I got paid to take my DeLorean to a local event

After having my car featured on more than one occasion this year, I was contacted by the manager of a local recreation center to see if I'd be interested in having my car on display outside the building for their "Back to the Future" themed Halloween party. I was paid with a $100 Visa gift card to sweeten the deal. Only a couple hundred more events like that and the car will pay for itself...

Terms for my participation included having the car fenced off so nobody would sit on or in it. Two of their employees dressed up that night as two of the movie's characters and posed for pictures with attendees. It ended up being a pretty fun event with a very large crowd attending. That was the first and possibly the last event where I get paid to bring my car.

October 21, 2015 - Back to the Future Day

I drove the DeLorean to work for the first time in years on 10/21/15 since it was the day that was featured in Back to the Future II. There was an impromptu photo shoot in our office parking lot and several people had a ball getting their picture taken or just being around the car on that day.

Unfortunately, a heavier set fellow I work with broke the driver's side bolster when he went to sit in the car. It doesn't look too terribly difficult to fix, but it's a bummer that I have to repair anything because I let people sit in it. I don't want to be a jerk and deny people a chance to sit in it, but it just plain sucks this happened.

I didn't take any pics, but was sent several pictures that others took.

 

We also had family come over that night to snap some pics near the car. I ended the night by falling asleep watching BTTF II. It was a memorable day, for sure.

 

Back to the Future event

I was invited to bring my car to a "Back to the Future" themed bike ride recently: http://antelopebymoonlight.com/ It is a family event and riders are encouraged to dress up in costume for the bike ride. My car was near the registration canopy for bike riders to have their picture taken next to the car. I had SIX "Look, but don't touch" signs on various places on the car, including on each door sill. I also had several DeLorean hot wheels on each seat, thinking that these would be enough to prevent someone from touching the car, let alone sit in it. Boy, was I wrong! At car shows, I think people generally understand that the cars are there for visual enjoyment only and people tend to be respectful and not put their claws all over other people's cars.

With the car being all by itself and not at an official car show, some people treated it like a free for all. I sat behind the car in my lawn chair, like an old man watching his lawn, and was very surprised at some of the behavior of grown adults. Throughout the entire event, people posing next to the car would touch it by putting their hand on the top of the door or prop themselves by their hand as they posed. Those didn't bother me too terribly much. What killed me was when several different people sat on the front fender at different times and when others fully climbed into the car to sit down, going over the "do not touch" sign and nearly smashing all the hot wheels on display on the seats. I had to become "that guy" that had to yell to get off/out of the car. Of the 6 or 7 different people that I had to yell at, only one came back to apologize for what they did.

For all of my time and for driving my car out to the event, I got a free t-shirt. Totally not worth it and I would only consider doing something like that again if the event organizer were to agree to rope off the car to prevent attendees from getting too close. I should have known that it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience the moment I pulled up to the traffic usher and he tried making me pull into a field and park where all the attendees were going to park instead of by the registration tent. Doing so would have required me to drive the car through a mini ravine, which would have required driving talents that I don't possess to not scrape the underside of the car.

The one bright spot of the event was seeing some really good BTTF costumes. Here's a pic of my favorite group:

Media interviews

While at the Ogden 25th St Car Show in early June 2015, I was asked to be interviewed by local television personalities. They recently sent me a link to the video. I have several different segments in the video starting at about 17 minutes in:

At the end of the interview, the lady asked if I would be willing to help promote this year's "Antelope by Moonlight Bike Ride" that is a 24 mile bike ride starting at 10 PM during a full moon in the summer time at Antelope Island State Park. This year's theme is "Back to the Future," which is why they wanted my help.

I agreed to help and two weeks later, we met near Antelope Island and my car was used as a backdrop to create several segments for TV:

I'll also show up for the event on July 3rd and let participants take pictures of the car. I thought this would all be fun as I am only getting a free t-shirt out of the whole deal. Luckily this bike ride event is no more than a 10 minute drive from my house.

Some things that I need to address on the car:

• Air conditioning stopped working since I converted to R134a and charged the system two years ago.
• Driver side door doesn't always open. Need to do a "lock & latch" procedure to adjust
• Driver side front suspension making squeaking noise. Suspect sway bar bushings on lower control arm. May buy and install poly bushing kit.
• Interior lights do not come on when doors are opened. Not a big deal, but would be nice for when there's less daylight.
• Want to refinish the rear louvre as it appears faded
• Still need to get an alignment as the steering wheel has been cockeyed to the left since I bought it over four years ago. When I went to get it aligned a couple of years ago, they discovered I needed a new ball joint before they could do the alignment. I replaced the ball joint over two years ago and haven't gotten back to get the alignment yet.
• Replace the carpet pad-looking insulation on the rear parcel shelf as it's likely the source of the old DeLorean smell.
• Replace old coolant with fresh coolant. It's overdue. 
• Figure out why the engine compartment light has never worked. Very low priority

I'm sure there's more, but those are the obvious things that I remembered. The to-do list has definitely gotten shorter over the years.

