These thread titles would have anyone believing that these cars are crap..

[John U]

I check DMCTalk more than once a day, and I notice that almost every thread involves someone looking for advice on how to fix something that is broken. It is great that we have such a fantastic community that rallies together to help keep these cars on the road. I am always amazed when I post a question and there is a solution from David T or Dave S (and many others) literally within five minutes!
The thing is that when I look at other automotive sites, people are always bashing the DeLorean. They say that the cars have zero reliability and are crap. Looking at the titles on this forum, one could easily come to the same conclusion!
So after my rant here, tell me what is great about your car...why you enjoy it, and lets dispel the myth that these cars are crap!

John

[Riley88]

The issues I have had don't discourage me. It's an old car, and with that the happiness I get from driving it as well as the smiles it brings to people far out weights any of its issues and makes it worth every moment of my time

[Gregadeth]

Almost all forums are like that. Even cars that are considered reliable (Toyota, Honda, etc.), you can check their forums and there are posts about electrical issues, cars not running, etc.


The thing is that when I look at other automotive sites, people are always bashing the DeLorean. They say that the cars have zero reliability and are crap.
People, especially on the internet, have a tendency to bash others to bring themselves up. It's called insecurities. Nowadays all you need to be a tough guy is a keyboard and an internet connection.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Every car on the roads have problems. Just look at Chevy, Ford or any model car sites. Old cars have more questions because most owners do there own repairs.

Even if we have a lot of "whats good" about the car threads, non owners don't look at those threads.

Only brake down I've had in years was because I had modified the ignition ECU. Never needed a tow (knock on wood since I'm driving it about 6 hours tomorrow).

[David T]

The issues I have had don't discourage me. It's an old car, and with that the happiness I get from driving it as well as the smiles it brings to people far out weights any of its issues and makes it worth every moment of my time

The two main reasons you see so many questions about repairs is:

1) The cars are old and many were never properly taken care of.
2) Many owners are not as mechanically inclined as they are motivated to learn how to take care of their car. Between them being novices and the technical literature assuming a high level of skill, they do what everyone does nowadays, get on the Internet and get information.

Like all old cars, the better you take care of it the more reliable it becomes. Many new owners have a limited budget and they are trying to stretch it by doing as much work on their car as they can. I try to encourage it so we can have as many Deloreans on the road for the public to see as possible. "Back In The Day" when I first got mine we didn't have the Internet but other owners helped me. Today it is SO much easier to get information. In fact many will start typing before even trying to fix a problem. I also find it interesting all of the different ideas from the larger community on how others fixed their problems, not always the way I would have thought of either.
Bottom line, no matter how reliable the Delorean was when new, adding 30 years and not always the best of care does not usually lead to a high degree of reliability now. Especially if the car was neglected, abused, forgotten, fixed by Jack the Ripper (that's what I call most of the people who attempted electrical repairs) and so on. Part of the *fun* of ownership is taking care of the car besides cleaning, showing, and driving it. Some don't live anywhere near a shop that can fix them anyway.

[TTait]

Maybe it speaks more to the type of person drawn to the Delorean, and our love for the car.

If this was a Honda Civic, or a Taurus, would I really go through everything I do the keep the car in top condition? Who really cares about fixing their Acura themselves, you take it to the mechanic, and when its getting tired you just get rid of it because it's just another car - easily replaced with just another car.

Whatever your daily driver is - when you see another one at the grocery store, do you think to yourself that the other owner is a kindred spirit? No, like you they drive it to get around, no bonding there.

The other part of it, IMO, is that the car is so unique in its engineering. How could you have a Mustang thread about graining stainless, or torsion bars, or how to fix the delaminating composite material in the roof section? A lot of innovative technologies went into our cars that is virtually unique to the Delorean. On top of that, we have to work together to maintain the cars. Rock Auto doesn't help us find parts, our community does. Perhaps our community is more willing to help others because we all know the other owners love their cars too, and when we find something that helps us care for or maintain our cars we genuinely want to share it with others. That generates a lot of threads.

