Hey Dave , buy a DeLorean

[Ed.Kloonk]

I now drive a Toyota Corolla 

Oh, what a feeling.

[james_s]

Well, at least you can get some of the obscure spare parts for them right here in Oz! 

https://www.jaycar.com.au/flux-capacitor/p/OUTATIME

cheers,

IMHO making a time machine out of a DeLorean is like building a vintage Charger into the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard, been there, seen that, it's not original. Great car, great movie, but no reason to convert more of the cars to what was in the movie.

[Delta]

It's not so much weak as it is just a poor design. I've only ever dealt with it in Volvos and the main issue was that it was very prone to oil leaks, difficult to work on in place, and hard to get it to idle smoothly. Then it was only 130HP in US-spec emissions compliant form

I'm with you 100%, it's a p*ss-poor design. The PRV engine was originally designed as a 90 deg V8, but due to the oil crisis two cylinders were chopped off (French cost-cutting style), leaving an unbalanced, vibrating, oscillating, noisy V6. Which was then put into the DeLorean.

And frankly: a measly 131...136 HP from 2.8 l displacement is an insult to real European engine designers.

Indeed. The Mercedes straight 6 M110 introduced in the early 70s produced a superb 185HP from 2.8L. Great engines.

[EEVblog]

IMHO making a time machine out of a DeLorean is like building a vintage Charger into the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard, been there, seen that, it's not original. Great car, great movie, but no reason to convert more of the cars to what was in the movie.

Really?
Name a car that will turn heads everywhere you go more than a time machine Delorean.
Not a single car in production would come close, nor any historical car.
The single first thing I'd if I win lotto is get a time machine Delorean.

There is a Delorean for sale in oz, but generally pretty rare.
https://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/DeLorean-DMC-12-1981/SSE-AD-3534741/?Cr=0

[CJay]

It's not so much weak as it is just a poor design. I've only ever dealt with it in Volvos and the main issue was that it was very prone to oil leaks, difficult to work on in place, and hard to get it to idle smoothly. Then it was only 130HP in US-spec emissions compliant form

I'm with you 100%, it's a p*ss-poor design. The PRV engine was originally designed as a 90 deg V8, but due to the oil crisis two cylinders were chopped off (French cost-cutting style), leaving an unbalanced, vibrating, oscillating, noisy V6. Which was then put into the DeLorean.

And frankly: a measly 131...136 HP from 2.8 l displacement is an insult to real European engine designers.

Indeed. The Mercedes straight 6 M110 introduced in the early 70s produced a superb 185HP from 2.8L. Great engines.

The straight 6 from the BMW M3 was a little later, early 80s, but made a very respectable 235HP from a shade under 2.5L and is/was a very  nice engine to drive. Shame the car would actively try to kill you if you used it

That DeLorean engine is pretty much in line with a lot of American V 'musclecars' which had around 50HP per litre, loads of tuning potential on them of course but it's turd polishing at its finest.

I always remember Will Gollop's 1.9L Peugeot 306 rallycross car absolutely thrashing a bunch of highly prepped drag strip musclecars on the strip...

[nctnico]

IMHO making a time machine out of a DeLorean is like building a vintage Charger into the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard, been there, seen that, it's not original. Great car, great movie, but no reason to convert more of the cars to what was in the movie.

Really?
Name a car that will turn heads everywhere you go more than a time machine Delorean.

A big fat Rolls Royce,  a bright colored Ferrari or Lamborghini sports car will do that. $100k is likely to get you an (older) second hand one. Kids nowadays have no idea about BTTF but they do know their sports cars. The design of the Delorean is more like BTTP (back to the past).

[EEVblog]

A big fat Rolls Royce,  a bright colored Ferrari or Lamborghini sports car will do that.

They'll get a cursory glance, often with a mumble of wanker on their breath. But you won't get a flock of people wanting a photo with it and to see inside.

This guy who test drives fancy cars says it's #1 at pulling people:

[VK5RC]

Re head turning, the 'V8 supercar' race is about to get started on the street circuit in Adelaide, lots of really nice cars out and about, a Maclaren F1 is about town,  that really generates a serious crowd. I would wager more than a Delorean.

