Re: Stainless Steel Angel
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:50 pm
Al went all out – a plate of dark chocolate digestives, a steaming pot of Kona, Jimmy Buffett on the office stereo – and the notebook
Half a biscuit, a deep draught of coffee, “Changes In Attitudes” ringing in his ears, Al opened the cover of the notebook.
The first thing that struck him was that it was a composite book of the old multi-subject type with pouches between the sections – and that both the pages and the pouches were full. This was obviously not just a build record, but was where Rock had organized his thoughts before creating more detailed reports. No small wonder it stayed with the chassis – it likely traveled with him when needed otherwise stayed with the car for anyone to record impressions.
The sections were divided – the first was marked “General”, and the rest for specific subsystems. The last, marked “Engine”, was the smallest of the sections, “General”, the largest.
The material in the General pouch was the first thing to come under his scrutiny. Pulling it all out carefully over the blotter on his desk, it turned out to be a voluminous pile of material.
The earliest document (they were in chronological order and dated) was an inventory of the shipment, signed off by the inspectors in Northern Ireland. Combined with this was the shipping paperwork from AHI at Runnymeade, and the shipping invoices from the carrier. Al made a note – this needed to get scanned and given to Ari to allow her to coordinate the pile of crap they’d pulled out of the hole and the floor above it.
Next were sheaves of diagrams, schematics for wiring – his ideas on the Americanization of the car. Obviously none of this was meant to make it back to DeLorean at the stages it was in, but Rock had some very serious ideas about how the car should be built – and they did not match DeLorean’s. Al had the impression that Rock was thinking about a lot more than supplying engines – but more like buying rolling shells and fitting them out at this very facility with American engines and control systems like Shelby and a latter-day Shelby Cobra. Had that been done, the AHI/Delorean ADMC-12 (Rock’s name for the project) could well have been a world-beater.
Still later in the pack were notes on the components – quality analyses by the metrology staff at AHI, hand-drawn stress analyses, design changes for cost savings, and corrections to the obvious Lotus lightness-at-all-costs designs that Rock’s backroom boys didn’t think would survive American roads.
Right about here, the project crashed. A copy of a letter on AHI stationery dated October 1982 cancelling the project an thanking DMC for its cooperation was stapled to a newspaper clipping of John Z’s arrest for drug trafficking and another detailing Delorean’s bankruptcy.
The tenor of the collected materials changed after this point, becoming less organized and more scattered in content. Rather than being a serious attempt at working within a production framework, this became the notebook of a man tinkering with a project.
Parts crossovers photocopied from catalogues, sets of diagrams scribbled on graph paper, parts receipts from various manufacturers – all in fits and starts with years between them.
All of this ended in late 2001 – nothing was added after that.
Al carefully filed all of the materials in his filing cabinet, in the original order. With that done, he turned to the handwritten pages in the “General” section – and began to read.
Half a biscuit, a deep draught of coffee, “Changes In Attitudes” ringing in his ears, Al opened the cover of the notebook.
The first thing that struck him was that it was a composite book of the old multi-subject type with pouches between the sections – and that both the pages and the pouches were full. This was obviously not just a build record, but was where Rock had organized his thoughts before creating more detailed reports. No small wonder it stayed with the chassis – it likely traveled with him when needed otherwise stayed with the car for anyone to record impressions.
The sections were divided – the first was marked “General”, and the rest for specific subsystems. The last, marked “Engine”, was the smallest of the sections, “General”, the largest.
The material in the General pouch was the first thing to come under his scrutiny. Pulling it all out carefully over the blotter on his desk, it turned out to be a voluminous pile of material.
The earliest document (they were in chronological order and dated) was an inventory of the shipment, signed off by the inspectors in Northern Ireland. Combined with this was the shipping paperwork from AHI at Runnymeade, and the shipping invoices from the carrier. Al made a note – this needed to get scanned and given to Ari to allow her to coordinate the pile of crap they’d pulled out of the hole and the floor above it.
Next were sheaves of diagrams, schematics for wiring – his ideas on the Americanization of the car. Obviously none of this was meant to make it back to DeLorean at the stages it was in, but Rock had some very serious ideas about how the car should be built – and they did not match DeLorean’s. Al had the impression that Rock was thinking about a lot more than supplying engines – but more like buying rolling shells and fitting them out at this very facility with American engines and control systems like Shelby and a latter-day Shelby Cobra. Had that been done, the AHI/Delorean ADMC-12 (Rock’s name for the project) could well have been a world-beater.
Still later in the pack were notes on the components – quality analyses by the metrology staff at AHI, hand-drawn stress analyses, design changes for cost savings, and corrections to the obvious Lotus lightness-at-all-costs designs that Rock’s backroom boys didn’t think would survive American roads.
Right about here, the project crashed. A copy of a letter on AHI stationery dated October 1982 cancelling the project an thanking DMC for its cooperation was stapled to a newspaper clipping of John Z’s arrest for drug trafficking and another detailing Delorean’s bankruptcy.
The tenor of the collected materials changed after this point, becoming less organized and more scattered in content. Rather than being a serious attempt at working within a production framework, this became the notebook of a man tinkering with a project.
Parts crossovers photocopied from catalogues, sets of diagrams scribbled on graph paper, parts receipts from various manufacturers – all in fits and starts with years between them.
All of this ended in late 2001 – nothing was added after that.
Al carefully filed all of the materials in his filing cabinet, in the original order. With that done, he turned to the handwritten pages in the “General” section – and began to read.