DeLorean on Netflix - My Missed Opportunity

Duracuir1 · Oct 5, 2021

I watched this 3 part series about DeLorean and it reminded me of two encounters with cars that I could have bought. I was in my early 20s and saving for my first house instead. No regrets (almost none)!

The first car was a 60s E type Jaguar with (I think) hard top. An old couple had it in their garage circa 1990 and it was not running. They offered it to me for $5000. I cannot recall which engine it had. I was not interested due to all of the jokes on the unreliability of older British cars back then. I do regret this…

The second car was a DeLorean. It was at a body shop and the owner was trying to have the interior repaired, without success. The car had been vandalized. Parts were unavailable. It was offered to me at about $7000 back in 1990. No regrets.

As for the Netflix documentary, I enjoyed watching it. Call me naive, but I had no idea that men got plastic surgery to enhance their chin. After this was mentioned in the documentary, I looked at DeLorean the same way Austin Powers looked at the guy’s mole in one of his movies!

There was a very minor reference to a watch, and I have attached a screenshot to tie this thread in with watches.

And, let me ask you… any regrets on missed opportunities?

That chin!

blufinz52 · Oct 5, 2021

I enjoyed the documentary. I had forgotten about his arrest for drug charges. I also didn't know there is such a thing as a chin job. Went to a car show last Sunday and. there was a DeLorean there. Hadn't seen one in years.

jaguar11 · Oct 6, 2021

Such a nice looking car. Shame about the weedy PRV engine though. That being said I would not mind one!

rob#1 · Oct 6, 2021

I turned down a Lancia Beta Montecarlo back in the 80s - I could have bought it for £2,500 or so but it was a bit of a stretch after my Alfa Romeo died 🙁. Similar looking car to the DeLorean, just made of rubbishy rust-inducing Italian metal instead of stainless steel (I believe this was called the Scorpion in the US).

Donn Chambers · Oct 6, 2021

My missed opportunity occurred just last year, at the start of the pandemic. I had been considering selling my 13-year-old Mustang with low miles for a convertible of some sort for the last couple of years, but was still waffling. With loads more free time during the pandemic shutdown, I started looking for cars for sale and found a 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible in British Racing Green for $8500 in Sarasota with only 48,000 miles on it - 12k less than on my 2007 Mustang!

I kept seeing updates to the ad for weeks and watched price go down to just under $8k (this was before prices started going crazy). I called and got the VIN so I could get a car fax and it checked out as a 1-owner car with all the service done at the Sarasota Jaguar dealer. So on paper it all checked out.

But I ultimately decided to put the money toward fixing up the house and waited until this year to start looking again. Bad decision - prices sky rocketed and I found that same car listed but now for $16k, which was too much for my budget. I eventually did get a convertible (a Lexus SC430), but it needed some extensive deferred maintenance done, so all together I’m $11k into it.

I like it, but I will always regret not getting that XK8 last year.

amfalconer · Oct 6, 2021

I've had a couple which I mentioned in the '£5 Speedmaster' thread.

Chiefly the 1971 Skyline GT-R which I turned down in 2002 for £5k having dismissed an older Skyline as a bit pants compared to the fire-breathing R32 and R34s I lusted after as a teenager.

Now I know it was a 'Hakosuka,, and worth nowadays north of £150k+, that's assuming it survived until today obviously.

I also caught the documentary, it was fascinating, had no idea John Delorean had the surgeries he did!

JwRosenthal · Oct 6, 2021

1968 BMW 1802 in Malaga over tan offered to me around 2005 for $2.5k, it was 100% original including mechanical brakes. I passed the offer along to another BMW forum friend (had just purchased my e34 M5 and couldn’t justify bringing a 5th car home).

1972 Mercedes 280sl in white with navy interior and navy tops (both hard and soft). Brought back from Germany by my uncle who was an Air Force pilot, it has manual transmission (which was super rare) and he was the second owner. He offered it to me for $10k which was a very fair price in the early 90’s, but I was in college and didn’t have $10k. That car would be worth about 8x that now.

Regret, not missed opportunity- bought my ‘73 BMW 3.0cs in 2002 for $12.5k, was coerced into selling it by ex-wife in 2008 for $18k (too many cars, could use the money for other things- etc), that car now is worth over $50k…I couldn’t afford one now.

vbrad26 · Oct 6, 2021

Buying an E30 M3 or 964 Carrera 10 years ago.
I was still in college and did not really need a car all that bad. But I love cars and still wanted one.
At the time, I had a 2006 A4. I was going to sell it and get one of the two cars mentioned above.
I instead decided to be responsible, and bought my first ever new car - a 2012 VW GTI.
But I guess it all worked out in a way because about a year later I moved to NYC where I REALLY didn't need a car, so my mom took over the GTI.
If I would have had the Bimmer or the 911, I would have sold it probably. I feel like I would have really regretted my decision if that had been the case.
Is it really better to have loved and then lost....? I'd say no. Ignorance is bliss lol.
Besides, I have the SC to hold me over, and now the Squareback. But I WILL have a 964 one day.