Car Show 2015

Besides the occasional drive now and then, I haven't done much with the DeLorean in 2015. I decided to take it to my favorite car show of the year at the annual 25th Street Car Show in Ogden, UT. I really like this show because of the huge number of people and I love how they shut down several city blocks specifically for the car show.

I washed it prior to the show to take off the layer of dust that had developed while sitting for several weeks. Here's a couple of shots at the show:

With a 21 month old and another one coming in a couple of months, I don’t plan on doing any other shows this year. I usually don’t like just sitting there for hours on end while people look at the car, but I really enjoy the atmosphere at this show with the music, scenery, and I see a lot of people that I know.

To top it off, my DeLorean won an award. It was picked by one of the sponsors and I won a free night at a new Courtyard Marriott that was recently gutted and remodeled. Sweet!

Non-DeLorean Eventful Year

Since my son was born last September, I have done little to nothing with my DeLorean. Priorities change very quickly when kids arrive as there always seems to be something to do. We haven't been in any parades and we only have participated in one car show this year in my home town. Here's my adorable son sitting in the car at the show:

Unfortunately, during that one show, the canopy that I had set up for shade got ripped off of the ground by an out-of-nowhere gust of wind and blew it into the 1941 Ford parked next to me and put two small dings on it.

I felt so horrible, but at the same time, was grateful that the canopy didn't damage my car, even though it did hit both of our cars. I snapped a pic of the two cars as the show was about to end:

 

My auto insurance, both daily driver and collector car, wouldn't cover the damage to his car because none of my cars caused the damage. The cost to repair the damage was $1,200 because the trunk and rear quarter needed to be removed, repaired, then painted in addition to the pin striping being redone on his trunk. 

The guy's insurance ended up covering the damage and he asked me to pay his deductible, which was $500. That was one expensive car show!

I have rarely driven the DeLorean since 2013 as it is only a two seater and my family now consists of more than two people. In addition to the new member of our family, we also moved into our newly built house in 2013 and this year we finally did our own landscaping, sprinkling system, curbing, and grass. That was a multi-month project that didn't allow for any car time.

I have also been traveling much more frequently for work than in years past. I have seen some pretty neat things in my travels:

Milwaukee:

Las Vegas multiple times:

Dallas multiple times:

 

Houston:

San Antonio:

Honolulu: 

Austin multiple times:

Detroit multiple times:

And many other places that weren't interesting enough to take even one picture. Travel should be slowing down this fall, so I may have time to spend with the DeLorean. After all, it is just a car and not my #1 priority.  Hopefully more to come soon.

Local Car Show June 2013

My wife and I entered a free and local car show that was just for fun with no awards. Got a free t-shirt out of it. Below are some pictures of how we set up our car for the show:

 

 

The next picture shows the current interior. Notice the nice floor mats, the refurbished cargo net, and the stainless steel shifter ball that I traded with another DeLorean owner:
   

It was a fun show without much drama. There were a lot more fingerprints on the car this show than in previous shows, despite the four "look but don't touch" signs on the car. We actually made it about an hour into the car show before someone mentioned a flux capacitor, although many had referenced the movie up to that point.

Below are some of the other comments that I heard:

•  It's a DeLorean!
• The Back to the Future car!
• These things are really heavy, right?
• DMC = Do More Coke

Those are the only ones I can remember off the top of my head. I'll have to take a pen and paper next time and write them down as I hear them.

First 2013 Car Show

Attending car shows has lost a lot of its appeal after only two years of ownership. They typically take place on a Friday or Saturday, which happen to be great times to do other things. I made it until June before attending my first car show of 2013, which also happens to be my favorite car show of the year around here.

There were over 380 cars in the show with another DeLorean. This is the first show I've attended where someone else brought a DeLorean. Here are a few shots of my car as the sun was setting:







My car didn't win any awards, but as usual, it definitely got a lot of attention form those in attendance. 

Car Show & Parade

The evening before the 4th of July, my home town hosts a local car show. Last year I was unable to bring the DeLorean because it was in the middle of being repaired, so this was the first time that I had the opportunity to bring it to the show in the town where I grew up. I had been looking forward to this car show ever since last year. It was a much smaller show than others that I had attended so far this year, but that was just fine.