And finally, why do the Ford Ranger forums not get filled up with questions about how to handle over-adoring fans at car shows, how they just passed another Ford Ranger in West Hollywood or how to make their truck look like the famous one from the movie featuring, a Ford Ranger. Our car, and the man behind it is unique.

I take it as a compliment that every part of our cars can be found in a thread here. That every part of the experience of owning, maintaining, and driving the cars is represented here. It's a car worthy of discussion, and worthy of our time and interest.

[DMCMW Dave]

Who would ever write a question about something that wasn't broken?

"Hi - new owner here, just asking for advice, my clutch works fine, what should I do about it?"

[MSpieler]

I agree with the point of views of the community here. All cars have problems and no one has all the answers, which is why car enthusiasts seek out forums and communities to solve problems and happily lament over their technical challenges. Dave T's point that we start typing before we try fixing it, is spot on but, I think that's just the kind of community we are because we all share the same goal of keeping Deloreans on the road.

I do think that the Delorean's movie star status and it's marketing principle of "living the dream," has attracted much more attention and scrutiny among the classic car community and journalists. The technology the Delorean tried to bring to the market was ahead of its time and after a few more iterations, it could've been incredible but, there was so much pressure on that first impression that any imperfection would of tarnished it's memory. But that memory has inspired so many people, many of which are people in this community. TTait said it best, we are a community that's totally involved in every aspect of this car, including its hardships, but it's worth it to us because we care about keep John Delorean's legacy alive.

[sdg3205]

The Jeep WJ forum and Miata forums I am also on are no different.

Each forum has the "What have you done to your _______ today" thread, the same questions asked over and over by newbies (miata forum NOT kind to newbies) etc etc.

[Chris Burns]

I live in an area where classic cars of all kinds grow like weeds. Even high dollar cars like Ferraris, Corvettes, and Lamborghinis have issues. Just part of the experience with owning a classic car or an exotic car.

Learn how to work on them yourself as much possible and save some money in the process.

Deloreans are a lot of fun and I love them to death, but you just got to realize that you have to tinker with them sometimes.

My friends the Hollers have over 500,000 miles on their Delorean. I also have a Delorean friend in Seattle drives his DMC across country every summer with no issues ( and it's a three digit VIN at that!!).

So there is hope. Just got to give it a chance...

[DMC-81]

+1 on everything said so far.

Why do I enjoy my car? Well, I haven't been able to drive it yet because I bought it for two reasons:
1) To pursue my passion to do a car restoration project and after that...
2) To have a reliable, unique show car

As a car guy, there are many things that I enjoy. What do I enjoy the most? The car's fame:

I knew that these cars had a certain mystique, but I was surprised at how it affects many different people. For example, when it was backed off the delivery truck in my neighborhood, an elderly gentleman came out of his house to watch the whole process saying "I haven't seen one of those in 30 years!" As I was signing the delivery paperwork, the first car drove by and it stopped abruptly in the middle of a T intersection, and all of the occupants piled out to see it. The middle aged mother said excitedly "It's really a DeLorean"!!

Over the past 2 years as I carefully restored it mechanically, I had many different people stop, comment, and ask to see it. They all were smiling, and had nice things to say. I have even met some new people because of the car. This is while it was on 4 jack stands in my garage!

Last night, I was able to let the car down off its perch, and today, I will test drive it for the first time since I limped it home. Guess what! I'm really excited!

That is why I enjoy my car.

[davidc89]

The Jeep WJ forum and Miata forums I am also on are no different.

Each forum has the "What have you done to your _______ today" thread, the same questions asked over and over by newbies (miata forum NOT kind to newbies) etc etc.

From the forums I have seen, none of them are nice to newbies. If someone posts a duplicate question, they go nuts. On here, people are nice enough to post the link for the already created thread. Maybe its because we are used to getting ask all the same questions? Flux Capacitor, Cocaine, etc. It seems like other forums are filled with keyboard warriors. In my experience anyways.

[mr_maxime]

It's one of the most affordable cars to properly blast synth music in. I've owned the car for 6 months, driven well over a 1000 miles since and the main issues I've had are: really old alternator belt breaking, generic alternator belt burning off, side skirt clips failing, power antenna dying, having to hit the RPM relay to start the car and hitting a truck tire causing a bulkhead wire to come loose.

