DMC Houston Deloren As Daily Driver

Hello All!

I have wanted a DeLorean For many year now, basically ever since i was a Sophmore in High School. Now, I am out of college and finally have a good job that gets me some real money. Because of this, the option of getting a quality DeLorean is finally real.

I am considering purchasing a DeLorean from Deloren Motor Company in Houston Texas. I have read that this company produces quality DeLoreans with all the required safty updates installed so that the end buyer doesnt get trapped in his car like DeLorean himself was :)

My question is weather these Texas DeLoreans are quality enough to use as a daily driver. I really want to make my DeLoran the car I drive, if i am going to invest this much into it. I dont want to buy one to fix it up. I understand the gremelins that DeLoreans can have, but i really want to know if anyone has had any experience wityh using these as Daily Driver cars, because i love them this much, i woudl really like to make them my Daily Driver. I do have an 88 Toyota Corolla SR5 that ill keep for a backup, but i would almost always use my DeLorean!

Any advice, sugestions would be greatly apreciated!

Feel Free to reply here, or to Email me at:

YourNewC@ snipped-for-privacy@Hotmail.NOSPAM.Com (Replace the @ with an a and remove the .NOSPAM)

Thanks Bunches,

Nick Pawlak

Reply to
Arctic Hound
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... and you're in a hurry to lose it all for a rather mediocre bastardized 'exotic'? Take my advice: Buy a couple of posters, a video, some road tests, and maybe even some promotional materials about DeLoreans to moon over in your spare time and then get yourself an '87 Supra turbo. It kinda' looks like a DeLorean (a somewhat sporty doorstop) and it's a helluva lot better car.

"quality DeLorean" is a contradiction in terms.

Who wrote that? Don't tell me ...

You mean, "The doors work"? The original DeLorean *was* a fairly *safe* car. It was mostly a piece of crap otherwise. As for ol' John hisself, he was trapped by *federal DEA agents*, not by the car.

Tell you what: Go down to your local Volvo dealership (unless you can find a Peugeot or Renault dealer in Houston - and I wouldn't be too surprised to find either one there) and talk to the service manager and the technicians about what it will take to keep the Volvo(/Peugeot/Renault) V-6 in the butt end of your DeLorean alive. Maybe you should be sitting down at the time. Then, realize that, aside from the clever stainless steel body panels (that retain fingerprints better than any other solid surface ever developed by mankind and that don't ever exactly match the tacky plastic bumper fascia), this is the *most* serviceable and affordable part of your dream car.

Hope that Toyota's in very good condition. It will almost unquestionably be more dependable than the DeLorean.

Read the above until you are convinced it's true. Hey, I've got a 'thing' for '57-'61 Mopars with fins and late '60s B Bodies (Roadrunner, Belvedere, Satellite, GTX, Coronet, R/T, Superbee), but I manage to satisfy that

*esthetic* desire by *looking* at 'em and *reading* about 'em. I've owned and driven them, too, so I *know* I don't really want to *own* one. I *drive* an '87 BMW 535is (the moral equivalent of the Supra, above) and a 2001 Jeep (your '88 Corolla, with better winter traction). While I agree life's too short to drive boring cars, it's also too short to buy bad ones hoping they're great. Your expectations will probably never be met (at least not with a DeLorean), so why destroy your fantasies?

If you buy and/or drive lots of *good* cars (German and Japanese; not

*Irish* ones), your eyes will be opened by experience and you'll discover what you really like about them. If you *then* drive a DeLorean and you *still* want one, then, God help you, go ahead and do it.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

Reply to
C.R. Krieger

That Texas Delorean place has a website. Cheapest one on the lot is 30K.

Take my advice: Buy a couple of posters, a video, some road

Good advice.

Reply to
Stephen Bigelow

For less money, you could buy a good used Hyundai which will have far higher quality and sporting characteristics.

As a vehicle, the Delorean sucked big time. Stainless steel skin and all.

It is doubtful you can buy a DeLorean with the "snow package" that got old J. in such trouble, but if you are looking for one of them, try the DEA and/or US Customs auctions and you might get lucky.

If you are looking to buy a DeLorean as a collector car, get only an original, and buy it from a quality collector house that can provide full paperwork to back it up.

As a car, it really and truly sucked. Crappy handling, pathetic performance, and the idiot that came up with that stupid stainless steel idea obviously never tried to clean his mother's kitchen sink.

Some of the DeLoreans have been overpainted which drops their purist collector value but does make them easier to live with.

If you want a daily driver, buy a Corvette, Ferrari, or Porsche and drive that.

Admittedly, the DeLorean does have a certain cultish kook following, but then so does a far better car...the Edsel.

Reply to
L0nD0t.$t0we11

Several Points:

One: I have information on the Houston DMC. They bought all the parts from DeLorean when he went out of business.

Two: I am a DeLorean expert. I know how he wasnt in it for the drugs, but rather was trying to keep his company alive. Ever hear about the Tucker car? The "Big 3" auto manufacturers tried to destroy DeLorean just as they tried to destroy Tucker. They did this because it was a threat. Read up on the Tucker, and you'll hear basically the same story as DeLorean:

Big Shot Detroit Engineer, Disgusted With The Politics Of The Big 3, Decided To Venture Out To Make A Better Car, Destroyed By Big 3 Because They Were A Threat.

Read up on the Tucker and you'll read stories about how lies were created against the intregity of his car. Sound familiar?

