DMCCA and/or Anaheim experiences?

[DaraSue]

As some of you know, I'm in a quandary about what to do with my car for the winter (the car is currently in Vegas, I'm in SLC with snow crudding up the roads). I had pretty much resigned myself to storing it in Vegas until I could get a trailer back and/or spring thaw, but another owner here in UT suggested taking it down to Huntington Beach (since I was planning on going to SoCal anyway next week) and letting them keep it and check it over since they wouldn't charge for storage. Another owner I'd talked to in SoCal said he took his to the shop in Anaheim. I haven't seen much commentary on here about either of those shops one way or the other, has anyone worked with them enough to offer a recommendation?

[DaraSue]

P. S. If it makes any difference, the work I'd probably have them do would be a coolant flush and replacing some of the pipes, the ones that haven't yet been replaced (by me), toward the front. There's some other work I want to do but I'm hoping to get it back to MW in the spring.

[BladeBronson]

Two questions: What's the shop in Anaheim that you mentioned and are you sure that DMC will store your car for you for free?

[DaraSue]

Two questions: What's the shop in Anaheim that you mentioned and are you sure that DMC will store your car for you for free?

It was DeLorean Motor Center in Garden Grove. I haven't talked to either of them about their storage policies yet but the guy who recommended Huntington Beach said he'd left his car for the winter and they hadn't charged him.

[BladeBronson]

Ah, okay. DeLorean Motor Center became DMC Huntington Beach. There is no shop in Garden Grove any longer. I would give DMC a call and ask about the idea of storing your car there.

[DMC5180]

Ah, okay. DeLorean Motor Center became DMC Huntington Beach. There is no shop in Garden Grove any longer. I would give DMC a call and ask about the idea of storing your car there.

Rumor has it, Don Steger (former Delorean Motor Center owner) is back working on deloreans again, likely as a one man shop. I heard he acquired a bunch of former Delorean one inventory. Perhaps this is the Anaheim shop being mentioned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DaraSue]

Rumor has it, Don Steger (former Delorean Motor Center owner) is back working on deloreans again, likely as a one man shop. I heard he acquired a bunch of former Delorean one inventory. Perhaps this is the Anaheim shop being mentioned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Was he one of the original employees at the factory in Ireland? Because that's who I was thinking of. I reformatted my phone and lost the texts from the guy who recommended that other shop but I definitely remember him mentioning that. Maybe I've stumbled into an alternate timeline, lol...

[DMCVegas]

Don't assume anything. You need to speak with them in advance about storage fees, and if it is even a possibility. It is one thing to store a vehicle while it is queued up for service, but it is another to store it for any length of time after the fact. So you really need to verify all of this in advance. Shops typically don't care to have excessive vehicles lying around for storage since that space is more profitable for repairs.

As already stated, DeLorean Motor Center in Garden Grove is no more. DMCH took over, and eventually moved the shop to Huntington Beach.

I only recently heard the rumor about Don starting to freelance on DeLoreans again. The parts supply he has is most likely Ed B's old stock given the photos and some posts from another thread here on DMCTalk. But I don't know how to contact him, nor where his new shop would be.

An older place in California used to be Swedish Auto Service. Now known as Swedish Asian Auto Service. The founding owner had indeed worked for DMC, and it was a go-to place for many years. I've heard their name on pop-up on the DML before. http://www.swedishasian.com/

I don't believe that any of the original certified mechanics were trained in Northern Ireland. They went to domestic training centers as far as I know, which was told to me by an original mechanic who was indeed certified by DMC when working for the Vegas dealership.

[DaraSue]

I think it was likely Steger the other guy was talking about -this review mentions him having been trained in Ireland too, so if that wasn't the case maybe it was an urban legend based on the QAC thing. http://www.cartalk.com/ca/anaheim-santa-ana-garden-grove/131613/delorean-motor-center

The guy who recommended him was selling his car and presumably hadn't been driving it tons so maybe he hadn't been there in a while.

