The Delorean 40th Birthday Bash & DCS Lite & Delorean Midwest Open House was held August 12-15th in Crystal Lake Illinois. I attended several of the speaking events. I also got to meet John Delorean’s son.
I had to return home a few times during the show, so I unfortunately missed some speakers and events. On Saturday, I finally drove my Delorean to the show. My car, second from the left:
A crowd near my car:
Saturday night, my car with the blue-ish underglow:
I attended the 2016 Delorean Convention and Show. The location was around 175 miles away in Springfield, IL, which made driving very manageable. I also did some volunteer work for the convention.
Driving to and from Springfield, I discovered a few problems with my car:
Anyway, my car still made the trip safely. Here’s some pictures:
My car, lit up:
My car, in the lower left, lit up:
Chris N working his magic on stainless:
An amazing Digital Dash, in “Corvette Mode”
An amazing Digital Dash in “Delorean Mode”
Me with the limo and D-Rex:
Time Machines:
Glossy:
DPI Stainless Frame with lots of fingerprints:
Packing up. My car with the D-Rex:
The DMC Midwest Connection:
This blog is dedicated to my Delorean, VIN 16908, however this post will be slightly different. One of the guys I know through my car club bought a Delorean that had sat for many years. The frame was rusted, the panels had some minor damage, and the car basically need a lot of attention. He planned to separate the body and frame. I jumped at the chance of helping! About a week before at the DMC Midwest Open House event, we recruited another local member.
The car as it is:
The car’s owner also does some very cool stop motion animation with this guy:
We started with this checklist:
…and made our way through it:
The bolts in the engine bay had to be cut off with a reciprocating saw The seat belt bolts, the interior bolts, and the shock tower bolts came right out.
A corroded brake line wouldn’t disconnect from the brake master cylinder, so it needed to be cut.
Around 3:10, we’re ready to try raising the body, so we set up the Max Jax lift:
The owners car has a manual transmission, so we had to locate the clutch line. Access to disconnecting the line was terrible, so we opted to cut it. The clutch line looked to be the original failure prone plastic lines, which would have needed replacement anyway.
Me, happy:
After disconnecting some more grounds from the front wiring harness, we finally got everything up free:
It’s raining on the rusty frame. At this point, it’s not much of a concern:
The owner built the very sturdy moveable platform for the body to sit on:
Luckily, the owner has a two car garage, and both garage bays are available:
We started around 9:15am. With about a 30 minute break for lunch, and after some delays in setting up the lift, we finished around 4:30pm.
Me, again, sweaty, tired, wet from the rain, dirty, happy:
The owner is currently planning an electric engine conversion. The PRV engine will be put up for sale. The gas flap hood is also for sale.
I attended the DMC Midwest Open House. I never get tired of seeing their awesome facility, and meeting up with the fellow delorean owners. I also share my pictures with the Delorean Midwest Connection’s face book page:
Chris N repairing and re-graining the 2015 raffle car:
I attended this event with VIN 16908. We got to drive around the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
Friday night dinner parking in Lebanon, IN:
Saturday morning meetup, caravan and police escort:
Arrival at IMS:
Track lap!
Check out the video I made with my new dash cam!
httpv://youtu.be/Gb1w2i3B-RI
Ken K, the man who sold me my car (I affectionately refer to him as the Previous Owner), and Stephen W of DMC-Houston by my car:
Found this on twitter:
Leaving, sandwiched between Dodge Vipers:
Saturday Afternoon at Jason’s house and workshop:
Saturday Night dinner parking:
Driving home, selfie:
My car club held their spring tech session on Saturday, April 28th. The weather was great, and we had eight Deloreans attend. I assisted with oil changes, and a Mode Switch Rebuild. I also had purchased some items from DMC Midwest, and Dave S was nice enough to bring them.
We didn’t get a good group photo, but here is one with four Deloreans. Mine is second from the right:
My old battery is about six or seven years old, and seemed to be getting weaker. With a long distance trip planned for the future, I wanted to get it replaced now. Dave told me about how Interstate Batteries get swapped after they’ve been on the shelf for a while. This one looks to be manufactured in March, 2013!
Another owner was having trouble with his battery, and it wasn’t holding a charge. I gave him my old battery.
Costs:
| Item | Vendor |
Cost |
Tax |
Total |
| MT78 Interstate Battery | DMC Midwest |
$ 125.95 |
$ 9.76 |
$ 135.71 |
VIN 16908, my car club and I participated in the 2013 Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Wind, rain, and snow didn’t keep us from participating! Being the very last unit in the parade didn’t keep us from particpating!
You can also see photos from the event here, and you can see my car in photo 147: http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?evgroupid=0&userid=silentbob918&gallery_id=3234401&curpage=3
Staging on Columbus Drive, with Soldier Field and The Field Museum in the background:
Five Deloreans particpated. I was at the back:
I think VIN 16908 was at the very end of the parade. The street sweepers followed us!
I shot video while driving, but I haven’t posted it. I was also caught on instagram: http://instagram.com/p/W7lB7BFQNK/
The Hollywood Blvd Theater in Woodridge was showing Back To The Future, and Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Claudia Wells and James Tolkan were guests. It figures that there is an event in my city, and my car is up on jackstands with lots of maintenance to do before I can drive it.
I stopped by Sunday afternoon to the local D owners. Note the time machine replica, second from the left:
I attended this event, but without my DeLorean. The weather report included rain, and some strong thunderstorms. I left the D safe at home in the garage.
No real exciting pictures here. I was mainly taking pictures inside and underneath cars for reference. I should have taken more pictures of the shop.
Drinks anyone? I need to rent this for my next party:
http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/ – Past and Present Event Photos
The club member who organizes everything couldn’t show up to due to mechanical difficulties with his car. I arrived first, so I helped out. Only 3 cars this year:
Characters from Tony and Tina’s Wedding:
Someone posted this on flickr:
No problems with my cooling system this year!