Slashdot Mirror
DeLorean to Come Back (Sorta)
Alcibaides writes "DeLorean Motor Company, a suburban Houston company that rebuilds DeLoreans, is laying plans to bring the car back into limited production. The last DeLorean rolled off the assembly line in Northern Ireland in 1982. But like Duran Duran, the Rubik's Cube and other Reagan-era icons, the car retains a following. Of the 9,000 built in 1981 and 1982, about 6,500 are still on the road, according to James Espey, vice president of DeLorean Motor."
Don't forget the DeLorean Car Show next summer. I'm not a DeLorean owner (or even a fan, really), but I think it'll be fun to see so many DeLoreans gathered in one place.
you mean, flux capacitor, right?
I think the last half dozen or so that were produced were factory painted. If you saw one of those, then you saw something truly rare. If it was an aftermarket thing, too bad. keytohwy
They do quite well for themselves. Not really news though.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Must have been a German. (Local translation of it is Fluxkompensator. IMO they could have just picked Fluxkondensator (=capacitor), sounds the same... argh.)
Being someone that drives a collector DMC-12 a few times a month, I have to pipe in and state that it actually doesn't handle quite as bad as most people are led to believe. It's nothing stellar, but for 1981 it's not half bad. Better than average, actually.
The engine is underpowered for the car, but it is a nice driver.
Remember that the car started out lower and meaner--with better handling. Last minute changes due to federal crash regulations at the time changed the ride height and thus the handling characteristics.
-brain
I'm pretty sure they didn't have any engine under the hood...
(Rear engine, folks.)
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
"The prefix giga- is from the Greek gigas, meaning "giant." In English, it's a scientific prefix meaning "billion." And its pronunciation is acceptable beginning with either a G sound or a J sound. Check a nice, thick dictionary if you don't believe me. In fact, many individuals who have worked with computers and electronics for the last several decades will confirm that they used to pronounce gigabyte as "jigabyte." A few still do." http://www.bigwaste.com/bttf/twin_pines_mall.shtml Towards the end of the page.
If Mr. Fusion could provide drive power to the car, BTTF III would have been a mighty short movie.
When Marty goes back to 1885 he's got Mr. Fusion, but they can't return to 1985 right away because he ripped a fuel line when he arrived-- so all the gasoline leaks out of the car and there's no way to replace it in 1885 Hill Valley.
Hence the whole 'stealing the train' bit.
~Philly
They say "Jiggawatts" in the movie but it was really just a mispronunciation of gigawatts.
Or, depending on who you ask, a perfectly acceptable, if unusual, pronunciation of gigawatts.
On a mid- or rear-engine car the hood is in back, and the trunk is in front. The engine is still under the hood, it's just that the hood isn't where you're used to it being.
They were not. There were no cars painted at the factory.
The stainless panels were brushed *then* stamped. so basicly, if you get into an accident youll NEVER get that grain right ever again, so you paint it.
The German dub of the film mistranslated "flux capacitor" as "flux compensator."e #Translations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_time_machin
1978 Porsche 911 Turbo (930) - 320 hp
1982 Porsche 928 - 220 hp
1982 Ferrari Mondial 8 - 205 hp
1982 Ferrari 308 - 240 hp
1982 Ferrari 512 BBi (Boxer) - 340 hp
1982 Lamborghini Countach - 375 hp
1982 Lamborghini Jalpa - 255 hp
1982 Jaguar XJS - 262 hp
1982 Aston Martin V8 Volante - 263 hp
Actually when they rebuild it, they replace the crap gearbox and the driveshaft (which is prone to snap because the torque is all wrong). I grew up 4 blocks from this place, housed in a small warehouse business park. We'd ride our bikes there on saturdays to find at least four parked outside on a good day. These guys are totally for real and fully intend to keep DeLoreans running as long as people are willing to pay them to do so.
It's a heavy car but lots of guys are swapping in the 3800SC engine out of the bonnevilles and Grand AM GTP's and making the delorean into the car it was supposed to be. Even though they are heavy when you dump in 260hp stock you get quite a kick in the pants on that car.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Actually, back in the 1980's, economy cars were pushing 40-50MPG for fuel economy. Nowadays, you don't see more than about 30-35MPG unless it's a hybrid. Newer isn't always better, though I'm sure that newer cars have a lot less nasties coming out of the tailpipe due to the emissions systems they have (the weight of which is part of the reason why newer cars are heavier and need more fuel).
2700 pounds is heavy? Not these days. For comparison, Porsche's new 911 GT2 is something like 3200lbs, and it's their fastest 911 yet. If the DMC people in Texas can come up with a turbo engine (and there's no reason they can't, independent DeLorean enthusiasts already have), a "new DeLorean" ought to perform decently, even if it does end up being overpriced for its performance.
*picks nit*
h p/t-14363.html (scroll down to More&Faster's post at 08-24-02, 10:37 PM)
That is not what mid-engine means. Corvettes are mid-engined cars and have been for decades. Mid-engine to an engineer means the center of gravity is between the front and rear axles. Many shade-tree mechanics who want to build performance trucks build custom crossmembers and engine mounts to move the powertrain's center of gravity back to improve handling and acceleration characteristics. In marketing terms, "mid-engine" has become a colloquialism for rear-mounted engines, but cars such as the Porsche 911 are not mid-engine - the engine's center of gravity is behind the rear axle. The Porsche 928 and 968 were mid-engine despite the engine's being in front of the cabin.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/22317
http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/18872
http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/archive/index.p
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
My next-door neighbor's pal had one of these cars, roughly 20 years ago. I was too young to drive but I did get to see it up close.
The OUTSIDE of the car looked awesome.
The inside of the car looked rather like it was home-made. Instead of the contoured flush-fitting panels that even cheap cars had back then, it was all square-cut panels. Granted they were covered in fair-quality leather, but the interior did look rather clunky.
And as others have mentioned, the US version had a lower-end engine. The guy told me that it would only go about 120 mph tops, which was surprising because (for what they cost new) I'd thought they were much faster than that.
~
Well, mr. Fusion powers the time cirquits, but the car runs on ordinary gasoline!
B.
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.