If I decide this is something to pursue I'll call them on Mon to confirm storage policies but I wanted to get some feedback from the community, because it seemed strange that for a state with such a high concentration of owners, there wasn't more discussion about this shop. They've got all 5 star reviews on Google but none of them actually say anything meaningful, at least on my browser. :confused:

[DMCVegas]

As far as I know, the mechanics were not trained in Northern Ireland. Don either worked at a QAC or a dealership. His former partner, the other Don who passed away some years ago, I am almost certain that he worked at the Santa Ana QAC. That's back when the shop wasn't referred to as "Garden Grove", but instead as "The Two Dons".

The founding owner of SAAS, Ron Lowe did work for DMC directly. The only thing I've ever heard was that he was simply a "factory rep", but his obit listed him as a Training Director for Volvo. Lots of shops have come and gone, but SAAS is neck and neck with P.J. Grady in the DeLorean community as far as a shop that has been there since the beginning. But Rob would have to beat them out because he is after all still alive.

Though I've never heard a negative complaint about SAAS, in reality it probably isn't talked about as much because most of the locals down in The Southland either go to DMC, or they're just not online. The landscape of the community is nothing like it was 20 years ago when I first got involved. Back then we were running out of parts, and there was always a great concern about where to take our cars for service. The DML was big on establishing a list of repair shops, as well as community-based support from fellow owners. Now we kind if just take it for granted, the amount of knowledge we have online, as well as instantaneous service from fellow owners. So trips to the shop are probably less and less for many owners. Even with that though, there are still a significant number of people who simply are not connected online, so they don't really share what places they go to.

[SamHill]

...while the internet can be fairly blamed for destroying a lot of industries, it increased the popularity of car hauling, which in turn reduced prices.

[David T]

By now anyone who was "Factory Trained" is either retired or dead. The majority of the mechanics in the US were trained by factory reps or apprenticed themselves to a shop and learned "on the job". Any of the shops that specialize in Deloreans is probably OK. Hard to stay in business working on only 1 kind of car unless you know what you are doing. Mess up too many cars and word will quickly get around. Parts are, for the most part, no longer a problem as long as you can afford them. PJ Grady is the only remaining shop from the original group of sales dealerships. They were in it from the beginning and struggled through all of the hardships when DMC went bankrupt to keep their customers running and serviced. Along the way they managed to source or have made many of the parts necessary to keep Deloreans running. They still buy, sell, and service Deloreans and only Deloreans. I heard Don S retired. He was not in great health, maybe he is just free-lancing to keep busy. He is VERY experienced having worked on Deloreans for so many years.
As far as using a shop just so you can get free storage, you had better set that up BEFORE you try it. Many shops are space-limited and if you don't pick your car up after so many days they may charge you for that "free" storage. In many States, after so long, unclaimed merchandise can be sold off for storage and repair fees. There is also the problem of liability. Most shops don't want customer's cars around after they are done because they are responsible for any damage.

[DaraSue]

I talked to them (DMCCA) today, and they said they could store it if I had (iirc) over $2500 worth of work done, otherwise it would probably be a few weeks before the coolant system job was done, which would put me into January when the weather would likely be worse. There are probably enough things I could do that would add up to $2500, but while the gentleman I talked to was perfectly nice and helpful, I think if I were going to spend that much I'd rather do it at MW since they're more of a known quantity. Maybe if I have time I'll swing by there anyway just to take a look around.

[BladeBronson]

Have you considered a car or RV storage place in Vegas or near there?

[DaraSue]

Have you considered a car or RV storage place in Vegas or near there?

Yeah, I made a reservation at a storage place just in case. If the weather forecast turns halfway decent I might just roll the dice and drive back, but if they're still forecasting snow early next week I'll just leave it here. I might have a friend who could store it at their house (behind a locked gate) but I'd probably rather have it inside.

[kings1527]

As far as I know, the mechanics were not trained in Northern Ireland. Don either worked at a QAC or a dealership. His former partner, the other Don who passed away some years ago, I am almost certain that he worked at the Santa Ana QAC. That's back when the shop wasn't referred to as "Garden Grove", but instead as "The Two Dons".


