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DeLorean as an investment?


hmale4yu

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Is anyone here know much about the infamous motor? Toying with the idea of buying a good one and then keeping it garaged for a future sell 5-7 yrs down the line. There is a small DeLorean community based in the UK that has meets, own forum, magazine that I am thinking of joining. Still unsure atm. If I do go down this route it would prob been reverting from the 370z Nismo to an econobox daily once my lease expires next year.  Anyone here chime in on the pros/cons of buying a DeLorean £35-40k

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With the caveat that I really don't know a huge deal about them, my concerns would be, a) finding a "good" one (my limited knowledge suggests they fall apart for fun, regularly, and aren't cheap to fix as parts aren't widely supported), and, ii) I can't really see what would drive the price of these up in much further in the next 5-7 years, given that's pretty short term.

 

As I say, this comes with the very heavy caveat that my knowledge of them is limited (at best!).

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You just have to be careful with them as they can have a few major draw backs.  The biggest one is a sticky throttle leading to excessive acceleration.

 

Once this happens its pretty difficult to fix as you'll pass 88 mph and end up back in 1955 where parts will be very hard to come by.

 

The second problem is your £40k buy price in 1955 money will then equate to just over £1M today.  It'll be incredibly difficult to sell on at that point without making a major loss!

 

The Guns of Back to the Future | Range 365

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At least it wont rust.:teeth:. I brought my SSS as a project and future investment to enjoy along the way. Check Haggerty out for future classics and good investments.

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From a purely investment point of view, you might do better elsewhere, what I have read is that classic car prices are all over the place and the passage of time is no longer a guarantee to increased value. If though you are looking at it from an ownership and investment point of view then even if you don't make anything on it 5 years down the line you will have enjoyed the car and had your fun with it. So as an investment you would in effect lock it away somewhere and never drive it to keep the overheads down which will eat into any profit.

 

I got lucky with a few cars I have owned, the Celica GT4 was just turning the corner price wise I paid £4.2k for it, drove it on a Scotland hoon and a Euro road trip whilst taking it out for fun drives then sold it 3 years later for £9k. But given I paid in that time around £1k for insurance, god knows how much petrol and other associated costs, in my mind the £5k wasn't profit it was paying for the cost of ownership in that time.

 

The one that got away was the R33 I bought for £4k and sold for what I thought was a good price of £5.5k a year later but straight after that the prices of R34s was getting stupid which dragged the R32 prices up out of reach of many at £20k+ which in turn increased demand for the R33 further down the food chain - my R33 would be worth around £10k+ now!

 

As Martin says, you want to be looking at advice on future classics - was that what you got on the DeLorean or was it just a cool idea to own one for a while (must admit it would be cool to drive one!) 

Edited by coldel
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1 hour ago, coldel said:

From a purely investment point of view, you might do better elsewhere, what I have read is that classic car prices are all over the place and the passage of time is no longer a guarantee to increased value. If though you are looking at it from an ownership and investment point of view then even if you don't make anything on it 5 years down the line you will have enjoyed the car and had your fun with it. So as an investment you would in effect lock it away somewhere and never drive it to keep the overheads down which will eat into any profit.

 

I got lucky with a few cars I have owned, the Celica GT4 was just turning the corner price wise I paid £4.2k for it, drove it on a Scotland hoon and a Euro road trip whilst taking it out for fun drives then sold it 3 years later for £9k. But given I paid in that time around £1k for insurance, god knows how much petrol and other associated costs, in my mind the £5k wasn't profit it was paying for the cost of ownership in that time.

 

The one that got away was the R33 I bought for £4k and sold for what I thought was a good price of £5.5k a year later but straight after that the prices of R34s was getting stupid which dragged the R32 prices up out of reach of many at £20k+ which in turn increased demand for the R33 further down the food chain - my R33 would be worth around £10k+ now!

 

As Martin says, you want to be looking at advice on future classics - was that what you got on the DeLorean or was it just a cool idea to own one for a while (must admit it would be cool to drive one!) 

Perfectly articulated. PS We all want to "get back to the future" asap admist these troubled times.

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Im fortunate enough to have a bit to invest in cars atm. If youre going to keep it as a 100% moneymaker you cant really drive it and will be looking at least £1000 a year in storage (unless youre prepared to forgo your garage indefinitely)
Fortunately in the case of the DMC its @*!# so you wont want to drive it :lol:

Im looking at cars that I actually want to drive that rather than definitely appreciate wont lose too much. £40K will easily buy you a Citroen SM, a 981 Cayman or Boxster, various nice beemers (E46 CSL, Z3M, 635, 850 etc.) or even concours 180SX's, R32GTRs and FD RX7's.  All of them should roughly hold their money and are far more everything than a De Lorean, theres even an argument that you can chop and change a lot more easily if you dont mind losing a couple of K each time round. 

