First post: To import or not...

[bandit]

Hi & welcome to the forum. I would take Darren up on his kind offer if I was in your position, the more info you have the better prepped you are to buy one.
If you visit Darren be prepared to be amazed, bewilded, stunned & just feel generally automotively inadequate at his car ( & collection )
You will enjoy!

[dmc4087]

Evening,

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone - very kind of you all!

I agree to an extent with the reservations with the auto box. I'm the same, despite currently driving an auto for the past eight years and becoming somewhat of a convert. Despite infuriating problems with my current steed, the auto box is bulletproof and has never missed a beat but, rightly or wrongly, I'm a bit put off by an auto as old as the DMC. But perhaps this is an unfounded prejudice.

asifmalik: Sorry you've had a bad experience with an import, and thanks for being frank about it. I hope it doesn't sound flippant, but at least your container wasn't empty when it came off the ship - as ultimately that's the risk I guess we take when it's so easy to click-click on a computer and send thousands of pounds to someone in another country we've probably never met before. I hope you manage to iron it out without losing all your hair! Fortunately the staff car park where I'd be driving it to is like Fort Knox so there's no question of it being pinched - I guess I'd have to find a quiet corner in the recesses somewhere to minimise the risk of it being scraped though.
Mark

Might be worth considering a trip out to see the car.

[tourettes tony]

I would buy an auto but only because when it goes wrong I would sorce a UN1 and convert it to manual. Also consider a non runner , engines are a piece of piss to rebuild but the only thing you have to make sure is that the block has no corrosion in the valley of death.
TT

[bozzzydmc]

Hi & welcome to the forum. I would take Darren up on his kind offer if I was in your position, the more info you have the better prepped you are to buy one.
If you visit Darren be prepared to be amazed, bewilded, stunned & just feel generally automotively inadequate at his car ( & collection )
You will enjoy!

Problem is after looking at Darren's car he will be mighty disappointed when his car arrives

Yes go and see him .. last thing you want to buy is a dog of a D

[Dave T]

Too buy US or not to buy that is the question!

If you have limited technical experience don't buy from the states you'd be better off having a heroin addiction as the yanks have a tendacy of dressing up the sale...its been tuned/ good condition etc etc. horsesh4%t and all that.
Im an experienced mechanic I paid a lot of money for my D and still ended up paying £1500 more on technical repairs excluding labour to get it up to where any UK D owner would say 'thats a good D'.
If you have no tech aptitude stay clear of the US D's the yanks have tendency to dress the condition of the vehicle..... on the opposite scale most the owners on this side of the pond are maticulous on the up keep of there D therefore you'll probably get a better bang for you buck in the overall scheme of things.

just be cautious ...Im a VERY experienced mechanic and still found the hole ordeal importing a vehicle I hadn't inspected from the states very worrying.

except one simple fact.....you have a budget to spend to cover the cost of car , importation etc etc.... then add more to get it up to where it should be.
The yanks don't look after the D's like we do.

best of luck
dave

[Horsebox]

After his kind offer, I went to see Darren's DMC a couple of days ago near Chichester...the first Delorean I'd seen in the flesh (Thanks again Darren!). I was half hoping I would be disappointed and would therefore bury the idea of owning one of these cars and stick with a Mondeo etc. Unfortunately not...his car is a masterpiece, and now I want one even more.

Dave T: Fortunately no heroin addiction here, although quitting the glue has been tough. Must have picked the wrong week again! I can see how it must appear from your point of view. Someone who admits no mechanical knowledge buying a 30+ year-old car blind frankly deserves everything he gets.

I'm thinking that to minimise the risks I ought to look first at the DMC franchises in the US to see what they have. I have a weeks leave in early May so I'll try to organise a flight to Miami or Orlando and spend a couple of days out there having a nose around DMC Florida and eating meat.

I've just received "The Illustrated Buyer's Guide..." in the post. Looks invaluable. All I need now is a house with a garage!

Horse.