Did you know that in 2012, a front-right fender for a DeLorean costs about $900? But, at the same time, a front-left fender cost about… $3,500!?
While Barrie Wills did not cover this specific question in his book, John Z, the Delorean & Me: Tales from an Insider (get it at DeLoreanGarage.com), he did share this information via email. Considering Barrie’s former position at DMC and his encyclopedic knowledge of the years when the DeLorean was being manufactured and sold, it seems we now have a definitive answer to the question about why front-left DeLorean fenders cost so much more than front-right fenders. Here’s Barrie’s response to the question:
John Z, the Delorean and Me – Tales from an Insider (Small)There was a procedure through which panels were stamped by them (Laepple, not DeLorean!) in economical batches. The left and right fenders were stamped individually in such batches on the same press after the stamping dies were interchanged. There’s a photograph of a Laepple press line in my book to give you an impression of the size of the task.
The left fender die had been through a modification in the Laepple tool room to improve stamping efficiency and my material control team had been carefully managing stocks of panels to ensure we did not go into short supply in Dunmurry before the die was ready to go back into use. Then came the receivership. Laepple cooperated by supplying stamping panels for cash as we were unable to pay the outstanding debt. We only bought and received enough front-left fenders to build the 500 cars authorised by the receivers, leaving the stock of out of balance, with the left in short supply at liquidation.
Hence the stocks of fenders acquired by Consolidated reflected those circumstances and the situation has remained so to this day.”
Please, share this page, and pass on these details so that we may correct the many years of incorrect information.
