Just what?s going on with DMCH?

[DMCVegas]

I don't consider myself apart of the DeLorean community much at all any more. I have a handful of people whom I either speak directly with, or simply observe posts about on Facebook. The reason being that the goals of myself and the community as a whole seem to really have parted ways quite some time ago. But I too also received the same email myself and was a bit perplexed by it. I've also been a bit perplexed by some of the community's reactions from DMC of Houston's (here on out referred to as either DMCH) decision with the resurrection of the DeLorean brand. I don't lurk much anywhere, and this is the first time I've been back since leaving. I'm actually only apart of two DeLorean groups on Facebook having purged memberships to others along with choosing to sever other connections with people and organizations as well. I don't have plans to really stick around here as I still don't feel 100% with the community. But after receiving this email it did instigate a reaction from me I've chosen to put into words here.

I did feel strongly enough about this email blast from DMCH, and the previous comments here too, to say something about them.

For disclosure purposes, yes, I've purchased from DMCH, only met Wynne once for perhaps less than 30 seconds, never bought anything from DMCMW nor met any of the people involved in past nor present ownership.

First of all, John Zachary De Lorean is dead. He has no say so in anything DeLorean related. This covers everything from building brand new vehicles with his namesake emblazoned on them to those of you who refuse to even switch out the damn radio because you're trying to "preserve" your cars as JZD intended them to be. So trying to argue what is or isn't in line with his vision is utterly pointless.

From the moment the original DMC folded, it was merely a matter of time that the marque was going to be relaunched. No, DMC as a company did not last nearly as long as Ford, Daimler, Benz, Porsche, or Honda. But the man himself, De Lorean, has transcended past being a simple brand. De Lorean, much like the namesake of Pontiac he was the custodian of at one point, has become it's own ideal. A controversial figure as a hero to some, a villain to others, a figure that continues to be debated and in his rebellion became the icon of power and defiance that captured the imagination of men so powerfully at the time that he was chosen to represent the ideals of an automotive brand. No one will remember Lutz, Iacocca, Barra, Marchionne, Zetsche, nor many other CEOs or captains of industry. But they will and DO remember De Lorean! Whether it's the Alpha V, or a replica DeLorean automobile, it won't be the vision of the person nor company making that car that people are buying into. They're buying into the De Lorean mythos. As impressive as that may be for some, or as repulsive to anyone who doesn't like the new designs of the car or perhaps even the entity responsible which owns the marque and trademarks at that time, it is out of our hands. Love it or hate it, that is something we have to accept.

Finally, engine swaps.

Speaking quite frankly here, let's cut the bullshit about "protecting" the automobiles, marques, etc. Engine swaps are a HUGE fucking liability. Some states, read those with clean air quality tests that do not require emissions testing, allow for engine swaps no problem. Others, the rules and regulations are not as clear. And by that I mean that some states that do allow engine swaps have purposefully obfuscated their own laws so as to make the process of a legal engine swap impossible. Example: In Nevada the newer engine must include all of the certified emissions control systems that it utilized in the previous vehicle. Meaning that I could tap the carbon control canister into a V8 LS engine, and it could do it's job flawlessly. But, because GM never officially approved that engine for use with that canister, even though it works, I cannot use it. But what if I use the electronically controlled carbon canister that came with the car? Even if I have a custom ECU that can trigger the solenoids under certain temperature/RPM requirements, because it isn't the original PCM that came with the engine, and the engine still passes testing on it's own, it's illegal. It is rigged to be a no-win situation for the public.

So why am I bringing this up? Because if DMCH through it's affiliates is doing business in California, let alone in other states that have automatically enacted CARB's regulations via trigger laws, DMCH would have opened themselves up for a gargantuan amount of liabilities in the form of possible jail time and certainly insane financial penalties. Let's say an engine swap occurs. Then that car is either brought back to, or sold to someone in a state where the engine swap which occurred is prohibited. That most certainly could open DMCH up for an insane amount of liability since it was their affiliate acting on their behalf that performed the swap. Just look at the guys in Utah who faced a $180,000,000 fine for defeating diesel emissions equipment.

