DMC3165
11-19-2011, 06:05 PM
I know some of you are probably getting sick of this story by now. But there are too many characters to fit in a PM and it doesn't make sense unless I write the whole thing. So here it is again:
Sorry for the delay. It's been a busy week. Here is the story.
In early 1999 I purchased 3165 from PJ Grady for about $25000. It had 12K original miles on it. 3165 was originally owned by a doctor who purchased it new in 1981. But he didn't use it much. His neighbor wanted to buy it but the doctor refused to sell it. Finally in late 1991 the neighbor who had just returned from the first Iraq war approached the doctor again about purchasing the car and he finally agreed. The second owner kept it for seven years and then sold it to PJ Grady's in 1998. Rob Grady performed a Chassis off refurbishing of 3165 and the sold it to me in early 1999.
3165 was (and still is) and amazing car. At the time it was the fulfillment of a dream that I had ever since I was a little boy. The mistake I made at the time was driving it everyday. While I loved driving the car anything can happen when you drive it everyday. On Christmas day 99 it did. While on my way home from Christmas dinner I was rear-ended by a woman traveling at 40mph and never touched her brakes. In the end 3165 was so badly damaged the insurance company wanted to total it. But with Rob Grady's help we were able to save 3165 and rebuild her.
For the next 2 years I drove 3165 almost everyday and it never failed me. Never broke down. Never gave me one ounce of trouble ever! Up until this point I had put about 30,000 miles on 3165. Then in September 2001 I broke down. My wife's (then girlfriend) sister died tragically in a car accident on September 22. She was 20 years old. I was devastated. I had never known tragedy like this before and it was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Falling into a serious depression I was desperate to snap out of it and I made the biggest mistake of all, I went car shopping. The car dealer I went to knew I was in bad shape and he took advantage of the situation. He put me in a used Mercedes (which turned out to be a head case) and took my D. After I went home my entire family and my girlfriend yelled and screamed at me for what i did. The next morning I went back to the car dealer and he said the DeLorean was already loaded on a truck and shipped out and there was nothing he could do. It was gone for good.
Or so I thought.....
Fast forward to 2003. While looking for DeLorean's on e-bay. I found 3165 for sale at a dealership right here in Queens NY. I called the guy up and ran right down to see it. I told him my story and he wasn't interested. He told me he bought it at auction in Pennsylvania and wanted $20000. for it. We tried to work out a deal but I was getting married next year and couldn't really afford to spend the money. So I decided to walk away again for the second time. Hoping it would go to a good home I said my good bye's and walked away.
For seven years after that I didn't see or hear anything about 3165. Periodically I would do car fax's and internet searches all to no avail. I could only assume it had been sold and was gone. Until one day when believe it or not 3165 found me.
One Saturday in February 2010 I received a letter at my parents house called a "Notice of Lien and Sale". It stated that 3165 was abandoned in storage and I owed 7 months of back rent or it would be sold at auction. I was shocked. It took me all weekend to get the phone numbers of the garage that had it and to try and contact the Auctioneer. When the Auctioneer finally did call me back he explained the car was abandoned in storage and I was being notified as the last titled owner. In the nine years after I sold it no one had ever re-titled it. Which meant the car dealer never sold it. But this raised another question. Why was it never sold? With the help of my attorney we investigated this thoroughly. As it turned out this particular car dealer must having been doing things a little shady. They are supposed to title the cars in their business name before re-selling them. But to avoid paying tax on them sometimes they don't do this. We can only assume this was the case with this. Even still why was it never sold? Well the only thing we could come up with was if you run a car fax on 3165 it comes up with major accident damage. Carfax didn't really become popular until the early 2000's so it's possible that this plus the high price scared people away. In an attempt to try and get more information I went back to the old dealership that had it. When I arrived the place was closed up with a lawsuit attached to their front door. These guys were in trouble. But their loss was my gain. The garage that had the car gave me a little bit of trouble in trying to reclaim the car but in the end the auctioneer told them look he's here he still is the legal owner you have to release the car. And so they did. In the end I had to pay the back storage fee of $2300. 3165 did need some work to get it running again. But overall I got lucky. In the nine years since I last drove this car they had only put about 900 miles on it. Plus it was stored indoors, two basement levels down under a building that was temperature controlled. This helped preserve the car and after pumping out the seven year old gas that was in the tank we did get it running that very same day. Only long enough to drive it out from where it was up to street level where it died again. We loaded it up on a trailer and off we went.
Aside from the day my two kids were born getting 3165 back was one of the happiest days of my life. I was able to right a wrong that had happened so many years ago. Even though it was self inflicted, this had turned out to be a personal victory beyond my wildest dreams. While I'm not a wealthy guy and several people have questioned my motives for keeping the car and not selling it again. It's too important to me and my immediate family. Recently my wife had cancer and I also lost my job so the very real prospect of selling 3165 became a possibility again. But thankfully my wife is doing well and I found a new job. So all is looking up and I hope to keep 3165 for many years to come. The moral to this story: "Keep your head up, You really never know what's going to happen next!"
