They also ruined the Lotus engineered chassis in the process, I believe. They are very nice looking cars though, however I don't think I'd pay $40,000 for one.
If I had a budget of around $40,000 to buy a new car, it'd be a new DeLorean. On the other hand, if I had unlimited budget, it would be a 2006 Ford GT - graphite with black detailing. Mmm...
Yeah, their biggest problem, though, is that they are so heavy that their power to weight ratio kinda sucks. I saw a DeLorean going down my street last week. It had the license plate "TIMELES"
The design is also filled with a lot of faults that don't really show up until long term ownership, like how hard it is to keep the unpainted body clean and not looking like crap, being dramatically underpowered for its design, etc. In fact, it's got an entry in "Automotive Autrocities: Cars we Love to Hate", which BTW, is a good read if you're into cars.
Good point. It certainly didn't help that the car was full of design issues in the first place, not least the fact that the changes made to meet US emissions standards ruined the performance of the car. Considering that he dodged two trials for fraud over DMC by blagging his way out of extradition requests and that the US courts ordered him to pay back private investors despite not being able to prosecute him, i'll remain highly dubious of his innocence. The FBI obviously had it in for him, but he was still willing to do the drug deal and he even tried to scam the apparent dealers with stock in a shell company rather then DMC itself. In the unlikely event that he was legitimately innocent for everything he apparently did, losing several hundred million in a company that only manufactured 9000 cars is epically incompetent. Regurdless of all that, I still think that the DMC-12 is an awesome piece of 80s and i'd probably buy one if I was uber rich.
They are very rare but you can spot one every now and then. There are about 4 or more in my city and sometimes you can spot them in the parking lot.
When I lived in the UK The local Transport Museum had Delorean in it. I got yelled at for trying to get in it on a school trip ( I was A Teaching Student not a Student at the school, I was 22 at the time). My excuse was that I wanted to go to the future and see if I passed my exams. The kind assistant pointed out to me it was a regular Delorean and not the time machine. I told her I felt jipped and that its false advertising as everyone knows the only real Delorean is the one that goes through time. Teh kids laughed she laughed...I didn't get booted out