By now anyone who was "Factory Trained" is either retired or dead.

Don Steger was sent to Ireland back in the production days and was factory trained in Dunmurry. He mentioned that he worked at the QAC and it was the QAC that sent several employees back to Dunmurry (he was one of them) to learn more about initial production, the nuances with the car, and also for the factory to be provided with info from people who work at the QACs regarding common issues they were having to fix.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

By now anyone who was "Factory Trained" is either retired or dead. The majority of the mechanics in the US were trained by factory reps or apprenticed themselves to a shop and learned "on the job". Any of the shops that specialize in Deloreans is probably OK. Hard to stay in business working on only 1 kind of car unless you know what you are doing. Mess up too many cars and word will quickly get around. Parts are, for the most part, no longer a problem as long as you can afford them. PJ Grady is the only remaining shop from the original group of sales dealerships. They were in it from the beginning and struggled through all of the hardships when DMC went bankrupt to keep their customers running and serviced. Along the way they managed to source or have made many of the parts necessary to keep Deloreans running. They still buy, sell, and service Deloreans and only Deloreans. I heard Don S retired. He was not in great health, maybe he is just free-lancing to keep busy. He is VERY experienced having worked on Deloreans for so many years.
As far as using a shop just so you can get free storage, you had better set that up BEFORE you try it. Many shops are space-limited and if you don't pick your car up after so many days they may charge you for that "free" storage. In many States, after so long, unclaimed merchandise can be sold off for storage and repair fees. There is also the problem of liability. Most shops don't want customer's cars around after they are done because they are responsible for any damage.

Yes we are the only remaining original factory authorized dealer but I have no intention of retiring anytime soon. Although most factory trained people are retired or deceased I was only 22 when we received our very first Delorean for sale in April 1981. I'm hoping that I stay healthy enough to do this for at least another 10 to 15 years. Don Stegar is the other old timer in the business and after a two year sabbatical is again working on Delorean's part time. He recently lost a lot of weight and seems to be doing well. Yes he did wind up with the old Delorean One inventory or at least what's left of it. I have his contact info if anyone needs to get in touch with him.
Rob

[DaraSue]

Yes we are the only remaining original factory authorized dealer but I have no intention of retiring anytime soon. Although most factory trained people are retired or deceased I was only 22 when we received our very first Delorean for sale in April 1981. I'm hoping that I stay healthy enough to do this for at least another 10 to 15 years. Don Stegar is the other old timer in the business and after a two year sabbatical is again working on Delorean's part time. He recently lost a lot of weight and seems to be doing well. Yes he did wind up with the old Delorean One inventory or at least what's left of it. I have his contact info if anyone needs to get in touch with him.
Rob

What city is he in? I'm currently in Oceanside looking for a shop, and IDK if I want to try to make it to Santa Ana or Huntington Beach. :nervous:

[PJ Grady Inc.]

What city is he in? I'm currently in Oceanside looking for a shop, and IDK if I want to try to make it to Santa Ana or Huntington Beach. :nervous:

Anahiem. If you want contact info please send a PM.
Rob

[DaraSue]

47872

All right, what was/is this place? DeLorean Specialists, 2824 Willis St, Santa Ana, CA 92705

Another former location for DMCCA, Steger's new digs or is there another shop none of us have heard of?

Er, I guess just call and ask, but I hate cold-calling people and I already made the commitment to Huntington Beach...

[DMC5180]

I believe that may be a shop that was started by a former mechanic of Delorean One. They acquired a bunch of NOS inventory from Ed Bernstein, with intentions of supporting former D1 customers. They started a restoration project thread 2-3 years ago here on Dmctalk to showcase the detail workmanship they were offering. I have not seen anything posted from them in a long time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Delorean Industries]

That is correct Dennis for the most part. They are slammed with tons of work as well. We send a lot of parts their way.