:wink:
Cheers,
Sorry for the delay. It's been a busy week. Here is the story.
In early 1999 I purchased 3165 from PJ Grady for about $25000. It had 12K original miles on it. 3165 was originally owned by a doctor who purchased it new in 1981. But he didn't use it much. His neighbor wanted to buy it but the doctor refused to sell it. Finally in late 1991 the neighbor who had just returned from the first Iraq war approached the doctor again about purchasing the car and he finally agreed. The second owner kept it for seven years and then sold it to PJ Grady's in 1998. Rob Grady performed a Chassis off refurbishing of 3165 and the sold it to me in early 1999.
3165 was (and still is) and amazing car. At the time it was the fulfillment of a dream that I had ever since I was a little boy. The mistake I made at the time was driving it everyday. While I loved driving the car anything can happen when you drive it everyday. On Christmas day 99 it did. While on my way home from Christmas dinner I was rear-ended by a woman traveling at 40mph and never touched her brakes. In the end 3165 was so badly damaged the insurance company wanted to total it. But with Rob Grady's help we were able to save 3165 and rebuild her.
For the next 2 years I drove 3165 almost everyday and it never failed me. Never broke down. Never gave me one ounce of trouble ever! Up until this point I had put about 30,000 miles on 3165. Then in September 2001 I broke down. My wife's (then girlfriend) sister died tragically in a car accident on September 22. She was 20 years old. I was devastated. I had never known tragedy like this before and it was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Falling into a serious depression I was desperate to snap out of it and I made the biggest mistake of all, I went car shopping. The car dealer I went to knew I was in bad shape and he took advantage of the situation. He put me in a used Mercedes (which turned out to be a head case) and took my D. After I went home my entire family and my girlfriend yelled and screamed at me for what i did. The next morning I went back to the car dealer and he said the DeLorean was already loaded on a truck and shipped out and there was nothing he could do. It was gone for good.
Or so I thought.....
Fast forward to 2003. While looking for DeLorean's on e-bay. I found 3165 for sale at a dealership right here in Queens NY. I called the guy up and ran right down to see it. I told him my story and he wasn't interested. He told me he bought it at auction in Pennsylvania and wanted $20000. for it. We tried to work out a deal but I was getting married next year and couldn't really afford to spend the money. So I decided to walk away again for the second time. Hoping it would go to a good home I said my good bye's and walked away.
For seven years after that I didn't see or hear anything about 3165. Periodically I would do car fax's and internet searches all to no avail. I could only assume it had been sold and was gone. Until one day when believe it or not 3165 found me.
One Saturday in February 2010 I received a letter at my parents house called a "Notice of Lien and Sale". It stated that 3165 was abandoned in storage and I owed 7 months of back rent or it would be sold at auction. I was shocked. It took me all weekend to get the phone numbers of the garage that had it and to try and contact the Auctioneer. When the Auctioneer finally did call me back he explained the car was abandoned in storage and I was being notified as the last titled owner. In the nine years after I sold it no one had ever re-titled it. Which meant the car dealer never sold it. But this raised another question. Why was it never sold? With the help of my attorney we investigated this thoroughly. As it turned out this particular car dealer must having been doing things a little shady. They are supposed to title the cars in their business name before re-selling them. But to avoid paying tax on them sometimes they don't do this. We can only assume this was the case with this. Even still why was it never sold? Well the only thing we could come up with was if you run a car fax on 3165 it comes up with major accident damage. Carfax didn't really become popular until the early 2000's so it's possible that this plus the high price scared people away. In an attempt to try and get more information I went back to the old dealership that had it. When I arrived the place was closed up with a lawsuit attached to their front door. These guys were in trouble. But their loss was my gain. The garage that had the car gave me a little bit of trouble in trying to reclaim the car but in the end the auctioneer told them look he's here he still is the legal owner you have to release the car. And so they did. In the end I had to pay the back storage fee of $2300. 3165 did need some work to get it running again. But overall I got lucky. In the nine years since I last drove this car they had only put about 900 miles on it. Plus it was stored indoors, two basement levels down under a building that was temperature controlled. This helped preserve the car and after pumping out the seven year old gas that was in the tank we did get it running that very same day. Only long enough to drive it out from where it was up to street level where it died again. We loaded it up on a trailer and off we went.
Aside from the day my two kids were born getting 3165 back was one of the happiest days of my life. I was able to right a wrong that had happened so many years ago. Even though it was self inflicted, this had turned out to be a personal victory beyond my wildest dreams. While I'm not a wealthy guy and several people have questioned my motives for keeping the car and not selling it again. It's too important to me and my immediate family. Recently my wife had cancer and I also lost my job so the very real prospect of selling 3165 became a possibility again. But thankfully my wife is doing well and I found a new job. So all is looking up and I hope to keep 3165 for many years to come. The moral to this story: "Keep your head up, You really never know what's going to happen next!"
:wink:
Cheers,