The Sonny V Saga

[Boglin]

Awhile back, when the DML was the predominant method of exchanging information about DeLoreans, there was an individual named Sonny V.

Sonny would constantly post about how he loved his DMCH refurbished car; misleadingly named a "new build."

After a few months of nothing but glowing praise for the car and statements of how it would be foolish to buy a DeLorean any other way, an IP trace showed that almost every post was made from a computer at DMCH.

In the end, it was proven that there never was a Sonny V and that all his posts were fabricated by someone working at DMCH.

Could it be that Sonny V is Pete Logan???

[Dracula]

No, Sonny V was later proven to be James Espy; the full account is not easily found on the DML, and has been censored by every other forum; with the possible exception of DMCSouth.

[Dead Lesbian Goat]

Well I would say even if Sonny was a real person and he was very happy with his refurb, then Wilson's account with his refurb would cancel each other out.

[NightFlyer]

From an observational viewpoint only, and even then only knowing what others in the online community have reported about their high dollar refurb cars, they appear to have just as many issues as a well maintained unrefurb'd car.

[Dead Lesbian Goat]

I was going to type a quick response but it would take many paragraphs to sum up my 5 year + ownership. The short answer is the remaned cars (IMO) are, or I should say were overpriced. The build quality seemed rushed, the OE parts used are just as good as the ones from 30 years ago...so read into that what you will. Had I paid 65k for mine, I believe I would have been disappointed as it took a lot of time to bring it up to (my) standards.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car and it is everything now that it should have been 5+ years ago. The point is that for that kind of money, it should have been 100% from the beginning.

[NightFlyer]

I was going to type a quick response but it would take many paragraphs to sum up my 5 year + ownership. The short answer is the remaned cars (IMO) are, or I should say were overpriced. The build quality seemed rushed, the OE parts used are just as good as the ones from 30 years ago...so read into that what you will. Had I paid 65k for mine, I believe I would have been disappointed as it took a lot of time to bring it up to (my) standards.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car and it is everything now that it should have been 5+ years ago. The point is that for that kind of money, it should have been 100% from the beginning.

And that's precisely what I tell prospective owners that ask me to help them find a car to purchase

[Boglin]

I was going to type a quick response but it would take many paragraphs to sum up my 5 year + ownership. The short answer is the remaned cars (IMO) are, or I should say were overpriced. The build quality seemed rushed, the OE parts used are just as good as the ones from 30 years ago...so read into that what you will. Had I paid 65k for mine, I believe I would have been disappointed as it took a lot of time to bring it up to (my) standards.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car and it is everything now that it should have been 5+ years ago. The point is that for that kind of money, it should have been 100% from the beginning.

I do sympathize with DMCH on the new build program. I've torn my car apart almost as much as Project Vixen, and these cars do not go back together easily. Nothing goes on looking great without countless hours of alignment. If you're putting NOS parts on the car, even more so. Holes need slotted, edges trimmed, and panels shimmed. DMCMW installed NOS rub strips on my NOS door, and one was too short by 1/4". They realized this after, of course, they had spent time removing the original non-sticky adhesive from the rub strip and applying new adhesive. I spent almost 8 hours aligning a NOS glove box lid to a repro dashboard, to the point of shimming the dashboard, fabricating a steel bracket to lower the lid enough to look presentable, aligning the latch, etc.

All of the collective knowledge that was accumulated by the original DMC assembly line workers up to the end of 1982 in making these cars go together smoothly is now lost. Instead the task rests in the hands of the vendors' mechanics, who often weren't even born in 1981, and turnover frequently. It's a tough spot to be in. You have lots of parts to build *new* cars, but not enough qualified manpower to put one together quickly and cheaply (i.e., James Espey and Dave Swingle can't be assembling cars all day).

[stevedmc]

Josh Bengston told me it takes about 90 minutes to completely disassemble a car. He said it takes about 400 hours to correctly put the thing back together.

[DPI JOSH]

Josh Bengston told me it takes about 90 minutes to completely disassemble a car. He said it takes about 400 hours to correctly put the thing back together.

90 minutes to drop the complete rolling chassis. After that it's not even worth counting as you are loosing money. Why do you think everyone steers clear of the heavy work.....

[stevedmc]

Give me a sledgehammer and a concourse car. I'll have it disassembled in about 20 minutes.