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Dan WilsonWhen the DeLorean DMC-12 made its showroom debut in 1981 there was no way such a radical indulgent exercise in automotive design could not grab the attention of this, at the time, 7th grader. I mean, how could a car that looked like a cross between a $100K exotic super car and a space ship not capture the imagination of any twelve year old boy? I can remember passing Biddulph Oldsmobile's DMC dealership sign on the way to my weekly guitar lesson and wondering who were the lucky few who could afford to own one of those "dream" cars. I say dream car because in my mind at the time the DMC-12 automobile was every bit an exotic sports car. I perceived it to be up there in league with the likes of Lotus, Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini. It was not until much later I learned the car was intended to be far more mass produced and accessible. Sadly, we all know that ended up not being the case.In 1985 the first hint of my destiny to own one of these automobiles was revealed to me in the timeless classic film “Back to the Future”. You see, the night Marty met Doc in the Twin Pines Mall parking lot for the unveiling of the DeLorean time machine, the "present time" appearing on the car’s time circuits was 10/26/1985. October 26th just happens to be my birthday, and that scene was set in the early morning hours of my 17th birthday. Coincidence? Of course! Even Bob Gale, the writer of B.T.T.F. himself personally told me that the date was chosen at random based on the time of year, but somehow I'd like to believe that random date was there to tell me something. I was never able to watch the B.T.T.F. Trilogy without an overwhelming desire for a DMC-12. In the late 1980's I had my first encounter with a DMC-12. Lund Cadillac had a gently used one for sale. Having never seen one up close I had to stop to check it out. It was an '83, and you can imagine the excitement I felt when the sales person asked "Wanna take it for a drive?"!! I experienced fifteen minutes of PURE bliss driving down Bell road even as the broken door ajar warning buzzed away potentially annoying anyone else. Since I was a teenager with a mall job income I knew the chances of my family agreeing to help me buy this car were pretty much zero, but I had to try. I dragged them down to the dealership to have a look. The look lasted ten seconds before we were back on the road with a not so polite "Are you crazy?” Still, for years I had the ability to brag to others that I actually got to drive a DeLorean once! Moving forward into the '90s, I was fortunate enough to get a job at General Motors Desert Proving Ground as a Durability Test Driver and a Quality Assessment Auditor in 1998. During that time I was personally introduced to the Corvette. It was love at first drive. This quickly made me develop a new found passion for "America's Sports Car". I got to drive a good number of Vettes including the then one of three '01 Z06 prototype. That's a whole other story. All I can say is I had to have a Vette in my life. In 2003 I found myself coming into a small inheritance. Finally I knew I'd be able to get a sports car. Something I'd wanted for so long. I had Corvette on my mind because my small windfall was far from enough to afford some used exotic. Still assuming a DeLorean fell under the category of expensive classic exotic, it was not a consideration. I figured these seldom seen cars must have been worth a fortune after all these years. Still, I did a Google search on "DeLorean" for the heck of it. First result was the "new" DeLorean Motor Company in Houston. After checking out their site and all the others the search produced I was shocked to see that my true dream car was actually still affordable! Suddenly it was a DMC-12 I had to have. While waiting for the money to become available I did as much research on the DMC-12 as I could. I had to know what I was getting into. Then the unexpected happened. A beautiful 1979 Corvette that a friend of a neighbor had for sale charmed me into buying it. Realizing it now might be a long time before I'd have a DMC-12 in my life, I started to avoid DeLoreans at all costs in an attempt to diminish the frustration. I hang out at a weekly Saturday afternoon cruise-in held at the Scottsdale Pavilions. Every time a DMC-12 showed up there my friends, knowing of my love for the car, would ask "Did you go over and see the DeLorean?" They were completely unaware that they were twisting a knife in my heart. I usually stayed well away. It was too heartbreaking knowing I again could not afford one. Then one Saturday in mid 2004 several members of AZ-D showed up with their DMC-12s. I broke down and had to have a look. I struck up a conversation with Daniel Fox and Johnny Sawyer and that's when they told me "The DeLorean on the end is for sale". I took a look and being near the car made me feel like a 12 year old in love for the first time. The owner of that car, Ken Berger, was not an AZ-D member, but a classic car collector and restorer who had owned several DMC-12s including 5518 which Johnny Sawyer purchased from him previously. Of all the DeLoreans Ken had owned, 16192 was the DMC-12 Ken intended to keep, and he was not actively trying to sell it… but everything has a price. I took Ken's card, and over the next eight months I loosely kept in touch. In January 2005 I again fell in lust with a Corvette. This time it was a 2002 convertible. I was approved for a loan, and was in a long drawn out negotiation with the dealer for this Vette when out of frustration I told a good friend that unless I got that depreciating Vette for a steal I was going to take the loan money and buy that DeLorean I always wanted instead. I called Ken Berger and asked him if he’d still consider selling 16192. He said yes, so I went by his place on a Sunday morning to have a closer look and take a test drive. That's all it took. The overwhelming lust returned at first sight and any interest I had in continuing my attempt to acquire the '02 Vette was gone immediately, so I bought 16192 from Ken for $20,000. My DMC-12, VIN 16192, is a 1983 model. It's a 5 speed with gray interior, and 
it
came from the factory with no optional equipment. The original window
sticker,
which I possess, gave 16192 a total suggested retail price of
$34,007.90. The
car arrived in the U.S. through the Port of Long Beach and was
originally sold by
Delamo Imports Inc. of Torrance, CA. At this point in time, based off
of what
little information I have to go on, I believe I'm the fourth owner of
this car.
