- 3:02 PM, Monday,
April 7th, 2014:
-
- Never in my
life... absolutely exhausted. This could've been 5
entries and I can't even see straight 'cause I have
slept 45 minutes in 2 days. What the hell just
happened?
-
- So I had asked
Danny some questions Saturday night and hadn't heard
back from him all day Sunday. I know it's Sunday,
people take a day off - but in this 24 hour world, a
simple 20 second response would've been awesome. I'm
spending, I believe the technical term would be, a
FUCKTON of money. He's charging $45,000 for the
restoration alone and the only decent DeLorean I can
find around here is $30,000? It kinda spooked me and
I started looking around. I had seen a guy in
Texas who did it, but it's in Texas. Half the
"fun" of this was having it done here so
I could watch it and chronicle it for the next 6
months...
-
- ...but for the
money? It looked like I may be able to save a bit
- so I wrote to him and asked some of the same
questions I asked Danny.
-
- The man wrote back
pages. Granted, some of it was probably cut and paste,
but he replied specifically to my questions, knew
Danny personally (had nothing but good things to say)
explained he simply had a lower overhead and a full
crew at his shop (Danny does it by himself) and can
turn it around in... you ready for this? 4
weeks.
-
- Ahem.
-
- He said call
anytime, he'd be up until 4am Central time, it was
10pm my time and I knew I wasn't sleeping
after that email. So I called.
-
- At 4am we finally
stopped talking. Yes, 6 hours later. 4 of it on the
phone, 2 of it online trading videos, looking at
Deloreans and then I couldn't sleep so
I stayed up longer watching more videos. It was
feasible I could pull this off for $55k. Everything,
Delorean included. Maybe even less.
I could use some of the money I saved on
more props, etc. and I explained to him my
situation: I don't want to have to sell this car. I
made a promise to Karen and WILL absolutely sell
it if we can't seem to make money off it, but if
I get this car low enough? And now that I'm gonna
have it an entire 6 MONTHS early? I think
I can do it. If I'm past getting half my money
back by fall 2015? Uhm, I think you just keep it.
'Cause when the hell is that not gonna be a hot car
for shows, etc.? When are people not gonna want to pay
$10 for a picture in it?
-
- Yes, the market
will be flooded - but if I can make the majority
back at the peak? I could take 5 years to make
the rest back... who cares? In the meantime? All the
other stuff I talked about in the last entry: how
it helps get GolfKon on the air. This can't and won't
lose. It couldn't and wouldn't lose at $20k more...
but now? Whew. That just gave me one helluva bump. My
personal line in my head by fall 2015 was $35k. I now
feel comfortable hanging onto it if I make
$25-$30k. That will mean we're only out $25k
AND WE HAVE THE CAR. And I
reiterate, again, at what point is that car not gonna
blow people away? If it's this big 29 years later...
it's an icon. The only caveat here is - a LOT of
people are gonna do this next year. Right now, there
are probably 25 legitimate replicas out there. Sure
some people do it themselves and paint fucking water
bottles and it can trick some people but the ones that
make it in car shows? 25. In my area? 2 or 3. However
a lot of those are celebrity collectors that aren't
gonna be hustlin' these things at shows to make $10 a
picture. Case in point?
-
- The guy in Texas
(Bob) just finished Tony Parker's. Yup, the
point-guard. What the serious hell. In fact, here's
Tony's Car and I'm gonna straight up pimp Bob's work
because it's unbelievably exact.
-
-
- There are other
shops that do more, but it's generic mod stuff. Disco
lights, blue blue blue everywhere and it is indeed
eye-catching... but it's not the Time Machine. It's as
if Biff had pimped out the Time Machine. And
honestly? I can do all that myself if
I so desire down the road - what I can't do, and
what most people can't do, is create the pieces as
perfectly as a licensesd Universal prop guy can. He
got ahold of the original pieces and made casts of
them. He chips paint the right way to make it look
authentic. He uses the same dirty screws that Doc
Brown used because it's supposed to look REAL. I
appreciate those details a bunch.
-
- He can also
deliver this to me BEFORE Memorial Day and
I never have to deal with Paul Nigh. Listen
brother, if you're reading this, I know your
heart's in the right place but when someone asks for
directions to your place and you just say start
driving and then call? That's a problem. If out of the
blue you tell me "Im a mentalist and can blow your
mind" when we're talking about a $100,000 transaction?
That's not good. When you tell me you'll sell me the
car now, but you need it for like 3 gigs until
October? That's maddening. This is a $100,000
purchase, I should be the eccentric YOU have to
deal with to get MY money, not the other way around.
Which is why I moved on to Danny... and now we're
here.
-
- And nowwwwwwww? As
of 5:30pm? Less than 24 hours later? It is done. The
deposit is down, I am IN. I am absolutely
stunned. We also may have found a DeLorean around $15k
(though probably needs $5k worth of work) that I'm
gonna go pay cash for tomorrow. If I pull that off,
with the work it will need plus the conversion -
I can pull the whole thing off for $55k (plus
shipping the car there and back which adds around
$2k). What an amazing adventure this is. Karen is
thrillllllllled because she was ready to do this when
we were gonna be trying to get Paul's for $80-$85k.
Then she was happy we could get it for $75k and now?
I did my research man. I worked my butt off
and I now get to bug the fuck out of Bob to make
him do something with THIS car he's never done
before. We both have healthy egos and we're gonna have
a fun ride for a couple weeks arguing over what is and
isn't possible. ;-)
-
- It also means
I get to check this
everyday and watch my time machine being
built:
-

-
- And hell
I guess you can too if you're reading this in
real-time. :-) Oh and I have to build that
fucking garage which in actuality? Is a freaking
showroom for the time machine and it will look as if
it's ON the course. Can't wait to show off my
design.
-
- Tony Parker and
then Adam Kontras. That's awesome. These are the
little things I'm going to enjoy. That's where the fun
of this is. Being in company I have no business
being in... but believe me - I have one goal and
one goal only. To make Karen's money back and hustle
my ASSSSSSSS off for the next 18 months. And on
my 40th birthday? I want my present to be that
I made enough to keep this in the
family.
-
- Now how on earth
has my life become THIS? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
-
- Adam
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