DMC alternator belt is still holding strong after 1000 miles. New clips were installed to hold the side skirt in place. New relay kit was installed. All bulkhead connections were checked. I plan on taking out the antenna soon since I never listen to the radio now that I have a new radio with aux input. Only 2 of those were probably delorean specific problems, the clips and the RPM relay. DMCMW did fix some running issues where the car was not getting power which ended up being a combination of improper fuel pump, bad injectors and fuel filter. Because the 2 belts broke during my first 80 miles with the car, I dont feel its reliable. Not so much because it's a delorean, but because how old the car is. Im not worried that the car will break down so much as some little part I havent checked yet or have the technical know how of fixing will break.

Back to awesome things though, gull wing doors. I have never felt more awesome opening a door in my entire life as when I open my delorean doors. It's so needless and the car is so ridiculous it can't help from being awesome. You can buy lambo door kits for any car, but you cant bolt on gull wings. What other car has the ability to excite by merely opening the doors? Even with the stock suspension, the car sits insanely low and the seats lean back so far. It's like a big go kart. It's the complete opposite of driving SUVs that I dislike so much. Other cars try to separate you from the road too much and the delorean does the opposite, no power steering, 5-6" of ground clearance, and stiff suspension. Yeah, it's not fast, but you don't need to go that fast driving in this much style. People often ask me what made me want to get a delorean and my answer is always "its a delorean!" What else is there?

[David T]

I thought some more about the question. A big part of why you see so many threads about fixing the cars is because a newbie gets one home and then realizes he doesn't know how to fix it or where to buy parts. He thinks he is the first and only one to have ever done this. Before looking for answers he just posts. The FAQ section is not the greatest anyway and the search function doesn't work all that well, especially if you don't know how to use it. This is THE place to go to for all of the technical stuff and there is a lot to a Delorean that is not common to other cars like the doors and the body panels. This forum is not all that unusual compared to most other car forums except that this is about the only one for Deloreans and other makes may have many places to go for information.

[sdg3205]

Maybe its because we are used to getting ask all the same questions? Flux Capacitor, Cocaine, etc. It seems like other forums are filled with keyboard warriors. In my experience anyways.

It's true. I think we've developed thick skins!

I always see helping or giving advice (not that I'm qualified to give either!!!!) as one of the best parts about this forum, even on the same questions week after week. I was there once, even if I had an issue i could find an old thread on, my issue or circumstances sometimes seemed different enough to warrant a new thread. I can't recall more than one person in 6 years on this forum being negative about it. On other forums the same guys pop up over and over again and cry foul. I don't even use the miata forum anymore because my experience there was consistently unpleasant. Also, other forums are harder to navigate; this forum is EASY. We have one model! Other forums have sub-forum after sub-forum after sub-forum and the search engines often limit you to one search a minute unless you're a paid member. How annoying is that when you're stranded in a parking lot?!

DMCT for the win.

[mr_maxime]

I'm not the biggest fan of the search function's capabilities. The how-to section is great, but could use more stuff. The hardest part at times though is reading through someone's full restoration thread hoping that they had a similar issue. I've had two occasions of my car not starting, both of which were different and would have been difficult to go through the forum. Kind of hard to search why the ignition coil isnt working when you didnt even know it was a thing until your car wasnt running. So one of the great things about this car is the community, both forum and in person. Wouldnt have been able to get my car back on the road without DMCMW Dave and Andy Blackmon.

[Some guy]

I love this question, VW just has 500,000 cars recall. Toyota had to replace millions of gas petals because people were getting killed. Mazda said it is normal for there transmissions to slam into gear. Dodge is well Dodge. Ford explorers were rolling over because of bad tires.


All cars are crap.

Deloreans just happens to be one car worth keeping on the road.

[81dmc]

I love this question, VW just has 500,000 cars recall. Toyota had to replace millions of gas petals because people were getting killed. Mazda said it is normal for there transmissions to slam into gear. Dodge is well Dodge. Ford explorers were rolling over because of bad tires.


All cars are crap.

