GOOD/POSITIVE DeLorean stories

[16949]

I took a picture of someone in my Delorean today for them and they paid for my (craft beer) growler fill as a thank you! Unnecessary but awesome

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[Jonathan]

Had the car out at another A&W Cruise Night tonight. Nice turn out with a lot of cars there and beautiful weather too.

Lots of attention as usual. Something occurred to me though as being uniquely DeLorean with that attention. Partly because the doors are already open and partly because a lot of kids love the car thanks to the movies. The unique thing though is how I wouldn't think many other cars or brands get the opportunity to make a kid's day (as easily anyway) like we do by letting them sit in it for a picture.

These three here were looking over the car and I had spoke to her earlier for a few minutes. She said the boy was with them for about a month from Colombia, but knew the car and the movies. I'm not convinced they realized it was my car up until the point I interrupted their photo op with the boy beside the car to ask him if he'd like to get a picture sitting in the driver's seat. I don't have a copy of that picture, as it was taken on their camera, but I'll bet you know how it turned out.

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[Michael]

Had the car out at another A&W Cruise Night tonight. Nice turn out with a lot of cars there and beautiful weather too.

Lots of attention as usual. Something occurred to me though as being uniquely DeLorean with that attention. Partly because the doors are already open and partly because a lot of kids love the car thanks to the movies. The unique thing though is how I wouldn't think many other cars or brands get the opportunity to make a kid's day (as easily anyway) like we do by letting them sit in it for a picture.

These three here were looking over the car and I had spoke to her earlier for a few minutes. She said the boy was with them for about a month from Colombia, but knew the car and the movies. I'm not convinced they realized it was my car up until the point I interrupted their photo op with the boy beside the car to ask him if he'd like to get a picture sitting in the driver's seat. I don't have a copy of that picture, as it was taken on their camera, but I'll bet you know how it turned out.

IMG_1511.jpg

That picture says it all:

"Boring, seen it 100 times before, yawn, ho hum, whatever,....HOLY COW! IS THAT A FREAKING DELOREAN!!!???"

[Mark D]

That picture says it all:

"Boring, seen it 100 times before, yawn, ho hum, whatever,....HOLY COW! IS THAT A FREAKING DELOREAN!!!???"

That pretty much sums up my theory why old corvette guys get pissed at DeLorean owners at car shows. Their vette's coolness/uniqueness stock plummets when surrounded by other similar era cars while the DeLorean is able to stand out even among a bunch of other cool cars.

People expect to see old vettes, camaros, mustangs, novas, etc. at car shows... it's basically a given to see one or more. Everyone has an uncle, father in law, sister or cousin that owns one. A DeLorean draws attention no matter what is parked next to it.

From my experience it seems to be the corvette owners who get most butt hurt when their car isn't receiving the majority of the attention. I can't explain why, but that seems to be my experience.

[DMCVegas]

From my experience it seems to be the corvette owners who get most butt hurt when their car isn't receiving the majority of the attention. I can't explain why, but that seems to be my experience.

Very true. I've ran into other classic car owners over the years, and almost all have been friendly. Classic Ferrari owners seem to top the list as the nicest. Corvette owners on the other hand haven't been the friendliest at all. Corvette owners also seemed to be more braggart than enthusiast.

What's funny is that I once had a very candid conversation with an older Corvette owner where I stated because of the attitude I'd encountered I'd never want to own a Corvette. He sighed and told me that he too, and many, MANY other Corvette owners hate guys like that. They're loud, brash, idiots that just buy the car for the performance and care nothing else about the heritage of the marque, let alone even getting their hands dirty. He said that many other older, more hard-core owners feel the same way and that there was almost two-types of owners because of it. His advice was to give a few Corvettes a drive and give them a chance. If I liked them, start researching them to learn the history and to buy one.

Now I don't know exactly how true all of that was about the owners and the internal divisions between them. I can certainly see it, but as I'm not involved in those circles I've no way to verify any of it. Researching the car was great advice, as was trying to dispel the notion of bad owner. The man was a credit to his car's marque.

