Greetings all,
I will take a moment here to introduce myself.
My name is Jeremy, I live in Chicago. I do electronic work at a place called Black Lion Audio. I am not an engineer or designer, I do production mostly. My electronic knowledge is minimal compared to some of you fine folks out there. However, this experience has given me a huge starting point to understanding concepts. So far I have read through about half of "Build Your Own Electric Car" and have been able to comprehend whats going on. I am sure there will be many finer details that you folks could assist with when the time comes.
I have been thinking of an EV project for awhile but thought it was out of reach. A few years ago I decided I wanted a car project to play with. After searching for a long time, the only cars I liked enough to spend time and money on where pricey. I wanted a cool classic car that is fun and unique. I also wanted it to be mid engine, 2 passenger, gas burning V8 rocket. Even though I do have a child, I wanted a 2 seater so the wife could ride or the kid, not both. The dynamics of driving change when the wife and child are in the car together. Way more fun with just the one or other.
One of my first thoughts went to a kit car. This would be okay since I could do the EV thing and also do whatever weirdness that I wanted. However, I did not find to many kit cars that I like enough to actually buy. In addition to that, I felt if I was going to spend this much time and money on something, I should go ahead and get a real car and not a kit car. Then I found the car of my dreams, a DeTomaso Pantera. That is one bad ass car. I wanted it so bad, but even a project barn find is still in the 20-30k So I had to find a way to fund this. I decided to sell off my old hobby to start a new one. I calculated what I could sell this stuff for and decided to do it. I am going to get a Pantera. Well, what you think your stuff is worth and what the market says its worth are often different things entirely. Eventually I did sell off all the stuff and only got about half what I thought it was worth. This was not nearly enough to get even a junky Pantera. In addition to that prices on those and most classic cars have dramatically risen since just the time it took to raise the funds. So now what... I went to my childhood favorite that was also my number two car pick. Now having a bit of cash on hand I found a car that I could get at a good price and restore. I still had to get a barn find since a good car is approx 30K. On craigslist in the middle of now where Ohio I found my car.
1981 Delorean DMC-12 and I love it.
So on to this car. It is a barn find that was once loved but has now sat for a long time. Sitting unused is bad for any car, especially a Delorean. So it does not run, the interior is shot and the frame is really rusty among all sorts of other hidden issues I have not found yet. This is all fine by me since what I wanted was a car project, and boy do I have a big project with this thing.
So my plan was to go forward and restore this classic back to stock and have fun. After doing lots of research it seems on of the weak links of this car is the ICE itself. It is a V6 PRV(Peugeot Renault Volvo) engine with a whopping 120HP. In addition to that, the fuel injection and a whole host of other issues I do not want to deal with. I seems like it would be a whole lot of work to get a low performing auto. On that note you can youtube a video of a Delorean getting smoked in a 1/4 mile race against a minivan, wow.
So all of that has lead me here. I finally came back to the thought of doing an EV and looking at my car and thinking, Hey, why not. There are approx 7 electric Deloreans in the world already, so I am not reinventing the wheel here. I have been able to chat with the owners of a few of those cars to build a small support network. Now here with the FVEAA this project could actually be a functional reality.
There is a ton of work to do on the car before I even begin the EV process. I need to get the frame in good condition then to the suspension and brakes before I can think of a drive train of any kind. I have given myself 10 years to finish this project. I am not sure if that is too long but I would like to set myself up for success in this. In addition to that further funding will be more slow in the future. I am out of stuff to sell.
However, it does seem to be on the face of it that it should be cheaper to convert this car to EV than doing a full stock restoration.
So this is me, and that is my car.
I plan to attend the meetings and meet with you folks. I have lots of questions. One thing I do really like about the FVEAA so far is that it seems to be very organized. I really appreciate the past meeting minutes posted on the website. Even if you do not attend you know exactly what happened. Seems far more organized than other clubs I have seen in the past. Thank you all for your hard work.
Have a great day.
Jeremy