[EEVblog]

Re head turning, the 'V8 supercar' race is about to get started on the street circuit in Adelaide, lots of really nice cars out and about, a Maclaren F1 is about town,  that really generates a serious crowd. I would wager more than a Delorean.

I'll take that bet.
Joe Average would not know what a Maclaren F1 is, other than yet another fancy sports car.
Almost everyone knows what the Delorean Time Machine is.
And which one are people most likely to post a photo of to Facebook or Twitter?, I'd bet the time machine.

[CJay]

To get attention and not get 'wanker' in a supercar it has to be either top of the range (think Veyron or McLaren F1) or an absolute classic.

 I reckon, a DeLorean that's not been 'BTTF'd' would get looks but a full on BTTF DeLorean would draw crowds, as did the replica station wagon that was doing the motorways in the UK in the weeks around the Ghostbusters release.

Now, there's a nice Bentley about ten years old in a local showroom for 'only' 23K...

[Brumby]

There is a Delorean for sale in oz, but generally pretty rare.
https://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/DeLorean-DMC-12-1981/SSE-AD-3534741/?Cr=0

The instrument panel looks interesting....

[EEVblog]

I reckon, a DeLorean that's not been 'BTTF'd' would get looks but a full on BTTF DeLorean would draw crowds

Yes. That's what I'm talking about BTW, not a stock Delorean.

[EEVblog]

I reckon, a DeLorean that's not been 'BTTF'd' would get looks but a full on BTTF DeLorean would draw crowds, as did the replica station wagon that was doing the motorways in the UK in the weeks around the Ghostbusters release.

I wouldn't mind an ECTO-1, that'd be cool.
The problem with the ECTO-1 though is that it's only a car people want to see from the outside, no one would want to take a look inside.
But the BTTF Delorean and it's insides are a character in the movie, people want to see the flux capacitor and the time circuits. They want to play with the gull wing doors. They want to sit in it and look at their watch.
In fact, name another car were people would just want a close up photo of them sitting inside it?

[BrianHG]

Really?
Name a car that will turn heads everywhere you go more than a time machine Delorean.
Not a single car in production would come close, nor any historical car.
The single first thing I'd if I win lotto is get a time machine Delorean.

There is a Delorean for sale in oz, but generally pretty rare.
https://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/DeLorean-DMC-12-1981/SSE-AD-3534741/?Cr=0

Just for you: 6/49 style lottery #s: (6 picks out from 1-49)

Seed = 54999
Results:
A>  12 16 23 24 38 39
B>   2 11 14 20 42 43
C>   5  6 30 45 46 49
D>  10 25 27 29 32 44  <<< Pick this one line ......
E>   1  7 26 31 33 41
F>   4  9 15 28 35 47
G>  13 17 18 19 34 37
H>   3  8 21 22 36 40

[CJay]

In fact, name another car were people would just want a close up photo of them sitting inside it?

KITT but probably only if David Hasselhoff wasn't in it...

Chitty Chitty Bang bang.

And pretty much any car from The Avengers that had Joanna Lumley in it. (though that may just be me and would be conditional on her being in it too)

[Towger]

If you want to turn heads, just repair the Sinclair C5.

https://youtu.be/xS6q27VOTOk?t=33m16s

I now drive a Toyota Corolla 

Wait until the SWMBO wants a Toyota Corolla Verso.

With two kids that moment can't be to far away in the future

Getting 3 child seats in the back is the trick.  It limits the possibilities when it comes to male menopause midlife cars :-)

[james_s]

Personally I don't want to turn heads, I mean the last thing I want to do is draw a crowd everywhere I go. I like the look of a stock DeLorean, they're totally unique looking cars. To each their own, but I've never been a fan of cosmetic modifications to classic cars, and I would feel like a total dork driving around in a fake time machine.

[TheSteve]

There is a Delorean for sale in oz, but generally pretty rare.
https://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/DeLorean-DMC-12-1981/SSE-AD-3534741/?Cr=0

The instrument panel looks interesting....

The speedometer has been customized.
You can't even get to 88 MPH in a stock DeLorean - the speedo doesn't go that high due to stupid US regulations at the time.

