BTTF Delorean - The ultimate prop

[joeranger]

Hey guys,
I was on vacation in the Florida panhandle and ran into an 81 Delorean with 12,000 miles for $28,000. Is that a rip off or steal?

 

[Edward H]

Are you talking about the one in San Destin? I have seen that car and its a great looking car. The general rule of thumb as far as Deloreans go is expect to pay around 20-25k for a good condition running car. Whether you go for the $10k car and have to put another 10-15k into it to get it up to par, or you buy the $25k car already in great condition both cosmetically and mechanically. If you shop around you can find good deals. But beware many people think "good condition" means almost running, with cracked dash and seats. I searched for about a year before purchasing the one i now have. Here is a good place to compare prices.

http://jaxed.com/cgi-bin/ms.cgi?veh=delorean

 

[137th Gebirg]

I actually owned an '81 DMC-12 for about 4 years - purchased it for $8900 and it was actually painted red by the dealership, which had to be stripped to get it back to its original look. It spent more time in my mechanic's garage and on a flatbed than it did on the highway. I actually think my mechanic put more road miles on it than I did after I spent about $9000 getting it running. I think the folks that thought up the 88 MPH thing had a wicked sense of humor. The Peugeot-Renault-Volvo 2.85L V6 (a.k.a. PRV6) which generally dyno'ed at around 100 HP. Similar to the Volvo B28F 2.8L "F" type, it was an extremely underpowered engine for its application, particularly with John Z. DeLorean's desire to compete with Porsche and other exotics of the era. One of its main weaknesses was an equally underpowered and frequently failing French-made Ducellier alternator (80 amps). It handled well and looked like it could go 200MPH standing still, but in truth, after all the work was done, it started shaking terribly after I got it up to around 60. It accelerated like a Yugo. Yes, there was an OEM turbo system you could install on top (removing ANY possibility of future engine work - the engine compartment being so small - it used up all remaining available space under the lid) which would buy you an additional 27 or so HP. The one I had was also an automatic (somewhat rare), which robbed even more HP from the baseline (~89 HP).

Sources:
www.dmcnews.com/faq/faq.htm
www.dmcnews.com/Resource/horsepower.html

So, at the end of the day, unless the BTTF DeLorean was upgraded with the 4.5L engine (giving you a WHOPPIN' 165 HP), chances of hitting 88MPH on a stock DMC-12 is slim-to-none.

Other nifty facts:

• When the DeLorean failed on Marty in the first movie (an accurately depicted event), he slams his head on the steering wheel, which restarts the car. You hear a little horn "beep" when this happens. Not so accurate. Because that portion of the vehicle was, IIRC, designed by Renault, the car horn was NOT in the steering wheel, but in the TURN SIGNAL handle, by pressing in on the plastic handle cap.
• Also in the first movie, when the DeLorean pulls out of the rear of the trailer and drives around, it sounds like it has at least a small-block V8 running in it with a rather impressive sound. I have only ever heard of one conversion of a Delorean to support a Cadillac NorthStar V8 down in Texas somewhere, which involved some MASSIVE modifications to the rear of the car. An engine that size would not have allowed enough space for all the additional time-travel greebles in the back that were sitting on top of the engine compartment. The impressive V8 sound effects were gaffed in during post production. The DeLoreans used in the movies all had stock V6's.
  
• In the third movie, the Indian arrow that pierced the gas line/tank in the rear would never have killed a real DeLorean. The gas tank is in front of the car under the luggage compartment and the fuel line goes nowhere near where the arrow went into the body. Warning to owners with possible original fuel lines - they are all rubber from end to end and they MUST be checked for dry-rot!
  
• Also in the movie, Doc says he "put gas in the tank". This is 1955. Unleaded gas didn't exist then. The DeLorean was built from 1981 - 1983 and only runs on unleaded gas. Cars built in the 70's and before can take unleaded gas, but not the other way around. Leaded gas will contaminate the catalytic converter and make it useless, throwing the whole exhaust system, particularly the O2 sensors and ECM computers off kelter, which could cause the vehicle to stop functioning.
  
• The doors don't make the mechanical whirring noises when they open or close. They are supported by a titanium torsion bar coupled with a standard hydraulic gas piston.

Despite all these problems, I still have a warm spot for the old girl. After 4 years and too much money spent, I finally sold it for a little over half what I bought it for and put into it combined. Last I heard, it's somewhere up in northern New Jersey now.

 

[Zombie_61]

The Delorean--truly one of the worst cars I've ever driven. Aside from the fact that I barely fit in it (I'm 6'1"), my stock '63 VW had better acceleration and was far more fun to drive. 2 cents

 

[Edward H]

I fit in mine and im 6'1 and so does my friend who is 6'5.... It was actually designed with the taller driver in mind. After all John Delorean was 6'4. Its actually quite roomy when compared to most sport cars. Now i have driven in a Lamborghini Countach and Diablo and both of those cars are cramped and i rubbed my head on the roof the whole time and loved every second of it...lol... You are right about the power though... Not exactly fast... The bug probably was faster, but no ones head turns and jaws dont drop when you pull up to a gas station in a VW bug.

 

[Zombie_61]

I fit in mine and im 6'1 and so does my friend who is 6'5.... It was actually designed with the taller driver in mind. After all John Delorean was 6'4. Its actually quite roomy when compared to most sport cars.

Well, I don't think I adjusted the seat to suit my height, so that may have been the reason. I was working for a Goodyear retailer at the time, and it was a customer's car--I was only test-driving it after a repair and, as a courtesy to the customers, I didn't re-position a seat unless I had to.

You are right about the power though... Not exactly fast... The bug probably was faster, but no ones head turns and jaws dont drop when you pull up to a gas station in a VW bug.

You didn't see some of the VW's my friends owned back-in-the-day.

But I understand what you're saying. As long as you like yours, that's fine with me; I wasn't impressed, but that's only one opinion. But I believe the Delorean would probably have faded into obscurity if it hadn't been used in the Back to the Future films.

 

[aaronblake]

I'm sure the Delorean's fame is at least partially due to the iconic usage in BTTF but I also suspect it is related to the fact that it only lasted through the single model. 137th Gebirg, thanks for sharing the facts. Most of your post was new to me.