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4 hours ago, Ekona said:

I wouldn’t buy any cars as investments right now, not with the market being in a state of flux. 

Also this though, well worth waiting a few months for it to settle down, there will be people looking to exit the market quickly so bargains to be had. 

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I will be honest with you I don't know how it entered my head - I'm not even a fan of the back to the future series of films. I just got the idea and saw online that they are within budget, scarce and parts can be bought online. If I had a better budget the forthcoming Cayman GT4 RS or Boxter Spyder 718 tick many boxes (residuals, usability albeit I only do low miles anyway). 

 

maybe its being locked down but call me mad but I was even thinking of getting a roundaround like an Audi S1 which have actually dropped a fair bit to less then used Golf Rs of similar mileage and then importing one of these for  weekend laughs 

 

IMG_8040.jpg

Edited by hmale4yu
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On 13/05/2020 at 14:45, hmale4yu said:

If I had a better budget the forthcoming Cayman GT4 RS or Boxter Spyder 718 tick many boxes (residuals, usability albeit I only do low miles anyway). 

People thought the Cayman GT4 prices were unburstable .... they werent. That said the 987 Spyder is the only car I 100% knew would make money and I still didnt buy one :lol: 

If youre not dead set on a classic sit on your hands for a few months and wait for the all the M2's, RS4's and F Types that get handed back from PCP deals people cant afford to flood the market. 

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On 12/05/2020 at 18:52, hmale4yu said:

  Anyone here chime in on the pros/cons of buying a DeLorean £35-40k

Holy cow! Is that what they are worth now? I remember a number of years back a garage local to  me had one in their showroom for £12,000 and it sat there forever. Mind you, this was about 20 years ago now. :lol:

 

I saw a convoy of about 5 of them on their way to  show last year, that was a real double take moment!

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45 minutes ago, rabbitstew said:

Holy cow! Is that what they are worth now? I remember a number of years back a garage local to  me had one in their showroom for £12,000 and it sat there forever. Mind you, this was about 20 years ago now. :lol:

 

I saw a convoy of about 5 of them on their way to  show last year, that was a real double take moment!

indeed but like others have said they are sh!t to drive plus the annual cost of keeping them cancels out the appreciation curve they exhibit. They will continue to go up obviously not linearly or exponentially but in plateaus , steady rises - which then leaves the question how long do you have to hold onto one before selling at a profit especially taking into account the longer you hold on for the more money you are putting in storage, parts etc 

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4 hours ago, docwra said:

People thought the Cayman GT4 prices were unburstable .... they werent. That said the 987 Spyder is the only car I 100% knew would make money and I still didnt buy one :lol: 

If youre not dead set on a classic sit on your hands for a few months and wait for the all the M2's, RS4's and F Types that get handed back from PCP deals people cant afford to flood the market. 

agree with the Spyder. There the only Porsches that kinda catch my eye as they have a different look to them 
 

Re M2s etc whilst those cars would wipe the floor vs a Mk2 Nismo they just don't have that rarity or "what's that car" factor. But ppl out there will snap those up for sure in the coming year. 

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Whilst you say Porsches dont catch your eye, the Porsche 996 turbo`s seem to be at rock bottom prices at the moment, people buying them for low £20,000`s. I cant see them ever getting below that. They have been in the mid to high 20`s for the last 4 years or more. That's a lot of car for the money. At that price you are looking at cars with about 100k miles on them which from experience is nothing. You could use it as a daily driver or a weekend toy without worrying about the mileage, sell it in 5 years and make money on it. Maintenance wise, they only need a service every 2 years or 20,000 miles. A major service cost £360.

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16 hours ago, ShortPaul said:

Exactly what Im talking about. Youre paying a premium for the MSA logbook and the cars history but it will be a dog to drive, likely still on leaf springs and no servo for the brakes, probably sticking out 110hp at best and will be noisy and uncomfortable. Even if you REALLY need a Classic Rally car to compete in are you really going to use a £52K Escort?

993 prices have already gone IMO, 996 Turbos are very tempting but would have to be a manual for me, old auto gearboxes are @*!# compared to what we are used to know (which is 100% of the reason I dont have a Ferrari 599) :lol:  

 

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2 hours ago, docwra said:

Exactly what Im talking about. Youre paying a premium for the MSA logbook and the cars history but it will be a dog to drive, likely still on leaf springs and no servo for the brakes, probably sticking out 110hp at best and will be noisy and uncomfortable. Even if you REALLY need a Classic Rally car to compete in are you really going to use a £52K Escort?

993 prices have already gone IMO, 996 Turbos are very tempting but would have to be a manual for me, old auto gearboxes are @*!# compared to what we are used to know (which is 100% of the reason I dont have a Ferrari 599) :lol:  

 

 

I agree about the 993. 996s do look like a more feasible bet. I would prioritise getting a low mileage over a Turbo for maintenance. There are some nice GT3s mind your for the mid 40s mark

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