Hi folks,
I started a little report on the old “dmctalk.com”. As we all lost our threads there I start now a new one here.
First of all, a few words about me. I am an engineer in the high-tech environment (hard- and software development). I am married and I have two daughters who love to work with me on my cars. Together we are living in Munich, Germany.
My passion about cars started when I was a kid. One of my favorite cars at my early days was a 69-Corvette, the other one was the DeLorean.
I spent about 1 hour at the BTTF Display at the Universal Studios in California back in 1988 to be near the DeLorean time machine. Awesome, when I touched the stainless for the first time.
In 2002 I bought a 69-Corvette, which I restored to its original specification.
Here you see me with my first classic beauty.
Of course this is a DeLorean forum, but if you want to have a glance at the corvette feeling, you can check out an older video I did.
BTW: Did you know that JZD drove a 69-corvette as well? Check this out…
After 7 years I sold the corvette to someone just a few blocks away from me. This was not planned - it was plain luck for me. This way I get to see the car from time to time and I can even drive with it now and then.
After one year of “classic car abstinence”, I was missing this special spirit - driving my old corvette twice a year simply wasn’t enough. So once again I started again to look for a classic car.
As you may guess, it was now a DeLorean I was looking for. I read a lot of stuff on the web and I talked to Wolfgang Hank (http://www.deloman.de) who is a real expert and a great guy.
I was considering to buy a DeLorean in very good condition, where no (or nearly no) work was necessary. But my wife knew me better. She suggested to buy a project car, and put a fixed amount of money for the restoration aside – restoration really is part of the fun for me.
So I searched for a special project car and in April 2010 I found VIN 573 on ebay.com
Here you can see the original ebay sales text from April 2010:
This is an original 1981 Delorean with only 13,600 miles, and is #73 car produced by Delorean. The car has the gas tank door in the hood, which I believe was only produced for the first 100 cars understand that the first 100 cars were all slated as prototypes, but were later sold as the company's financial situation worsened. This car had been stored in a shed for 15 years following a deat the owners family. The car is in very good overall condition; the stainless body is original with only minor blemishes. The interior is original and what I would call decent. The seat covers are presentable but have some leather cracking that makes them too good to replace but not good enough to show. The carpet is decent also, but original, and the main headliner is good but the headliners in the doors have the fabric separating from the backing. I have replaced allot of parts and performed many updates to this car to make it very drivable and as dependable as a DeLorean can be. The updates include, but are not limited to; New clutch hydraulics, reconditioned brake system, new battery, alternator {110 amp}, tires, coolant hoses, window switches, complete tune up, fuel pump boot, filters, fuses, relays, heat shields, rebuilt HVAC control, and more. I took the car to DMC in Crystal Lake IL for some adjustments to the door latches, engine fine tuning a general inspected. The A/C was recharged last year and still works fine. The factory radio has been replaced with an aftermarket AM/FM/CD which works good. The frame and undercarriage is clean and solid {I can furnish pictures upon request}. It runs and drives well, all of the lights, gauges and accessories work except the power door locks, which I disconnected. This is a nice looking, good running car that draws more attention than any collector car I have ever owned. I will have the car offered for sale at a local car show 4/23-25 and reserve the right to remove it from ebay. If the bids are acceptable, I will remove it from the show. I am a motivated seller, as I need room for another purchase. Wisconsin residents will be responsible for sales tax, title and license.
As the serial numbers started at 500 the car is actually number 74 not 73; and the gas flap hood was produced several thousand times, not for the first 100 cars only. But the rest of the ad proved to be accurate and true. Bob, the seller, was very supportive during and after the sale. He sent me a lot of pictures. Here are some of them:
Bob had an impressive collection of classic cars. He got the DeLorean together with a 69-Chevy as a package deal. He then fixed up the car after it had been sitting for 15 years in a shed. From the gas tank to the brakes, everything was done properly. I had contact with Dave from DMC Midwest, who confirmed the condition of the car as he did some work on the car himself. He sent me some pictures from the VIN573 as it had been in his shop 2009.
Few days after I had clicked the “Buy it now” button, I started to make the arrangements for the shipment to Germany.
Bob helped me a lot and took pictures before VIN 573 went on the truck to drive the last time (at least for a while) on a US street.
The DeLorean was driven on a truck from Wisconsin to NewYork. It was then loaded on a cargo-ship in a two-car-container. After 4 weeks on the sea it arrived at Hannover. From Hannover to Munich my VIN 573 was carried on a truck again.
On June 10. 2010, the DeLorean arrived at our home. My family welcomed the car, and some neighbors had a look as well.
After my own first examination of VIN 573 the car presented itself exactly as described. Technically the car was absolutely drivable, stainless panels were OK, the interior was at least complete, the engine was running fine; but because of the 15 years in the shed, the smell in the car was really, really weird - I had known about this beforehand, however.
During that inspection a friend visited me with his 72 Corvette. My first impression was that the VIN 573 was well described and that there was plenty of work to do, especially in the interior of the car. But for the moment, the car just went for it‘s first night rest in my garage.
Some days later I decided to drive the car a couple of times, in order to get to know it better before taking anything apart. One of our first trips was to Wolfgang (deloman.de) in Augsburg for a first professional examination.
We established a laundry list of necessary things, and I handed the car to Wolfgang for some mechanical issues.
Here you can see a short video from those days with VIN 573 on a German highway. As you can see, I didn’t pushed it over 88mph as the flux capacitor wasn’t installed yet
To be continued soon with the disassembling of the interior….
Best wishes
Don