Three: Supras with turbos suck. I had one, and the turbos basically killed the engine. I love Toyotas to death, and my Corolla is at

360,000 miles with no porblems. But, I also love DeLoreans.

Four: Houston DMC makes like NEW DeLoreans with all the safety features to fix the gremlins. They can do this cause they have ALl the ORIGINAL FACTORY PARTS. They are also experts at the cars and service the engines...so i wont need a volvo delaer....Plus the engines Houston DMCs sell with are Crate Engines...0 Miles...hmm these should last a while.

Finally....If anyone who actually owns a Houston DMC DeLorean can give me some useful advice, please post back on your experiences. I really want people who own deloreans, not people who know a little about them or just people willing to foreward rumors...

P.S. -- did you know the DeLorean was origionaly certified by Alstate insurance as the safety car, and you still get a huge insurance DSCOUnt if you own one...

Nick

Reply to
Arctic Hound

A safety car, circa. 1980, that is.

Reply to
Stephen Bigelow

Pretty good for a cheesie assed rear engined monstrosity that oversteered worse than an old Porsche on crack....

Reply to
L0nD0t.$t0we11

OK, so you really don't want advice.

Ed

Reply to
Ed Price

I think you'll get much more specific information from the web based Delorean sites. Start here:

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Reply to
Jimmy

Piffle. Delorean destroyed himself.

Engineer? Delorean? Not quite.

Not really. Try the interviews with the people who did the market research that showed annual demand of 7,000-8,000 cars, only to be told by Delorean that they were targeting ten times that many, no matter what the facts were.

Funny, it's the only car I've actually watched burst into flames at a stoplight.

THe DMC wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that wonderful, either. And the business arrangements around it stank. Where did Delorean get the funds to buy the ski grooming equipment business? From the investors in his dream car, that's where.

Reply to
Stephen H. Westin

No, I really want adivce. Perhaps I put it the wrong way. I dont want people repeating to me the facts that I already know.I LIKE HOW IT LOOKS! I have driven one....I LIKE ITS HANDLEING AND SEMI SPORTYNESS...I know the history of DeLorean. I even know how his company failed, and its not why most people think.

Those kind of things I know.

I want to hear from DeLorean owners who could have some advice for me, because right now that is the acpect of my DeLorean knowledge that i fall short of in order to make my decsision.

Nick

Reply to
Arctic Hound

Gee, C.R., why don't you just tell him to rent 'Back to the Future' and be done with his dream? :-p

Good advice, the PRV engine is... uh... quirky. But lots of Eagle Premiers got by with them too.

Then you're missing out on everything a lot of us enthusiasts love, C.R. I drive a Satellite *every* day, and the only reason I don't drive my Coronet R/T every day is because its too valuable to wind up (like the Satellite) with over 400,000 miles on it! I wouldn't drive a rice-burner every day if you in addition GAVE me a Viper, 57 Chrysler 300C convertible, or '67 Hemi GTX to sit in my garage and do nothing but "moon over." It may be fine for you, but "look don't drive" has no appeal for a lot of us.

Is it going to be carefree to own and drive a Delorean? Hell no! If you want a "drive it and forget it" VINTAGE car, get a Dart with a slant-6 or a Satellite with a 318 or a Mustang with a 2-barrel 302. But if the Delorean is your dream car its worth it to you. Just last September I stopped and talked to a guy at a car show who was doing just that and loving it, warts and all. In fact there were 2 Deloreans at the show, but only one was daily driven. This guy did tell me that he bought most of his parts and had most of his heavy work done at a place in Houston, but I honestly couldn't say if its the one mentioned before.

Reply to
Steve

Well, in Tucker's case they really WERE lies because his car really was a well-engineered machine. Delorean, otoh, built a mediocre-to-poor automobile under a cool-looking skin.

I still defend your desire to own and DRIVE one, though, and I have seen first-hand that it can be done. Best of luck with it!

Reply to
Steve

Really? Alex Tremulis claimed that they designed the body with rear lift to compensate for the rear-heavy weight bias! And wasn't there the great story about the front suspension breaking at the public roll-out?

Reply to
Stephen H. Westin

Well, the survival percentage of the tucker is pretty damn good even if they did have some problems.

Reply to
Brent P

But we'll never know the survival rate in normal use. Other rarities have done well, too; all six Bugatti Royales are still in existence, for example.

Reply to
Stephen H. Westin

On 6 Jan 2004 10:12:02 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@Hotmail.com (Arctic Hound)

My neighbor has one for his daily driver. I guess it's cool if you really want to drive a 20 year old car. Of course, yours would be a "new" 20 year old car, but I'm not impressed.

Reply to
Mike Helm

Sounds to me like you're a spammer trying to drum up business for your crappy DeLoreans.

Who brought up Supras, until you did, you freaking idiot? I highly doubt you've ever owned one, considering your 360,00 mile Corolla ("gee, I thought I'd go from a Supra turbo to a Corolla"), plus you're too stupid. A clueless idiot such as yourself sure doesn't know jack about what allegedly killed an engine he never owned, spammer.

Reply to
dizzy

CR suggested one...

Reply to
Brent P

I doubt it. Do you have any evidence of that ? He didn't even post a URL.

Another poster. You might want to read the thread before flaming the guy for something he didn't do. You seem to be living up to your name.

Reply to
Jimmy

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