The problem with having a car show in July 3rd is the heat. It was definitely a hot day, but it was still loads of fun having people I had known for a long time be able to see the DeLorean for the first time. This was definitely the first time a DeLorean had attended the local show. At the very end of the show, some kids of our friends wanted to sit in the car, so we took off all of the "Do Not Touch" signs and let them have a seat:

 

As you can see in the photo above, we brought our miniature DeLorean model and some hot wheels and had them on display in the car. We ended up giving a couple of the hot wheels to those kids. I snapped a couple of other photos before we left the show:

 



 

The next morning, we drove back out to my home town to be in the local 4th of July parade. We stuck a couple of flags in the rear, in the intake and antenna vents, and drove with the doors up while we threw candy to the kids. It was such a blast.

My parents still live in my home town and they took some pictures when we drove by, as well as provided us with some nice cold water:

 
 
 
 
 
 

My nephew even rode along for about 10 feet and got to throw out some candy:

 
 
 
 

2nd Car Show

Each year in my home town, on the first Friday of June, a historic street in my city is closed off for three city blocks for the annual car show. This was the first time that I had the DeLorean in road worthy condition when it came time for the show, and I was very excited to be able to go. This car show attracts thousands of local citizens and over 300 cars.

Overall, it was a very nice experience. Despite the four "look, but don't touch" signs on all four sides of the car, the DeLorean came away with way too many fingerprints during the show. When the show started, it was really hot outside, and with the sun shining hard on the passenger side, I decided to start the show with that door closed to block the sun from the interior. 

 I was sitting a good 30 feet away in the shade. I didn't see this incident happen, but my wife said some guy was looking at the car, then proceeded to open the passenger door, and then close it with the greasiest hand I have ever seen. You could have cooked fries with the grease that he left on the door. It was disgusting.

First, "look, but don't touch" includes not opening and closing my car's door.
Second, wash your dang hands once in a while, Mr. Pepperoni Pizza Hands.

I decided to simply open the door to hide the massive grease mark on the door. It looked a lot better open anyway, but I would have preferred to have done it on my own time. I need to wash it again anyways as I parked under a shade tree the next day and got 15 bird poo splatters on my car in a 3.5 hour period. I still didn't appreciate Mr. Greasy Hands.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped of the DeLorean as the show was winding down:
 

   

   

There was a steady stream of people the entire show and I really enjoyed the reactions of the people that we excited to be able to see a DeLorean in person. There were quite a few Back to the Future references, but luckily not enough to make me hate the show.

I was even interviewed by a no-name car show that is trying to get on the air. That was the first time that I had ever been in front of a television camera, and it was pretty fun. I got to talk about the car's history and tell about some of the things that make it unique and fun to own. They gave me their business card with their web site, so we'll see if I ever show up on there. The web site was www.exoticcarmagazine.com. As of today, it doesn't appear to have been updated in a long time.

Other unique cars at the show included a 1975 Bricklin and a 2005 Ford GT.

The next day was another car show, but we were in the process of house hunting and decided that we would just stop by and look and not stay with our DeLorean. We saw a lot of the same cars there that we had seen the day before, including the Bricklin. I am also a Jeep fan, and there were two awesome Willy's Jeeps from the 1940s at the show. I snapped a couple of pictures:
 
 

We noticed that when we were walking back to the DeLorean, it was attracting quite the crowd just parked there. It was kind of fun to drive away with a bunch of people staring at us. I am looking forward to some other shows coming up later this year. I just need to get the A/C working first.

First Car Show

Car show season has arrived. The local car show was just down the street from my house and was organized to bring awareness about autism. I didn't preregister, but registered once we arrived.

We were the only DeLorean at this show. We met another owner from a city about 25 miles from me a few weeks ago at a local cruise-in at this same place, but we didn't bring our DeLorean to that event. They were unable to come to this show, but it was nice being the only DeLorean there.

I was given a spot next to all of the motorcycles at the show:
 

 

 

The reactions that the car got were very positive. I didn't hear anyone say anything negative about the car. One guy commented that he was surprised that they didn't come with a V8 in them. We had about 10 people ask us about the flux capacitor or where it was. Even though we had a "do not touch" sign on the car, we discovered a few fingerprints after the show was over.

We even won an award for our first show. We got the "Sponsor Choice" award, shown here in the car:
 

It really was a great time associating with so many people that have such a passion for their cars. I am also a fan of Corvettes, and there were two red ones there that I thought looked just fantastic. One was a 1979 and the other was a Z06 from an unknown year:
   

 

 

There were also quite a few cars that I didn't like, as well as a few that made me scratch my head, like this 60s Mustang that had been supercharged. There were three gauges that they mounted outside of the car, which I am not a fan of:
 

I'm looking forward to participating in more shows this year. I definitely need to get the air conditioning working for the summer heat first.