Deloreans just happens to be one car worth keeping on the road.

You forgot GM and their ignition switches.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

I know my title is shocking but I believe it to be true. Many Delorean's over the years have suffered from;

1) Lack of regular use and poor storage procedures and/or simple neglect over long strechs of time.
2) Poor repairs made by inexperienced or misinformed PO's or "hack" mechanics.
3) Incorrect or modified parts not suitable for the intended purpose in the name of false economy, performance, or simple apathy.
4) Changes of ownership from a responsible PO to a misininformed or financially stretched owner and back again over a 34 year stretch of time.

Most Deloreans have experienced at least one or multiples of the above over time. I've always considered my job to be to piece together, through inspection, observation and documentation, the history of each car I work on. After that I try to determine the best and most expedient way to bring the car back to it's former glory, or better, within the current owners budget and expectations. That is not always possible with an owner who is financially in over his head. Barring that virtually every possible thing that can go wrong has repair or fix that done correctly, and pursued thoroughly, will leave you with a car capable of driving coast to coast without the need for spare parts, tools, or a mechanic in the trunk (Boot for our English friends!). I know of many Deloreans, often ones I've maintained/restored to be quite frank, that I would not hesitate to drive anywhere at the drop of a hat.

The truth is that "good news is no news" and everyone uses these forums to search for answers to problems, parts advice, vent, complain, etc. We forget about all the positive posts about reliability and various joys of ownership because that is our nature. The recent runup in Delorean prices indicates to me that more people understand this than ever before and are placing a higher value on Delorean ownership. Whether the cause is the red hot collector market, "Back to the Future" anniversary mania, the improving economy or a better appreciation for the car is anybodies guess. The bottom line is as a collector car I think the Delorean's time has finally arrived. I've sold three Deloreans in the last month without advertising and no quibling about the price. It's finally a good time investmentwise to be a Delorean owner. Sit back, enjoy and hope it lasts!
Rob

[DMCVegas]

Dude, if you were an extra terrestrial send to study humans, and you only utilized hospitals as your only reference, you'd come away with the impression that we were consistently weak, dumb, sickly creatures. Same thing here: This is where neglected cars come to get fixed, so you're going to mostly conversations about cars with problems.

DeLoreans are great cars. I own one, and have used it as a daily driver before with it being my only car when I was single, young bachelor. It was, getting right to the point, fucking awesome. But I don't sit around just posting stories of my glory days, and pretty much most people have already heard most of my stories at least once anyway. Likewise when I did have it on the road, I also didn't post every single day how I made it to work, made it home, took it grocery shopping, ran errands in it, etc. It's a car, it did it's job, and did it very well as to be expected. It is an odd experience to go from "Yay! I've got my dream car!" to an attitude of "I drive a used car." when you keep a DeLorean as a daily driver. It wasn't that excitement wore off in a bad way, not at all. It just wasn't, to me any way, much of a big deal anymore. It's awesome to live and breathe everything DeLorean, and for me, well, it's not just a dream car, but it's the 99% perfect car for me. But like I say, since it's so prevalent in my life, it just wasn't a 24/7 thing of reporting in. It may not be 100% the exact same way for everyone, but unless it's a big road trip, even the daily drivers and 100K Club members just don't "report" their cars are still working just for the sake of doing so.

Plus anytime you mention a thing about a car going into the shop, no matter what the case is, it immediately becomes negative with people. I've got a '14 Focus that just got a recall for a Fuel Pump, and a TSB for a Transmission Reprogramming. I just got it back from over the weekend, and when I tell people they're like, "Whoah, that's terrible!" and then act like I'm going to rant. No, it's a recall. They happen, and it doesn't mean it's a bad car. Hell, I've got am 8 year old F150. Never had a single recall, never given me any problems outside of wearable parts. Someone asked me about it, and I made mention that since it's now over 100,000 miles, I've got some service items I need to take care of. Same reaction by people where because it's a vehicle that needs work, it's immediately a bad car. It's warranty fear at it's worst because people are just so dumb. Hell, look at your modern cars and you'll notice that they no longer list temperatures for the engine coolant. They just indicate either cold or hot. Why? Because people are idiots. I once knew a DeLorean owner that complained his car always ran hot. He showed me the temp gauge and how it always hovered below 220. Since water boils, he thought the car was constantly overheating. That also was a wasted conversation trying to explain the physics behind that. Even with a bottle of Prestone in my hand. But again, people only complain (mostly out of ignorance), and that's all you hear about. It's universal with ALL cars.

