First Candidate! :D

[steve852]

Okaaaaay! I've found my first potential purchase candidate. I've got the photos back (there are lots of good ones) and info based on the questions answered. It's not exactly what I was after (I wanted a 2nd gen bonnet, ideally) but there's something about it I nevertheless like. It's got 106k miles on the clock, and is retailing at a fairly heafty (I thought for the mileage) $26k. Might be able to barter perhaps. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

Original seller's description
Very very clean example of a DMC-12. This meticulously maintained California car is perhaps one of the cleanest we have ever received in our inventory. For its age, this DMC-12 shows very very minimal signs of exterior and interior wear----even the original dash is intact with no signs of cracking. Runs and drives as good as it looks with brand new tires just installed. Except for an aftermarket stereo, this Delorean was kept as original as possible. Very cold A/C with all books and records including a custom car cover. Needs nothing!

Photographs (there are a lot of em)
Click here to view
Carfax documents, etc below

My Questions / Their Answers
Q. What maintenance has been carried out on the car during its lifetime? Please list.
A. Maintenance: it is our understanding that normal maintenance of the car was performed throughout its life.

Q. Have there been any recalls or upgrades from DMC during the car’s original years?
A. We do not have records that confirm any recalls or upgrades in the early years.

Q. What US state has the car been kept in for the majority of its life? Where was it located before you bought it?
A. As far as we can tell from available information, the car has always been in California

Q. Has it been parked and unused for any length of time (years)? If so, how long and where (garage, outdoors, etc)?
A. The car has not been parked outside to our knowledge.

Q. Are there any fueling issues? If so, what?
A. We are not aware of any fueling issues, injectors and fuel system were checked and are operational.

Q. Do the doors sag at all?
A. Doors do not sag

Q. Are there any ‘eyebrows’ on the front facia – raising of the facia above the lights?
A. Not familiar with the eyebrow issue you mentioned but we sent you pictures

Q. Is there an X indented in the bonnet? (See http://www.deloreanclub.co.uk/forum/vie ... f=13&t=580 for example)
A. We sent you pictures of the front bonnet taken from the second story.

Q. Does the car have a documented history of ownership?
A. No documented ownership chain on hand other than what shows on the Carfax

Q. Please can you let me have the carfax / autocheck report.
A. We have attached a Carfax with this email.However, Carfax only starts in 1992, no records shown before that.

Q. Is the T-panel between the door still firmly attached to the fibreglass body?
A. The T panel are firmly attached to the fiberglass

Q. Are the door struts still firmly attached to the fibreglass body?
A. Door struts are firmly attached

Q. To buy the car I also require the title and bill of sale. Is this available?
A. Copy of title is attached.

We are a licensed California car dealer, bill of sale will be issued only when the car is sold.

DeLorean Title.jpg
Carfax 1.jpg
Carfax2.jpg
Carfax3.jpg

[jerzybondov]

Hi Steve,

Who's actually selling this car? Doesn't seem like it's the previous owner? Some kind of trader?

For what it's worth, $26k is a lot. You should be getting an absolute minter for that. And if that car has 106k miles on the clock, then I'd want to be seeing receipts for everything that should have been replaced after that kind of mileage. So things like bushes throughout, steering rack refurb, regular oil changes, TABs, even shocks. They really need to be able to say more than 'it's been maintained'.

Not a problem on a $15k car as you'd be expecting to change those bits yourself, but on a $26k car you really want the work to have already been done.

Personally if you can stretch to $26k I'd be looking at getting a well known club car from a dmctalk owner who can tell you exactly what has been done and what hasn't. I was looking at an absolute minter at $24k with incredible history on it before I went for mine... Remember if you go for a nice one that 20% VAT will sting you much harder on $25k than $10k!!

[andyd]

**Caveat!** I am a newbie and no nothing. See my previous posts... But my observations:

Has it had a front end smack? See the creases on the crumple zones? Then again, its 30 years old...

Has nice eyebrows to fix!

Needs new rack boots

Chassis wants touching up at the least

A few little parts missing

Interior has been dyes/ painted in parts?

Door latch post repair....


Carefull Steve, its not that cheap.... Probably 21k GBP by the time you buy it, get it here, pay the VAT, get it registered, get it legal and taxed...

Just my tuppenyworth... But for that money, I'd want it perfect (or very close)

Good luck

a

[jerzybondov]

Yep, those creases on the front crumple tubes aren't great.

Have they said that everything works on the car as it should? All electrics, A/C etc?

I'm sure it's an OK car, but personally I don't think it's worth $26k. You might be looking at spending £22k+ on it actually to get it on the roads over here, and for that you could pretty much have your pick of any car in this club (if you can persuade anyone to sell ).

Personal opinion is that it's probably worth mid-high teens in $.

[A Van]

Too much money

[Dangermouse]

Can you repost the carfax, please. The link seems broken.

[steve852]

Cheers for the feedback guys. Yes - your thoughts on the price are sorta what I expected. I gotta admit I thought $26k for this was steep, and (when taking into account shipping and tax) over my budget.

Also, I just noticed - that's a 3rd gen bonnet, yet the VIN photo (bottom photograph) says it was built in December '81?

@Andy & Jerzy - I think from what I've been reading I can get the VAT down to 15% and remove the duty all together by highlighting that it was originally built in the UK and exported to the states. But either way it weighs in at over £21k when taking shipping into account. This is above my budget of ideally £16k, but max of £20k. @Jerzy - the car's being sold by a trader

@Dangermouse - sorry mate, they're here:
http://www.stevetucker.co.uk/delorean/D1/Carfax 1.jpg
http://www.stevetucker.co.uk/delorean/D1/Carfax2.jpg
http://www.stevetucker.co.uk/delorean/D1/Carfax3.jpg
http://www.stevetucker.co.uk/delorean/D1/DeLorean Title.jpg
(if some of them don't load just highlight the address in your browser and hit 'enter')

[jerzybondov]

I very much doubt you can get your VAT down to 15% Steve. I paid 15% VAT on mine, but that's only because it was the VAT rate at the time. Unless they drop it again you'll have to pay 20%.

Re the bonnet - it's correct. They started making 82 model year cars in December 81, and the VINs jumped from 7199 to 10001. So this car is the 13th off the production line with the 82MY changes (including flat bonnet, bigger exhaust tips etc).

[bozzzydmc]

Judging by the photos I would say this has had a slight front end shunt at some time, crumple tube has deformation in this and the origional radiator duct is missing

Sorry I agree with the above its way overpriced

Mike

[willinot]

Hi,

I have to agree with the other posts but would add one thing.

The crease in the crumple zone do not necessarily indicate a front end accident in the "hit another car type of way".

Reason I mention is my own car has it and it was a result of braking to hard in a dip in the road causing the front (which had shit old shocks in it) to hit rock bottom and smack of the tarmac causing a nice wee crease. Apparently there are a quite a few cars like this having hit high kerbs. No idea of this is true or not but its what I was told when I inquired about fixing it at the time.

I know this is what happened cos I was in the car at the time (but not driving).

Signs of it can be seen from the brackets holding the front anti roll bar are flattened at the bottom too.

That was about 3-4 years ago and it has never caused a problem.

Still makes the car to much money!

Also noticed that the headlining are screwed into place (which I have never seen before). That in itself is no big thing but would make me think that the previous owner was not frightened to undertake DIY in their own way and I would be concerned as to other ways they have addressed issues on the car over their ownership.