Canuck · Oct 6, 2021

Many years ago (I was 20 and living with my parents), I found a 1929 Model A Ford touring car, 450 miles east of here. Talked the farmer into selling it to me…….for $50.00, provided i promised it wouldn’t be hot rodded. I towed it home behind my 1949 Mercury. It needed motor work, upholstery, suspension work, brakes, etc. etc. It sat in our driveway for a year because I didn’t have the money, talent, tools, or resources to restore it. After a year, to keep peace with the family, I sold it for $50.00 to a friend who had a parts car. A few months later, I had a chance to ride in the touring car, after he fixed it up. I kick my derrière every time I see a model A touring car, wondering if it was mine. This car was one of 6,000 Model A touring cars built in Oshawa, Ontario, in 1929.

cdh348 · Oct 6, 2021

The two missed opportunities I still think about are a '29 Ford hotrod for $2k and a ultra rare Dresda Triton for $4k. Just to break that last one down a bit, a "Triton" is a Triumph Bonneville motor in a Norton featherbed frame and built for racing. Dresda was a shop in England that hand built these ran by a guy called "Dodgy" Dave Degan.

Fallout Boy · Oct 6, 2021

End of the 80ies, my neighbour offered me an AR Montreal. Not expensive, but expensive for me as a student....
Never seen one on the road since that day.....

Mark020 · Oct 7, 2021

I passed on a 964 RS for EUR 30k (when a normal C2 was low twenties) because the maintenance book was missing..

MRC · Oct 7, 2021

Fallout Boy
End of the 80ies, my neighbour offered me an AR Montreal. Not expensive, but expensive for me as a student....
Never seen one on the road since that day.....

A friend of mine had one, Riding in it was like floating in a boat -- but perhaps the dampers were shot. Good looking piece of kit though.

dsio · Oct 7, 2021

My fathers car history is my missed opportunity, every single cool car he had, he either sold at the bottom of the market, gave away, or in two cases illegally dumped.

Ford Anglia (the exact model and color that the Harry Potter one was, traded for a sports muffler for the Mini Cooper S)
Mini Cooper S (Sold for peanuts just before the Italian Job came out in ‘69)
Air cooled 911 (The next owner flipped it for double what he paid 2 years later)
Mk1 Austin Henley Sprite x2 (Sold for nothing then became a classic)
Alfa Romeo GTV6 (Nobody thought anyone would ever want these turds)
HDT Holden VL Turbo Calais (Sold for $2k, now worth $40k+)
Volvo 240 Turbo (Sold broken as junk)
2x MG TD/TF (Stripped for parts then illegally dumped in a river)
Daimler SP250 (Used for practicing auto-body repair painting before giving to relative as junk)

Duracuir1 · Oct 7, 2021

dsio
My fathers car history is my missed opportunity, every single cool car he had, he either sold at the bottom of the market, gave away, or in two cases illegally dumped.

Ford Anglia (the exact model and color that the Harry Potter one was, traded for a sports muffler for the Mini Cooper S)
Mini Cooper S (Sold for peanuts just before the Italian Job came out in ‘69)
Air cooled 911 (The next owner flipped it for double what he paid 2 years later)
Mk1 Austin Henley Sprite x2 (Sold for nothing then became a classic)
Alfa Romeo GTV6 (Nobody thought anyone would ever want these turds)
HDT Holden VL Turbo Calais (Sold for $2k, now worth $40k+)
Volvo 240 Turbo (Sold broken as junk)
2x MG TD/TF (Stripped for parts then illegally dumped in a river)
Daimler SP250 (Used for practicing auto-body repair painting before giving to relative as junk)

Haha! Illegally dumped in a river! Maybe your dad is related to one of my uncles!

dsio · Oct 7, 2021

Duracuir1
Haha! Illegally dumped in a river! Maybe your dad is related to one of my uncles!

Hey it was the late 60s so saving a few quid dumping cars in a river was par for the course back then, probably some fish living in what remains of those MGs now. Every time we passed by that area he stares off towards the river and says “I really wish I hadn’t don’t that, I wonder if the chassis are still intact down there?”.

mjb · Oct 7, 2021

Duracuir1
And, let me ask you… any regrets on missed opportunities?

Ah, there was this young lady once...

mjb · Oct 7, 2021

Donn Chambers
My missed opportunity occurred just last year, ... a 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible in British Racing Green for $8500 in Sarasota with only 48,000 miles on it

Last year (or maybe it was 2019, who can remember?) I bought a 2003 XKR convertible with just 28K on it for a fair price. In my brief ownership period, as I tried to fix and repair things on it, I discovered than an unfortunate and disturbing number of parts are NLA for these cars. They're old, they didn't make many of them and they sold even fewer of them over here than in the UK. What parts you can get are very expensive.

Count yourself fortunate. I fixed what I could on the car and sold it for a very small profit (hundreds, not thousands) and was happy to see it go.

Donn Chambers · Oct 7, 2021

mjb
Last year (or maybe it was 2019, who can remember?) I bought a 2003 XKR convertible with just 28K on it for a fair price. In my brief ownership period, as I tried to fix and repair things on it, I discovered than an unfortunate and disturbing number of parts are NLA for these cars. They're old, they didn't make many of them and they sold even fewer of them over here than in the UK. What parts you can get are very expensive.

Count yourself fortunate. I fixed what I could on the car and sold it for a very small profit (hundreds, not thousands) and was happy to see it go.

you are probably right. At least the Lexus uses Toyota parts.

but I still thing the Jag is better looking

DeLorean on Netflix - My Missed Opportunity

Duracuir1

blufinz52

jaguar11

rob#1

Donn Chambers

amfalconer

JwRosenthal

vbrad26

Canuck

cdh348

Fallout Boy

Mark020

MRC

dsio

Duracuir1

dsio

mjb

mjb

Donn Chambers

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