By the same token, like me, what the hell else do I have to talk about around here when it comes to all things DeLorean? What really do any of us have to talk about? Most of us could probably write how-to's on any part of the car. And lots of information is still contained in almost 20 years of just online conversations alone that anyone can, and does research. We got one model vehicle that was in production for 2 years, with 3 official model years, with minimal variations. This isn't like other marques. That's a big reason as to why we pretty much never complain if someone brings up a question about a well-covered subject. It's also why some of us started infighting with the nasty trolling; we needed something to do, and there wasn't really much of anything else. Even the DML still has a handful of yokels that are still bringing up arguments from 10-15 years ago because they've nothing else DeLorean to talk about. We're bitching about being bored.

[sdg3205]

Our cats may be 35 years old but we're cleaner than a VW diesel.

Mic drop.

[davidc89]

Our cats may be 35 years old but we're cleaner than a VW diesel.

Mic drop.

Oh SNAP!

[Mark D]

Our cats may be 35 years old but we're cleaner than a VW diesel.

Mic drop.

There is a car show later today that I'm attending and I had to chuckle when I found out the featured make was VW. They have been planning the show for months so it just happened to be an odd coincidence that all the news about VW cheating on their emissions tests came out a week before the car show.

[DMCVegas]

Oh SNAP!

More like:

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--NHbAhz8I--/18qrgz9ggjw6wgif.gif

[StanMan PushN 88]

As a new owner, that inspires me...it would be fantastic if you can get with them sometime and shoot a couple of instructional videos like: "Our Time Travel Maintenance TIPS" videos?? Or someone else that has 100,000 miles+ to go through some of the best tips and tricks for these wonderful cars. If there's some videos out there like this already, please send me/us the links to them!

Thanks!

Stan- PUSHN88



I live in an area where classic cars of all kinds grow like weeds. Even high dollar cars like Ferraris, Corvettes, and Lamborghinis have issues. Just part of the experience with owning a classic car or an exotic car.

Learn how to work on them yourself as much possible and save some money in the process.

Deloreans are a lot of fun and I love them to death, but you just got to realize that you have to tinker with them sometimes.

My friends the Hollers have over 500,000 miles on their Delorean. I also have a Delorean friend in Seattle drives his DMC across country every summer with no issues ( and it's a three digit VIN at that!!).

So there is hope. Just got to give it a chance...

[David T]

As a new owner, that inspires me...it would be fantastic if you can get with them sometime and shoot a couple of instructional videos like: "Our Time Travel Maintenance TIPS" videos?? Or someone else that has 100,000 miles+ to go through some of the best tips and tricks for these wonderful cars. If there's some videos out there like this already, please send me/us the links to them!

Thanks!

Stan- PUSHN88

There are not a lot of instructional videos out there. Go to youtube and search Deloreans. There is a lot of materiel here on this forum but it is mostly text with *some* pictures. It is a LOT more work to fix something AND do a video of it.

[DMCVegas]

Who would ever write a question about something that wasn't broken?

"Hi - new owner here, just asking for advice, my clutch works fine, what should I do about it?"

Well now I have seen people over the years who have just purchased cars ask what recalls should be done. And there is the plastic clutch line... :tongue_stick:



I agree with the point of views of the community here. All cars have problems and no one has all the answers, which is why car enthusiasts seek out forums and communities to solve problems and happily lament over their technical challenges. Dave T's point that we start typing before we try fixing it, is spot on but, I think that's just the kind of community we are because we all share the same goal of keeping Deloreans on the road.

