The christopher bradley archive
Christopher Bradley was the Head of the Experimental Workshop at the DeLorean factory, starting there on 2 July 1979.
When he left the employ of DMCL in the late summer of 1982, he wisely kept some of the documents and his diaries. After his passing in 2003, his wife kept these documents in storage. In 2012, she passed and Chris' brother, John, discovered the documents and offered them to the Museum. With the assistance of Nick Sutton, former Purchasing Manager for the DeLorean factory and author of "The DeLorean Story", the files of Christopher Bradley were examined and acquisition of same were completed in 2013. The Museum research team has cataloged and organized all the documents, including several new photos of the gold cars under assembly, many details of the 50,000 endurance tests conducted with the Ulster Auto Club, and much more. Through the generous support of the friends of the Museum, through their purchases of items from the Museum Store and other donors, these documents have been preserved and will be available for all to view, enjoy and hopefully learn from, as well. Scanning of all these files is still underway, and more will be posted here in the coming months. Sign up to be notified when this page is updated. rare photos of the "swiss" door hingeAs DeLoreans were being sold in the US, work was already underway to prepare, or homologate, the car for sale in Europe and the UK. Switzerland regulations prohibited the anything to extend beyond the normal width of the car, so the gullwing door hinges had to be re-designed in order that they would open higher. These are the only known photos of this unique piece of DeLorean history. Do you know what became of this part, or perhaps have them on your car? Tell us!
PHOTOS OF THE GOLD CARS UNDER FINAL ASSEMBLY AND ON THE TEST TRACK
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Build records for vins 516, 517 and 534Vehicle Build Record for VIN 516
The 17th production DeLorean built, this "build record" of the car highlights just how much these early production cars were truly learning experiences for the Dunmurry workforce. VIN 516 was designated in other factory records as a "Production Engineering" vehicle, which is most likely why Chris Bradley was able to hold on to these records. Various other documents refer to the car as an "engineering" and "high speed" test car due to go to MIRA in December of 1981. It's unclear if it ever did go to MIRA, but as late as August of 1982 there are no longer any references to this car. Do you know any more about the car, or if it still exists today? Tell us! Vehicle Build Record for VIN 517
Like the car above, these records of the 18th production DeLorean built highlight just how much these early production cars were truly learning experiences for the Dunmurry workforce. VIN 517 was designated in several factory records as having been allocated to a U.S. Department of Transportation airbag study. More on this study - including the crash test videos - can be found on our Multimedia page. The car was last believed to be in a scrapyard in the USA in the late 1990s - along with VIN 515, the other car used in the crash test program. Do you know anything about either of these cars? Tell us! Vehicle Build Record for VIN 534
Factory records indicate this, the 35th production car built, was also assigned as an engineering car. It was listed in the 1984 auction catalog to be sold with the remaining assets of the DeLorean Motor Company Limited at the Dunmurry factory, presumed sold, and not seen again. Do you know any more about the car, or if it still exists today? Tell us! The Christopher Bradley Archive consists of numerous photos and thousands of pages of documents. Check back as we add more to the site, or sign up for our newsletter to be notified of updates as they occur!
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