Ken Berger said he purchased it from an older Arizona couple who
claimed they
had the car since the early to mid 1980s. If that couple purchased
16192 from
the original owner, then that would make me the fourth. I plan to
attempt to research
the car's history someday. When and if I find out more details, I will
update this
bio. When I purchased 16192 on January 12th 2005, it had 14,628
original miles
on the odometer. On April 23rd 2005 Dan Botkin from DeLorean Motor
Center of Garden
Grove, CA officially appraised 16192's value at $29,600. So far, 16192
has
taken second place in its class at the 2005 Wheels of Britain car show,
and
third place in its class at the Fifth Annual Relay for Life Show &
Shine.
The previous owners made a few modifications to 16192. A Sears cruise control was installed. The factory wheels were polished on the surface and painted black within the slots. A CHMSL was mounted on the louvers. 
Stainless steel
"DeLorean" bumper insert letters were
placed on the
rear fascia. The factory windshield wipers were replaced with a dual
blade
type. An after market coolant overflow bottle was added in the engine
compartment, even though the engine shows no evidence of ever having
overheated,
and the engine compartment light was moved to accommodate the bottle
holder.
The binnacle has a vinyl cover, most likely to cover up cracks. The
“DeLorean”
hood emblem was removed, and now resides in the glove box. For some
reason I
can't determine, the torsion bars were painted black. Someone must have
had leftover
paint from the wheels. While all done in good taste, I feel these
changes take
away from the beauty of Giugiaro’s intended stylings, of which I have a
great
appreciation for. Since a stock appearance is my personal preference,
in time
it is my intention to undo all of these alterations and restore the
car’s
original look.
This car’s big mystery is its radio. The car should have an ASI, but it has a Craig with a clock in the radio’s display. The two best theories so far are the Craig was a warranty replacement for an ASI, or due to 16192 being a late production car, they were grabbing whatever was immediately available off of the shelf to install at the factory, so a Craig made its way into this car for whatever reason. Don Steger of DeLorean Motor Center says the Craig in my car is related to the series of Craigs found in the earlier DMC-12s, but he’s personally never seen this particular variation of that Craig in any DeLorean. I’d like to place an ASI in the car someday if I find a nice one, unless of course I come across some real evidence that DMC actually place this Craig in the car. Then it would stay. Since both Johnny Sawyer’s car, 5518 and mine were once owned by Ken Berger, the two car’s seats were swapped by Ken. Along with all the aforementioned modifications, 16192’s original seats were reupholstered using cloth. Ken obviously wanted 5518’s 100% original seats in 16192, the car he planned to keep, so he placed the cloth seats in 5518. This could not have worked out any better for Johnny and I. He loves the cloth seats, and I love the originals. Considering that owning a DeLorean DMC-12 was a dream now realized, I 
have no desire to
part with the car. I bought it with the intention of driving it. Isn’t
that
what John DeLorean wanted? Although an actual concours caliber garage
and
trailer queen is not my goal, I want my car to look like one. It’s my
intention
to address the car’s cosmetic flaws and mechanically update its
original
components with all the good after market upgrades developed over the
past
twenty plus years meant to rid the car of its infamous well known bugs
and
improve its drivability. I’d love to be able to drop 16192 off at DMC
Houston
for their performance upgrades someday, but that itself is only a dream
right
now. In the meantime I just simply want to enjoy owning what I consider
to be the
coolest car ever manufactured.Dan Wilson Tempe, AZ VIN 16192 |