I do think that the Delorean's movie star status and it's marketing principle of "living the dream," has attracted much more attention and scrutiny among the classic car community and journalists. The technology the Delorean tried to bring to the market was ahead of its time and after a few more iterations, it could've been incredible but, there was so much pressure on that first impression that any imperfection would of tarnished it's memory. But that memory has inspired so many people, many of which are people in this community. TTait said it best, we are a community that's totally involved in every aspect of this car, including its hardships, but it's worth it to us because we care about keep John Delorean's legacy alive.

Driving the car itself has been the biggest influence of all. I once had a coworker comment to me that he was told all of his life the DeLoreans were unreliable, but after seeing me drive mine for the 4th year in a row, his mind was totally changed. And that is a big influence on people, just driving the car to prove all of the naysayers wrong.

Of course it also gave me my first "I feel old" moment when I met a guy at the track one night who after confirming where I used to live, made the comment that years ago when he was back in high school he used to see me drive past him every day on his way home from school...

[Nicholas R]

There are not a lot of instructional videos out there. Go to youtube and search Deloreans. There is a lot of materiel here on this forum but it is mostly text with *some* pictures. It is a LOT more work to fix something AND do a video of it.

Yes and no. Yes it's more work, but is it harder? Not that much. You just have to talk through what you're doing; which actually can help you to focus on all the steps you actually need to do.

I made a 12 part video set on how to disassemble and reassemble the DeLorean manual transmission and input shaft. I figured I needed to do the job anyway, why not wear my GoPro on my head while doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVAIEzSsBNA&list=PLnEndvAymxRGS_mJH5HkMMh4tjt6lwTNW

I think it would be hugely beneficial if others would consider doing the same while doing jobs on their car. Pulling a front spring? Wear a GoPro and talk through the steps. Changing an otterstat? Wear a GoPro. Pulling the intake manifold? Wear a GoPro!

[Bitsyncmaster]

I think it would be hugely beneficial if others would consider doing the same while doing jobs on their car. Pulling a front spring? Wear a GoPro and talk through the steps. Changing an otterstat? Wear a GoPro. Pulling the intake manifold? Wear a GoPro!

But you would need to "BEEP" all the cus words. Not a bad idea though. I have a video camera mounted on my ski helmet.

[Jonathan]

I'd imagine our cars are no better or worse to keep reliable, work on, or restore if stored poorly or neglected than just about any other classic car you see.

The reason I think people comment about the car being unreliable is because while a DeLorean is immediately identifiable, just about everything else blurs together, and no one would notice or care if a Corvette, Mustang, Bel Air or other classic broke down or otherwise wasn't driveable for the season.

I think it happens just as frequently, or infrequently, but no one notices outside that particular owners small circle of friends, car buddies or neighbours. Hearing about some guy that's rebuilding his Porsche transmission or a Corvette guy that's patching holes in his frame isn't memorable because those cars aren't memorable.

People seem to have memories like elephants with our cars and never forget something they saw or heard about them even if what they continue to repeat wasn't accurate in the first place.

DeLoreans make for good stories with your friends at lunch. Just think about how much any of us bring up the car in conversation, often unsolicited, in just about any setting. People don't care about hearing an equivalent story about every other blah car out there, yet their face lights up at the first mention of "DeLorean."

And being the baseball playoffs start today, a good analogy came from Reggie Jackson when he said, "they don't boo the nobodies."

[aotmfilms]

Who would ever write a question about something that wasn't broken?

"Hi - new owner here, just asking for advice, my clutch works fine, what should I do about it?"

:driving1: Hey! New owner here lol, seriously though, sometimes I want to know about stuff BEFORE it happens, because we MAY not have the vendors here in 30 years to assist us in keeping the Deloreans on the road in 2045....so I plan on printing or saving whatever I can no matter how stupid sounding the question is because the last thing I want to do is have 5778 wind up in a museum.

In 30 years I want to pass that torch to another owner. The one thing about car shows in the Motor City (Detroit) is you get to see some well preserved old cars (1925 era) and those guys are always hunting for parts or making them so I have seen, first hand, what may happen to the D in 2045 when I am old and grey....if they didn't ask the questions in their car clubs in say, 1959 (when the car was 34 years old), the car may not have had made it to 2015..so ask even if the item is working fine because in 10 years it may not be and their may not be a DMC or vendor to provide you the part.... :(