Parts availability for Deloreans these days

[RammJaeger]

I'm a new Delorean owner, and one of the things that has me a bit worried is that some of the parts seem to be unavailable from sources like DMCH. It also worries me a bit that DMCH seems to have gotten pretty quiet for the last year or so. Should I be worried? I've got several classic cars, and I know that parts availability can be tricky. But all of my other cars they actually made quite a few of them. When I look at DMCH's website and so many of the parts don't seem to be available any more. I almost feel like I missed the "golden era" of parts availability for the Delorean when there were piles of NOS parts just waiting to be bought.

One example is the binnacle. Mine is cracked and I'm looking for a replacement. Is there anyone selling NOS versions of these or a reproduction? I did some digging around and DMCH were working on a repro part a couple of years ago, but all of the forum posts where they were talking about it seem to have gone silent a long time ago.

I'm very excited to have a Delorean now, I just want to be able to fix it up and drive it for years to come :)

[ccurzio]

It's one of the unfortunate aspects of DeLorean ownership. Some parts just aren't available anymore. The Binnacle is one of those super-hard-to-come-by bits, and if you do find one, it's going to be really expensive.

There's not really anything you can do about the situation other than hate it, but that's something you should be well aware of before you buy a DeLorean. :)


I almost feel like I missed the "golden era" of parts availability for the Delorean when there were piles of NOS parts just waiting to be bought.

You did. Considering only about 8500 cars were made, the "golden era" was when they were still relatively new. That said, availability on LOTS of other parts is excellent, so don't sweat it too much.

[Delorean Industries]

I'm a new Delorean owner, and one of the things that has me a bit worried is that some of the parts seem to be unavailable from sources like DMCH. It also worries me a bit that DMCH seems to have gotten pretty quiet for the last year or so. Should I be worried? I've got several classic cars, and I know that parts availability can be tricky. But all of my other cars they actually made quite a few of them. When I look at DMCH's website and so many of the parts don't seem to be available any more. I almost feel like I missed the "golden era" of parts availability for the Delorean when there were piles of NOS parts just waiting to be bought.

One example is the binnacle. Mine is cracked and I'm looking for a replacement. Is there anyone selling NOS versions of these or a reproduction? I did some digging around and DMCH were working on a repro part a couple of years ago, but all of the forum posts where they were talking about it seem to have gone silent a long time ago.

I'm very excited to have a Delorean now, I just want to be able to fix it up and drive it for years to come :)

We are constantly manufacturing and designing new components for the dmc-12 platform. There is really no reason to worry as long as DMCH and DPI stay in the game.

[RammJaeger]

Yeah I guess I was suckered in by that "Wheeler Dealers" episode where he walked right into the shop and grabbed a binnacle (and a bunch of other parts) right off the shelf :) I did do a decent amount of research before I bought the car, but I didn't really know which were the rare, hard to get parts before I bought one. Any pointers on finding a binnacle? What about that "Special T Auto" place that says they will recover the original, do they do a good job?

[justlooking]

Any part can be had for these cars, if the price is right. It's not as if there is anything unobtainable. If you don't have money to play with, then you shouldn't be fooling around with an antique car, IMO.

Part of the good/bad things about a DeLorean is that almost anyone can afford one. It's good because it's cheap admission to exotic car ownership. It's bad because maintenance/upkeep tends to be neglected moreoften than not, and because the in response, vendors tend to tailor their business to the bottom of the market. This is why we spend years waiting for dashboards and binnacles made of plastic, and inferior to the OEM counterparts. This is why we end up with years of cross-referenced ball joints that inevitably fail (instead of remanufactured ball joints, thank you DeLorean Club UK). This is why Rob Grady no longer sells 1/2 of the custom new parts inventory that he had in the past, while John Hervey doesn't have time to answer the phone - the average owner buying parts seems constrained to selection based on price alone, even when another part is better quality, fits better, and that vendor has a longstanding reputation.

My hope is that as more affluent owners acquire these cars, they will accrue in value, which will justify spending more on parts, and vendors will find worthwhile return-on-investment to move upmarket to higher quality/higher availability of parts.

[David T]

If you think getting parts for a Delorean (a car made by a company that has been out of business for over 30 years) you cannot be very familiar with many orphan cars. The Delorean was blessed with an immense amount of production inventory that became parts stock. While it is true some parts are harder to get then others, just about any part you need can be acquired either NOS, new, reproduced, or used. In some cases you can always rework your old part. Many parts are crossed over from other makes. If you are buying a complete car your main concern would be repairing damage from an accident. Unless the car is a near total loss just about everything can be repaired or replaced. As for typical service parts or restoration, it is all available with a phone call and a small parts delivery. More important than parts availability is WHERE and WHO will service the car. A bad mechanic can cost you a lot of parts you don't need and ruin a lot of good parts and still not fix the car properly.
David Teitelbaum

[louielouie2000]

Any pointers on finding a binnacle? What about that "Special T Auto" place that says they will recover the original, do they do a good job?