[james_s]

Yeah that 80MPH speedometer law was ridiculous, I forget the name of the woman who came up with that law but I saw something a few years ago where she said she still believed it saved lives. Never made any sense to me at all though, I mean my friend had a car with one of those back in our younger years and on the back roads we would amuse ourselves by burying the needle and then letting off the gas and seeing how long it took to come down off the peg. If anything it encouraged speeding. Also looks stupid to have the needle all the way over to 3 o'clock just cruising on the freeway.

We had other ridiculous laws for a while that mandated gigantic bumpers even on little sports cars, and for a while all bumpers had to be at a certain height which effectively outlawed some of the fancy adjustable suspension systems on european cars, and our headlamp laws were for decades stuck in the 1950s mandating crappy mechanically aligned sealed beam lamps while the rest of the world had vastly superior E-code headlamps.

[Benta]

The speedometer has been customized.
You can't even get to 88 MPH in a stock DeLorean - the speedo doesn't go that high due to stupid US regulations at the time.

I realize that today it's "America First", but there are other countries and markets on this planet.
This car is in Queensland, Australia.

I find it more interesting that it's able to rev at 1200 rpm with no battery voltage. Must have a special flux capacitor.

[TheSteve]

The speedometer has been customized.
You can't even get to 88 MPH in a stock DeLorean - the speedo doesn't go that high due to stupid US regulations at the time.

I realize that today it's "America First", but there are other countries and markets on this planet.
This car is in Queensland, Australia.

I find it more interesting that it's able to rev at 1200 rpm with no battery voltage. Must have a special flux capacitor.

My reply has nothing to do with location. The DeLorean was really only produced for the US market(and a few for Canada). You will notice the car is left hand drive as nearly every DeLorean made was. It is a US imported car - so it had a US speedo. Back then no factory DeLorean speedo went higher. The metric version of the speedo went to 130 kph.

Also the tach often jumps up when you shut the engine off.

[TheSteve]

Yeah that 80MPH speedometer law was ridiculous, I forget the name of the woman who came up with that law but I saw something a few years ago where she said she still believed it saved lives. Never made any sense to me at all though, I mean my friend had a car with one of those back in our younger years and on the back roads we would amuse ourselves by burying the needle and then letting off the gas and seeing how long it took to come down off the peg. If anything it encouraged speeding. Also looks stupid to have the needle all the way over to 3 o'clock just cruising on the freeway.

We had other ridiculous laws for a while that mandated gigantic bumpers even on little sports cars, and for a while all bumpers had to be at a certain height which effectively outlawed some of the fancy adjustable suspension systems on european cars, and our headlamp laws were for decades stuck in the 1950s mandating crappy mechanically aligned sealed beam lamps while the rest of the world had vastly superior E-code headlamps.

The headlight/bumper laws are why a stock DeLorean looks so high in the front. They had to install longer springs to pass safety requirements in the US.

[Benta]

For sure there are other markets - but even back then no factory DeLorean speedo went that high. The metric version of the speedo went to 130 kph.

With a top speed of a little under 200 km/h, that statement makes absolutely no sense and is plain wrong.
Here is an unfortunately very bad picture of the cockpit, but zooming/looking closer it's obvious that the speedo goes to 220 km/h.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Delorean.jpg

[TheSteve]

For sure there are other markets - but even back then no factory DeLorean speedo went that high. The metric version of the speedo went to 130 kph.

With a top speed of a little under 200 km/h, that statement makes absolutely no sense and is plain wrong.
Here is an unfortunately very bad picture of the cockpit, but zooming/looking closer it's obvious that the speedo goes to 220 km/h.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Delorean.jpg

In the early 80's the US mandated speedo's only go to 80 MPH - irregardless of the vehicles top speed. As a result DeLorean only made a speedo that went to 80 MPH. When they made a metric version of it they didn't want to change mechanism, only the face - so it went to 130 kph. The DeLorean was only made for two markets, the US and Canada. They did make a very limited number in right hand drive before they went out of business.
Over the years there have been many aftermarket speedo kits made to update the factory ones as 80 MPH is silly.

[Benta]

I stand corrected. I though the car was offered in Europe as well, having seen a couple here, and given that it was built in N. Ireland.