Still not keen on Corvettes however, but that's just me.

[Jonathan]

There's been times where I've actually sort of warned the guy I'm parking beside that he better be ready for the circus. Some of the shows have more orderly parking, and if I'm literally parking at the same time as the guy beside me, I'll suggest a little extra space between the cars. And often for the benefit of HIS paint. Seems pretty common for a lot of people to get crowded around our cars and completely forget they are rubbing against, leaning on, or dragging their purse/bag on the poor guy's car beside me. I've had a couple of them kind of snap over the years because of it (not at me, at the people doing it) and it's hard to blame them.

One thing I see quite a few cruise nights doing around my area is allowing any make or model in to the show. Meaning, brand new is ok. That might mean some Fast and Furious looking thing, but it also means the guy with the huge horsepower Corvette which he might have drove directly from the dealership to the cruise night. That's great and all as they look like really nice cars, but I just don't care for them at "classic" car shows. It's not a classic if they are still selling that exact one right down the street.

+1 on the braggart with the expensive, big horsepower Vette. I don't doubt there are exceptions, but those ones you described really ruin it for the rest.

I don't have a very good opinion of motorcycle drivers and it could very well be for sort of the same reason. Maybe they aren't all that donkey tearing up and down the road, loud as hell, but those ones sure do give me a poor overall opinion of the entire community. That's unfortunate and unfair as I know it isn't everyone, but it's hard to look past that.

Maybe lump in too the guys at cruise nights that peel out of the parking lot real loud and give the rest of the guys a bad name.

[DMCVegas]

I suppose that is a big downfall of the lack exclusivity of those cars too. There are only so many of the other cars to go around, yet they're cranking out tens of thousands of relatively cheaper Corvettes each year. So you're going to have lots more opportunities for bad people to own them. DeLoreans themselves are not exactly exclusive either, but they have come with one helluva stigma over the first 20+ years that scared away most buyers. Which pretty much left us with the same hard core collection of owners we have now. Makes me wonder if DMC had survived, how much more different would our owner base look? Would we have had the reputation of being "Yuppie" cars owned by greedy jackasses? Who knows...

Most motorcycle riders I've encountered seem to be alright. Though it does mostly split between Cruisers and Sportbikes as the two central types of bikes that then create different owner types. The problems I've seen are usually either young dudes that get sport bikes and do dumb stuff because they don't know any better thanks to a lack of experience, or older baby boomers who now started riding cruisers to fulfill their dreams and do dumb stuff because they don't know any better thanks to a lack of experience.

I also know exactly what you're talking about with the car shows too. My father in-law is a big GM guy, and asked if the wife and I wanted to go to a Chevy car show a couple years back. I was game because I like all sorts of cars and love to appreciate them. Show was great, but there was one guy who had just bought a brand-new Corvette and parked it in the row of all the other Vettes. Dealer tags still on it. It just seemed so out of place, and wrong. It just seems like someone is trying to buy their way into the car show rather than earning their place. Even if you just bought a classic car from a dealer, at least there is some risk there by driving a car without a warranty.

[Michael]

Nothing says you have given up on being original quite like a Corvette.

Also not a bad way to tell the world you are retired and on your way to the early bird special.

[Cory W]

I think DeLoreans and Corvettes go together well, but I may be biased.

It's not so much the car, as it is the people. They've made enough Corvettes (and DeLoreans, or any car for that matter) to attract that undesirable crowd. You know them. The braggart, the showoff, the narcissist who drives (fill in vehicle here) solely for some sense of status. The insecure extended adolescent who refuses to believe someone could have a vehicle that overshadows their own. Can't fix stupid, unfortunately, but you can attempt to grow as a person and overcome those insecurities.

Whatever I drive, the cruse in or show is to connect with other owners, see what people are driving up close, and generally celebrate cars that aren't strictly appliances.

See you on the roads!

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[micmak]

I think Corvettes and DeLoreans go together too. I have had one of each for years. And they were both designed by JZD.

......Mike......