Pretty much all of the vendors will recover your binnacle in vinyl or leather if you send it off to them. Prices from what I recall are $200-$400 depending on the vendor.

Personally, I think the DeLorean Motor Company franchise recovered binnacles look far better than the other current options. But if you're a nit-picker like me, beware: when the binnacle is recovered, the black plastic insert that finishes the edges where the gague cluster meets the binnacle is covered over. It's not as big of a deal if you have a black interior car, but if you have a grey interior car I feel the loss of the black insert around the gagues makes the interior look very kit car-ish. That being said, otherwise, the DMC franchise recovered binnacles really do look fantastic. The leather quality looks quite good, and I especially like the addition of the stitching. Those small details really make the binnacle compliment the style of the rest of the interior.

My least favorite option is Special T Auto. Their recovered binnacles look like someone stuffed marshmallow puff inside them, and the vinyl they use is very cheap looking.

[Kenny_Z]

I like comparing the availability vs quality of parts between my classic Mustang and DeLorean. There were millions more Mustangs created so there are tons of parts and different suppliers. If I get a DeLorean fender I know it's going to fit and not need a whole lot of work. If I buy a 66 Mustang fender I am going to beat, weld, and curse that thing until it fits. In many ways the DeLorean has been the easiest car I've ever attempted to restore.

[RammJaeger]

Pretty much all of the vendors will recover your binnacle in vinyl or leather if you send it off to them. Prices from what I recall are $200-$400 depending on the vendor.

Personally, I think the DeLorean Motor Company franchise recovered binnacles look far better than the other current options. But if you're a nit-picker like me, beware: when the binnacle is recovered, the black plastic insert that finishes the edges where the gague cluster meets the binnacle is covered over. It's not as big of a deal if you have a black interior car, but if you have a grey interior car I feel the loss of the black insert around the gagues makes the interior look very kit car-ish. That being said, otherwise, the DMC franchise recovered binnacles really do look fantastic. The leather quality looks quite good, and I especially like the addition of the stitching. Those small details really make the binnacle compliment the style of the rest of the interior.

My least favorite option is Special T Auto. Their recovered binnacles look like someone stuffed marshmallow puff inside them, and the vinyl they use is very cheap looking.

Do you have any links to show where you can get your binnacle recovered by a DMC franchise? I haven't been able to find any. Also has anyone heard what happened to their reproduction binnacles? They had some prototypes and were supposed to be coming soon (but those forum posts are from 2012).

Some of the posts on these forums (well the old version of these forums) have had good things to say about the Special T Auto recovered binnacles. Has anyone else had a bad experience with this? What about his refinished wheels? I was thinking about sending my wheels into him as well.

[DeLorean03]

Do you have any links to show where you can get your binnacle recovered by a DMC franchise? I haven't been able to find any. Also has anyone heard what happened to their reproduction binnacles? They had some prototypes and were supposed to be coming soon (but those forum posts are from 2012).

Some of the posts on these forums (well the old version of these forums) have had good things to say about the Special T Auto recovered binnacles. Has anyone else had a bad experience with this? What about his refinished wheels? I was thinking about sending my wheels into him as well.


I understand you just acquired your DeLorean, so you don't know what I am about to say: not all of the services offered are on the websites. For example, binnacle being recovered is a service they do; you just have "to know" to ask. Basically, if I have an idea or a question, I just call DMCMW and ask. It seems like nearly anything can be done with enough ingenuity, time, money, and patience.

I had a recent opportunity to sit down with Stephen Wynne (president of DMCH), and I politely inquired about the binnacles, citing that it had been rather hush hush for a while about their production. He informed me, along with his son, Cameron, that they were very close to having them 100% ready to release to the public - alas, it just comes down to making sure they're ready to go. He informed me that he has invested enough money to the point that if he were to quit on them now, it would be a major financial loss/ money pit. So rest assured, they haven't forgotten about them. They just only have so many workers to continue the binnacle's development, and it gets put on the back burner for other things such as our fuel pump/sender combo that we all love.

As I asked him, and he verified my answer: "They're done when they're done."

[Bikercmbc]

I have recently had my grey binnacle recovered by specialt. It was a satifactory job when I recieved it back. I was able to put the black surround piece back in and it looks good barely know the black piece came out. but 6 month later when I came back from utah for the winter it looks like the glue has come loose or the vinyl has stretched. there are wrinkles on the edges around the dash are, not the end of the world but it has to do until the dmch ones come out. also welcome to SEDOC, im up in nashville area now, but my two cars are outside Knox and will occasionally make it down to the tech session.

