probably a wise investment, it won't devalue like a new car. But they weren't great cars to drive, rear weight bias and all, made 'em lousey handling and the engine was fairly gutless.
richardmayes,
May 17, 9:31am
Fortunately, now that the car has gone forward in time to 2012, you could more than double the power by dropping in a humble Toyota Aurion engine and tiptronic trans.
kwkbrk,
May 17, 12:32pm
I never for one minute understood how it was he chose one of the worlds worst engines, the PRV V6, to power those vehicles . even the Volvo turbo 4 of the era had more hp and proven longevity .
foxdonut,
May 17, 12:35pm
I think all the engine money had been allocated to coke and hookers by that stage.
foxdonut,
May 17, 12:36pm
Fun fact, the dial only goes to 85mph.
tgray,
May 17, 12:55pm
Just needed aChev 350 to start with and things would have been a lot happier. Utterly reliable, cheap and bullet proof. For a car that was made in the late 70's, it still turns heads today. Bad car! yes, but still has the cool factor.
gsimpson,
May 17, 1:10pm
I believe the originally intended engine was rotary which probably would have worked. Delorean should have just built a reworked Esprit which is a better car anyway. Lotus had to scrap most of his ideas anyway and the only true Stainless part are the doors. The rest is fibreglass over steel chassis as Esprit. Those doors cost a fortune to develop too. Some of the later Deloreans came out with a painted finish over the fibreglass.
bellky,
May 17, 1:23pm
I don't reckon.
foxdonut,
May 17, 1:52pm
Are you really sure about any of that!
I was reading the wiki earlier and its contradictory to most of what you've posted.
Originally, the car was intended to have a centrally-mounted Citroen/NSU Comotor Wankel rotary engine.
Chapman replaced most of the unproven material and manufacturing techniques with those then employed by Lotus. The backbone chassis is very similar to that of the Lotus Esprit. The original Giorgetto Giugiaro body design was left mostly intact, as were the distinctive stainless steel outer skin panels and gull-wing doors.
bellky,
May 17, 2:16pm
Well you said it. Hehe.
foxdonut,
May 17, 5:10pm
Under the 'body' sub heading.
Body The body design of the DMC-12 was a product of Giorgetto Giugiaro of Ital Design and is panelled in brushed SS304 stainless steel. Except for three cars plated in 24-karat gold, all DMC-12s left the factory uncovered by paint or clearcoat.[15] Painted DeLoreans do exist, although these were all painted after the cars were purchased from the factory. Several hundred DMCs were produced without stainless panels, for training workers, and are referred to as "black cars" or "mules", in reference to their black fiberglass panels instead of stainless, though these were never marketed. Small scratches in the stainless steel body panels can be removed with a non-metallic scouring pad (since metal pads can leave iron particles embedded in the stainless steel which can give the appearance of the stainless "rusting"), or even sandpaper.[16] The stainless steel panels are fixed to a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, fiberglass) monocoque underbody. The underbody is affixed to a double-Y frame chassis, derived from the Lotus Esprit platform.
gsimpson,
May 18, 10:29am
What's your point foxdonut! Its contradictory to most of what I posted!
foxdonut,
May 18, 12:17pm
Your original post talked about how they were fibreglass and painted, which is different to the wiki article, thats all.
They are starting a new build program soon. Also an electric option by the end of 2013. Interesting.
gsimpson,
May 19, 5:16am
Fibreglass! From your own post. "The stainless steel panels are fixed to a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, fiberglass) monocoque underbody. The underbody is affixed to a double-Y frame chassis, derived from the Lotus Esprit platform" Painted! They were available painted. So the painting was done post factory but before purchase. A minor detail. Regardless, your original assertion was MOST of what I had written was wrong. Actually no.
rayzor14,
May 19, 9:44am
Being real here - delorean was a complete and utter failure. What was designed and what was ultimately built and sold were two very different beasts and the final article would have struggled to compete with the average well built kit car. As someone has said earlier, had it not been for Back to the Future Delorean would just be another concept that came and went and died a natural death. $30,000 can buy a lot of car - and for that matter a lot of nostalgia is thats your thing. From roughly the same era you could have a 928 S4, a bloody good 944 Turbo, and a reasonable selection from Mercedes, BMW etc. Pretty much any of those will outperform a Delorean in every way possible. Cool - NO! Just a blast from the past with very little to boast other than being the chosen sled to propel Michael J Fox to fame.
foxdonut,
May 19, 9:55am
Whatever, I stopped caring about this a few days ago.
Sure, they were painted and made from fibreglass. Cool.
franc123,
May 19, 10:25am
Yes the story behind the DMC12's creation was certainly better than the vehicle itself, how DeLorean even managed to get British govt backing to build a low volume heavy sportscar in the wake of both the fuel crisis AND the British Leyland fiasco was an amazing feat in itself. Being a millionare playboy ex GM CEO clearly had clout with those who rubber stamped it!
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