If that were the reason given in plain English, then I could absolutely understand the situation. But trying to say engine swaps are not "compatible" with DMCH's "philosophy"? I have to admit that is painfully hypocritical on so many levels. The least of which are continued modifications to the PRV engine both internally and externally from the exhaust system to that Stage III prototype with the supercharger that stray away from originality. But more importantly the whole low-volume replica car act. The plan to originally consume the remainder of DMCH's warehouse of parts by building replica cars. Remember that? I do, and I also remember that it was clearly stated in an interview that the cars were, according to EPA rules, required to use modern drivetrains with OBD-II computers and ports for emissions testing. Even more so was the statement that preliminary engine they chose was a 3.7L V6 (which I'd bet money that it was the Ford Duratec/Cyclone from the Mustang). THAT was a fully-fledged engine swap into the DMC-12 platform. So why in the hell was that considered to be perfectly acceptable and keeping with DMCH's philosophy? If we're looking at things from the liability aspect of it all, then I absolutely have to agree with DMCH in severing their relationship with DMCMW. That is a smart business decision to create indemnity. But if we're going to go with this pious excuse of protecting the cars/vision/philosophy/whatever, then we have a problem because that argument just falls flat on it's face and makes DMCH look bad.

Again, as I have said, my goals and values have certainly strayed away from that of the community. The minutiae of which are not important. But I've always said that keeping cars on the road is paramount. You do that, and everything else such as the public image takes care of itself. I do not like carburetors compared to fuel injection, but I have always advocated that if a carb swap is what can keep a DeLorean automobile on the road, then please do it. I just did not like the idea that such conversions would not be free to anyone in the community who did not wish to pay *tribute* to one particular individual. Which is the same reason many years ago that I fought an updating of the Workshop Manual without giving proper credit to people who contributed such information on the DML that was to be included with said tome. Having said all of that, engine swaps are the future of the DeLorean marque.

Again, engine swaps are the future of the DeLorean marque.

As I stated with my previous example, the swapping of an internal combustion engine is next to impossible across all 50 states. But if we venture into electric motors which have no emissions since they're not ICE, then there is absolutely no restriction. And this will be the way of the future. No one is making new K-Jetronic distributors or Warm-Up Regulators. We have to rely upon people to rebuild these parts which were technically never meant to be serviceable. So what happens when either the skills die with the people performing the services now, or we simply run out of rebuildable cores? Sure we have injectors still, some of questionable quality, but for how long? Be it modifications to switch from K-Jet to EFI. Perhaps we even go the LS4 or Honda routes to swap out entirely new drivetrains. Because it might just be cheaper than rebuilding a PRV? But what happens as petroleum fuels over the next couple of decades become increasingly more expensive to the point where they're no longer a utility in our lives but rather a hobby for old cars? All while the prices of electric motors and batteries plummet as new technologies arrive? Or worse yet we start to see HOAs banning all fossil fuels from neighborhoods including ICE automobiles? Or more realistically we just can't find parts anymore to keep our engines going.

We're going to go electric. I promise you that 60 years from now there's going to be some crazy sumbitch flying down the highway in a century-old DeLorean, and he or she is probably on their way to work because they decided to daily drive a car that was built over 100 years ago. I'm willing to bet that car won't have an ancient PRV with a long ago rusted out fuel distributor from water-absorbing ethanol. It'll be an electric motor humming along. Why? Because an engine swap was needed to keep that car on the road.

[ssdelorean]

<<snip>>

We're going to go electric. I promise you that 60 years from now there's going to be some crazy sumbitch flying down the highway in a century-old DeLorean, and he or she is probably on their way to work because they decided to daily drive a car that was built over 100 years ago. I'm willing to bet that car won't have an ancient PRV with a long ago rusted out fuel distributor from water-absorbing ethanol. It'll be an electric motor humming along. Why? Because an engine swap was needed to keep that car on the road.

With the accelerated rate over the past couple years where people in this world are ever more narcissistic, violent and take no responsibility for their actions, do you really think we have 60yrs left?