[DMC81]

I understand you just acquired your DeLorean, so you don't know what I am about to say: not all of the services offered are on the websites. For example, binnacle being recovered is a service they do; you just have "to know" to ask. Basically, if I have an idea or a question, I just call DMCMW and ask. It seems like nearly anything can be done with enough ingenuity, time, money, and patience.

I had a recent opportunity to sit down with Stephen Wynne (president of DMCH), and I politely inquired about the binnacles, citing that it had been rather hush hush for a while about their production. He informed me, along with his son, Cameron, that they were very close to having them 100% ready to release to the public - alas, it just comes down to making sure they're ready to go. He informed me that he has invested enough money to the point that if he were to quit on them now, it would be a major financial loss/ money pit. So rest assured, they haven't forgotten about them. They just only have so many workers to continue the binnacle's development, and it gets put on the back burner for other things such as our fuel pump/sender combo that we all love.

As I asked him, and he verified my answer: "They're done when they're done."


Great info on the binnacles, thanks!

[DMC5180]

Do you have any links to show where you can get your binnacle recovered by a DMC franchise? I haven't been able to find any. Also has anyone heard what happened to their reproduction binnacles? They had some prototypes and were supposed to be coming soon (but those forum posts are from 2012).

Some of the posts on these forums (well the old version of these forums) have had good things to say about the Special T Auto recovered binnacles. Has anyone else had a bad experience with this? What about his refinished wheels? I was thinking about sending my wheels into him as well.


Another Option you have is to get a Dashmat and use that in the interim while replacement binnacles are in the works. I used a the Velour-mat (smoke) for my grey interior. It's good to have one anyway even if you do have a NEW DASH and BINNACLE .

http://www.global-accessories.com/products/index.phtml?prod_id=velourmat&cust_id=dashmat&SYSTEM=storelink&SESSIONID=notpassed&ACTION= Fill the Year (81) /Make (DELOREAN) /model (DMC-12)

Select COLOR: (SMOKE) is the better choice and closer match than the lighter (GREY). I'm assuming you have a grey interior. Skip the ADD-ON stuff and you should end up with the base price of $43.00

[David T]

If you are only interested in fixing up your binnacle you do not have to stay within the DMC parts system and venders. Just like for other make cars there are third party companies offering special services. Some have had success with Just Dashes but they are expensive and not everyone was pleased with the end result. Others have had the binnacle custom covered in leather but you have to be careful because if it changes the outer dimensions it makes it difficult to fit properly.
David Teitelbaum

[eagle-co94]

Welcome to the forum RammJaeger!

As far as parts availability there are some parts that are just downright impossible to find Binnacles, left front fenders, gas flap hoods) except in the rare to occasional times that an owner is completely parting out their car (like I am doing right now...shameless plug). The rest of the time you're at the mercy of hoping something pops up here on the forum, ebay or Craigslist. There are also a few other forums and newsgroups to browse as there are owners that stick to only one.

I do know that Special T Auto (http://specialtauto.com/delorean-parts/accessories.html) recovers binnacles and has before & after pictures to view. He's a hard working one-man-band and DeLorean owner himself with tons of knowledge.

Just a note from someone who's been in the community for about 5 years now: take everything you hear with a grain of salt. You will get a lot of great information mixed with some misinformation. Also know that there are some vendors that will bad-mouth and openly criticize their customers, other DeLorean owners and vendors. It's ultimately up to you where you shop, but I vote with my wallet.

I hope your ownership is enjoyable and as trouble free as possible. Enjoy driving your D.

[NightFlyer]

Welcome to the forum RammJaeger!

As far as parts availability there are some parts that are just downright impossible to find Binnacles, left front fenders, gas flap hoods) except in the rare to occasional times that an owner is completely parting out their car (like I am doing right now...shameless plug). The rest of the time you're at the mercy of hoping something pops up here on the forum, ebay or Craigslist. There are also a few other forums and newsgroups to browse as there are owners that stick to only one.

I do know that Special T Auto (http://specialtauto.com/delorean-parts/accessories.html) recovers binnacles and has before & after pictures to view. He's a hard working one-man-band and DeLorean owner himself with tons of knowledge.

Just a note from someone who's been in the community for about 5 years now: take everything you hear with a grain of salt. You will get a lot of great information mixed with some misinformation. Also know that there are some vendors that will bad-mouth and openly criticize their customers, other DeLorean owners and vendors. It's ultimately up to you where you shop, but I vote with my wallet.

I hope your ownership is enjoyable and as trouble free as possible. Enjoy driving your D.

+1

Great advice and I strongly second these sentiments!

Another great vendor that often gets overlooked by many is Byrne Henninger and Associates, http://www.deloreanupgradeparts.com/.