It was a hot Sunday evening, and my brother had just picked me up from the train station to take me home after I had called and notified him that I had just missed my connecting bus. I don't have my own car, never drove, and don't even have a driver's license. Driving never really caught my interest or needs, and from birth have lived as a car-free individual.
Anyways, so as my brother is driving me home, he stops by a gas station to fill up his car. The gas station doesn't have a public bathroom, so I decided to go in the back of the station to quietly take a leak. As I'm pissing away at the wall, I notice that there's a whole slew of junk cars stocked around me. From Jeeps to Jaguars, all of which were in pretty bad shape, there was car after car in the back of this gas station.
As I finished up, I started to head back. Then ... from the corner of my eye I saw something that caught my attention: The DeLorean. Up until that moment, I had never seen a real DeLorean in person before. As I walked around admiring it, something about its shape and look made me want to just stand there all night gazing at it.
"HURRY UP, I'M GOING TO LEAVE YOU HERE BRO'!," my brother shouted. "I'm coming," I replied.
During the car ride back home, I couldn't stop thinking about the car. I even had trouble sleeping that night, as questions about the DeLorean I just saw ran rampant through my mind. "Why was that car there?" "I wonder who owns it." "I wonder how cool it would be to drive that car with Huey Lewi's 'Back in Time' song blasting out of the speakers?" Stupid things like that.
The next morning, I called in sick for work, and decided to check out the car once more. I had never been interested in cars before. What the hell was happening to me...
Having arrived at the same gas station once more, I went to the back again to inspect the DeLorean. She was in pretty bad shape. From having a dent in the right front fender, to the rear and front fascia coming off, interior completely torn up and cracked from the California sun, etc. Even under her horrendous current state, I had fallen in love. You know what they say, for someone to see the faults and imperfections in something and still love it for what it is, it must be true love ... or borderline insanity.
As I stood idolizing the car, the owner of the gas station had crept up behind me demanding who I was out of curiosity. I explained to him the situation and how I came last night (not the pissing part on his property) and saw the DeLorean, and how it caught my interest.
"You want to buy it?" He asks.
"How much are you selling it for?" I reply out of curiosity.
"I've been trying to sell her for $12,500."
Whoa. Even I knew that for a car in that condition, especially a DeLorean, that it was way too much.
"She's been sitting here for about four years, 23,000 miles, engine still works, but you'd have to clean up the fuel system and do some work here and there. Frame is in great shape, and just about everything inside and out is original. Haven't added or modified a thing since I bought it. I've been collecting cars, as you can tell by looking around you. It's an addiction the wife hates, but cars are my passion. I've just never had the time to fix up most of it, and with my age, I don't have much time." He replied.
"$12,500 is pretty high," I state. "Can't you go any lower?"
"Well... the best I can do is $11,000"
"Really? How about $6000?"
"I don't think so. That's a definite no. I'm really in no rush to sell the car."
"$8,000?"
"No."
"Can't you go any lower?"
"Alright, I can do $10,000."
The world around me paused for a bit. Here was the deciding moment that will essentially change my entire lifestyle.
"Yes. I'll take it." I answered.
My God, What Have I Done?!
So here I am now ... a DeLorean owner. She sits and waits for my next move.
IMG-20120723-00328.jpgIMG-20120723-00329.jpgIMG-20120723-00331.jpgIMG-20120810-00349.jpgIMG-20120811-00354.jpgIMG-20120811-00355.jpgIMG-20120811-00356.jpgIMG-20120811-00357.jpgIMG-20120811-00358.jpgIMG-20120811-00359.jpgIMG-20120811-00360.jpgIMG-20120811-00361.jpgIMG-20120811-00362.jpgIMG-20120811-00363.jpgIMG-20120811-00364.jpgIMG-20120811-00365.jpg