Integrity and honesty seem to be as rare as rocking horse feces these days. The DMCMW folks (Swingles and McElhattans) have both.

[81dmc]

I disagree that electric is the future, but that's a whole other topic.

I've met Mr. Wynne and don't wish anything bad for him or his new endeavors, but I believe the direction DMCH is headed isn't good for the community. I believe there was a shakeup at DMCH with the uprising of DPI as parts/service and DeloGo for parts. Those two have really changed the DeLorean ownership experience from maintaining a flawed concourse car with NOS parts, to actually enjoying a more reliable DeLorean with vastly improved parts.


So where does this leave owners needing quality parts and service?

I will say, DMCH currently has a trump card and that's the NOS parts and factory drawings. However, as parts are reproduced by competitors, DMCH will lose out on the market. They had a huge chance to prevent this by building new quality parts, but that never happened, at least at the level the market needed/wanted. If you all ever noticed, they added the improved part description with a disclaimer basically saying competitors parts are deficient compared to their own, which of course is the opposite of the truth.

Anyways, if DMCH continues to blacklist entities/individuals and creates a void, there will probably be a time where the price of parts will rise substantially. Eventually that will be overcome as more parts are reproduced and the void filled, but we need to be prepared as owners.



TLDR, I personally think DMCH had a time to shine, missed out, and is simply unsettled by the recently successful competition (DPI/DeloGo).

[dmcerik]

It looks like the DMC MidWest website redirects to classicdmc now, and my guess is Mikes email address probably doesn't go to him anymore? I hope Mike chimes in at some point and let's us all know how we can continue to support him and his business.

[iflights]

It looks like the DMC MidWest website redirects to classicdmc now, and my guess is Mikes email address probably doesn't go to him anymore? I hope Mike chimes in at some point and let's us all know how we can continue to support him and his business.

[email protected]
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[Helirich]

But what happens as petroleum fuels over the next couple of decades become increasingly more expensive to the point where they're no longer a utility in our lives but rather a hobby for old cars?

Right now electric cars are not really viable without government incentives, but I do believe they will be in the future. But, you realize that petroleum based fuel will become less expensive, not more expensive as electric vehicles become mainstream

[Timeless]

Right now electric cars are not really viable without government incentives, but I do believe they will be in the future. But, you realize that petroleum based fuel will become less expensive, not more expensive as electric vehicles become mainstream

I purchased a Taycan in 2021 to join my collection. Viability is not a question for me since there is/was no government incentive for me to purchase - I just LOVE the car!

[Helirich]

I purchased a Taycan in 2021 to join my collection. Viability is not a question for me since there is/was no government incentive for me to purchase - I just LOVE the car!

Do you pay road tax? If not, you are getting a direct government incentive.

Also, your price may have been lower because of government breaks to the manufacture.

[Bitsyncmaster]

But, you realize that petroleum based fuel will become less expensive, not more expensive as electric vehicles become mainstream

They will increase the taxes if that happens.

Anyway, I think DMCH gets a lot of their income from servicing DeLoreans with engine related problems. If there has been an engine swap, they would not (could not) service that car.

[Hill Valley PD]

I bought and sold 2282 through Mike and back to Mike at DMCMW. The best of the best. I have been out of the loop for about a year after selling my car until I got the email. It just didn?t sit right and came across as petty like a kid with a bunch of toys who got mad and went home with them. I?m sorry, but I have seen where prices have gone on nice DeLoreans, and while I love the cars, once you get into the 70k plus range, there are so many better options objectively. Engine swap was something this car needed from day one and a contributing factor amongst numerous to its failure. I applaud MW for branching out and doing what Houston has been peddling for over a decade - ?new? Delorean with modern powertrain. Instead, DMCH while claiming to protect the legacy of DMC, sells the soul and name to a Korean EV that looks like every other egg EV on the road. The whole thing came across as a college marketing project powerpoint that ended up being real. I hope it fails spectacularly and by the looks of the panning on social media, it will. If I ever get back in the game, it will be through whatever MW is offering at the time.