dodint's Automotive Evolution

[CudaMan]

Interesting deal with the DeLorean. Does the buyback end up paying for your ownership experience? If so, it seems kind of like a win-win. You got to enjoy something unique and terribly cool for a while, for free. I'm sure having a track toy and a fun convertible will help to soften the loss of the DeLorean, too.

[dodint]

I don't know it down to the dollar, but the offer to sell is about $7k more than I paid for it. And I made about $9k worth of improvements. So for almost exactly two years of ownership you're looking at $1k/yr. And like I told Tyler, I figure with as much as I traveled with it, C&C'd it, shared it with friends, etc. I have probably enjoyed about 85% of the positive DMC owner experiences. Three GTXF'ers have driven it other than myself, for instance.

I just hadn't planned to get *this* into time trialing this soon. The extra cash flow is super tempting. The idea of the DMC turning into a museum piece in the back of my garage is less so.

[dodint]

Oh, I suppose I never mentioned it here in this context. But I am up for a promotion at work that would have me traveling globally for as much as 7 months out of the year. That's what I meant about the museum piece part, with only 5 months of the year left there won't be many days for driving the DMC when you subtract poor weather months and race weekends.

[speedpimp]

The Delorean was a fun drive.

[dodint]

The buyer decided he'd rather pay $60k for a car with a stainless steel frame than pay $45k for my car. A stainless steel frame costs $11k. *shrug*

So that's put to bed.

[dodint]

Light controller is broke again. I can't remember if it is the one I replaced before or not. It is somewhat reasonable that they would go around the same time since they perform identical duties, but it still sucks. I am going to write the date on this one in sharpie so I know for sure.

Tail light is also bad, ordered a new housing for it today. I never would have guessed I would sink like $700 into this car just on factory lighting components.

I have already been thinking about moving on to something else , I miss the manual too much. And other reasons. So if I can ever get this thing safety inspected I might trade it along soon.

[dodint]

Sweet, Rock Auto had my warranty info on file. Just plugged in the order number (I was going to rebuy one) and it let me know I was 121 days into my 12 month warranty period. Sweet.

[dodint]

Given my Intrepid history, this may be a de-evolution. And this is the second 2Gen Neon we'll have owned:



The ad, so long as it stays up: https://advancedautogroupllc.com/200...-19382/6750602

I bought what looks like a pretty clean SRT4 for $4,100. This car is actually classed above my BMW in SCCA Time Trials classing. I bought it so I could have a car to track while I build up the BMW as with Ash being sick and our decision to move to our other house has resulted in slowed my progress on that. I won't have a car to race on Memorial Day in South Carolina otherwise. I wanted something that was completely different than what I have now (RWD NA I6 German car) so I bought a domestic FWD Turbo 4. The only car close to this I've ever competed in was a '18 Ford FoST at Nats last year, which I imagine is a bit more refined.

The Dodge Intrepid part of my brain is really geeking out because the stuff I spent thousands on back then for the Intrepids are now 15-20 years old and dirt cheap. I'm going to drop in a factory nav w/Sirius and reuse a Grom bluetooth I have for a total price of about $125. This is awesome.

The car comes with the factory-style Borla exhaust included, that side exit exhaust in the picture is both dumb and not PA inspection legal. It already has a cold air intake and supposedly no other mods, so it's ready for SCCA TT S3 as is. Going to check it over, add a 5pt harness, put some 225 wide 200tw tires on a set of lightweight wheels and that should be about it for performance stuff.

I also want to go up to Ohio and do some dirt rally events, and this car is perfect for that. Damn near disposable.

This will replace my Z4 as my daily driver, so that will be up for sale soon. By purchasing this it frees me up to buy a three-season car for One Lap of America in 2021. Once the house sells and if the DMC sells I'll start looking at C5Zs and Viper GTS/SRT10s by late summer.

Pretty stoked, honestly. It's in West Chester, PA (near Philly) so I'm going to take off work Wednesday and go pick it up.

[Cam]

You change cars like I change underwear.

[George]

Cool car. Nice price. Way better than a brand-new car and/or the same thing everyone else drives.