Bricklin and Delorean the same Lineage?
After 22 years of Delorean Ownership and 24 Years of being a Bricklin owner
and restoration I think I know what I am talking about when it comes to
Deloreans. Delorean DOES have a fiberglass underbody,as the Stainless Steel
panels are all bolt ons to the Black Fiberglass underbody,in the same sense as
a Fiero GT,has all bolt on panels,and like the Fiero that Could be Driven with
it's outer "skin"(aka The Stainless Steel panels in the case of the DMC) so
could the Delorean,but in the case of the Delorean The Doors are two pieces of
Formed SS panels welded together,to make the inner and outer panels(with
major engineering for crash worthiness on the inside) for the doors on the
Deloreans .All panels on the Delorean are bolted to the Structual Black
underbody with RivitNuts.
The Total engineering on the Delorean was Done by Lotus Engineering(now owned
by G.M.)(the same people that make the Lotus esprit).What they did was looked
at was presented to them at the time,scrapped the orignal Engineering,Then
whipped out the Lotus Esprit Engineering Blueprints,then USED those to Totally
Reengineer the Delorean into what you see today, which in a Nutshell is
Basically a Fiberglass Lotus Esprit with Stainless Steel Panels Bolted to the
fiberglass body with RivitNuts.All the crash worthiness,is Engineered into
the Black Fiberglass body in the same manner as the Lotus Esprit. (as the
SS panels are only .030 (or about four four strands of human hair put
together) thick and have no crash worthiness and will fold like Tin foil in a
accident)
Also a very little known fact about Malcom Bricklin,and JZD,is that when the
Full size Clay Model was being made(1971 or 72) on the Bricklin,JZD would stop
in to the Bricklin Development Headquarters in Livonia Michigan,(as they were
friends at that time,and JZD was working for GM at that time)and at one point
ASKED JZD if he wanted to Run(be in charge) of the Manufacturing of the
Bricklin,But JZD,had to turn it down,as a Clause in his Contract with GM
Forbid him from Working for or Running ANY other Car Manfacturing operations,I
am sure that is what was MEANT by,the fact that the Delorean is a Improvement
on the Delorean!! As He knew(JZD) he could NOT get involved in the startup or
the Manufauturing of the Bricklin,BUT there was Nothing in his Contract,with
GM that stated,That he could NOT start up his own car Manufacturing
Business,Look at the Time line from when the Bricklin (R&D) came out and from
R&D and Production of the Delorean, The Bricklin was the "SEED" that prompted
JZD to Quit GM and Start up his own(JZD quits GM in late 1972 starts JZD Inc
on 1-1-74) Car.Basically he looked at the Bricklin (Reengineered)(Design
started around 3/1975 by ITAL Design in Italy) (Bricklin was "Still" in
Business) and said(to himself) he could Improve on it since the Bricklin had
a lost of "issues". (Not to put the Bricklin Down) Which is what he went about
and did. Take a Close look at the Bricklin and the Delorean,and you "could
"see the unmistakable "improvements".NOT to say that the Delorean is a direct
Improvement from the Bricklin,But it was the "Poster child" to case the
improvements upon.
Claude
----- Original Message -----
From: <KINGALIONZ11370@aol.com>
To: <bricklin@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 1:28 AM
Subject: Re: his that for real
> No offense meant to the Delorean owners out there but NO the D was not an
> improvement on the Bricklin. And being as JZD had some of the same staff
> working
> for him that was on the Bricklin team, that would explain some of the
> similarities. Both were not fiberglass bodies since the D had a stainless
> steel body
> (thats why it didnt need paint) After recognizing the fact that the B had
a
> ton of problems with it from manufacturing that by the way were not
corrected
> the second go round on the D and other problems were there on the D that
were
> not on the B such as a very flexible framework. Anyway that is my 2 cents
> worth on the subject. No I'm not an expert on automotive manufacturing, but
I
> have had my hands on my fair share of Bricklins to know their good points
and
> bad after working on them in Terry Tanner's shop for 7 years now.
>
> John Lodge
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