only has so much credit so if you get a $45K loan, that is that much less you can borrow till that is paid off. One advantage of buying a car from DMCH or it's affiliates is that they can arrange financing and take care of many other things like transportation and licensing. For someone who doesn't know how to do these things, working with a dealer can make things more convenient but not cheaper. Services like that are very helpful especially for foreign buyers.

[5dmc1]

Sounds like you have a plan. Also sounds like you can do the majority of necessary work, and that certainly keeps the costs down. Get Espey's book and check out the big ticket items like the frame and drivetrain. Always try to buy the best car you can afford. Even though you can do a lot of your own work, it is still cheaper to get a car that someone else spent money on. If the car drives you don't have to do everything right away. Get the car reliable before spending a lot on cosmetics. Don't jump and buy the first car you see. Try to see as many examples as you can and you will learn something every time you see one so when you see the right one you will know it. If you do get a loan try to negotiate it so you don't have a pre-payment penalty and if you do have one, try to get it reduced as much as you can. At the very least it should be go down the longer you run the loan. Yes, borrowing money and paying it off can actually improve your credit rating but everyone only has so much credit so if you get a $45K loan, that is that much less you can borrow till that is paid off. One advantage of buying a car from DMCH or it's affiliates is that they can arrange financing and take care of many other things like transportation and licensing. For someone who doesn't know how to do these things, working with a dealer can make things more convenient but not cheaper. Services like that are very helpful especially for foreign buyers.

Dmch can do transport and financing? I figured they didn't because they were so small.

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