First road trip since repair

After the panel was reinstalled, I then did everything that I needed to get the car titled and registered in my name. The same day that I reinstalled the panel, I took the DeLorean to a local lube place and had the safety and emissions inspections completed. The employees that were there were so excited to have the opportunity to inspect it. They got it done quickly and it passed with flying colors. The employees were taking pictures of it and were loving every minute of it.

The following week, I went to the DMV and paid the tax and registration fees, which was just over $1,000 and they gave me my plates right then and there. I was going to get vanity plates, but I was told that since the title was from another state, I had to wait until I got the Utah title in the mail before I could submit an application for new plates. Now that I have the regular plates on the car, I'm not as motivated to get vanity plates. I have since received the new title in the mail and the car is 100% legal to drive and legally mine.

Since registering it, we have driven it every weekend. It's unfortunate that it's already to late in the year though because the cold weather is already coming and the DeLorean won't be driven during the winter. My wife and I celebrated our third anniversary in the middle of October and we decided to get away for the weekend. We decided to spend the weekend up in Park City, UT and we also decided to take the DeLorean. It was a beautiful time of year up there with the leaves changing colors. It was the same city we went to when we first got married, so we'll probably return many times in the future. Here's a picture of my wife and the beautiful leaves on the trees:
 

I still haven't posted any pictures of the repaired panel on the DeLorean since I installed it, but I snapped a couple of photos of the car outside our hotel. I can't see any evidence of the repair in the photos:


 

It was a fun weekend and the DeLorean performed beautifully the entire time. We drove around 200 miles during the trip too. It's still fun to see people's reactions when they realize what kind of car they are seeing. For the most part, we don't get too many reactions. I'm very pleased with how everything is going with the car. My wife just bought new floor mats for me for Christmas, so that will help the interior be more visually appealing. 

Panel Completed

It took about 6 weeks, but I finally heard from the DMC dealer that had my panel and he informed me that he was finally able to spend some quality time on the repair of my quarter panel. He informed me that the damage was repaired to nearly 80%, and that with another hour of work, he can get it to 90%+. He said that 90% means is that a person won't readily see any evidence of the repair without having it pointed out. Below are some photos of the repair in process when it was at the 80% mark:






 
I thought that it looked fantastic compared to how bent it was when I sent it in. After another hour of work, he sent me additional pictures of the "final product." Those photos are attached below:





I was blown away with the quality of the repair job. The only area that he was having trouble with was the lip of the wheel arch along the aft edge, as shown in the photo above. The edge retained a little more roundness instead of a more crisp edge. He worked on it until he sensed that it was just going to get worse instead of better since stainless steel has a tendency to "work harden." This causes it to get more and more resistant to shaping as the material is massaged.

Since the panel was repaired to my satisfaction, he shipped the panel back to me and I got it over two weeks ago. The next day was a Saturday and I spent the morning putting it back on the car. The repair isn't perfect, but it's a night and day difference from what it looked like before. I have since gotten the car inspected, paid taxes and registration fees, and got it licensed in my state. It's nice to have it street legal. I have been enjoying it so much that I haven't even taken time to take a picture of what it looks like installed back on the DeLorean. I'll do that in the coming weeks. It's great to have it back on the road!