BTTF 3 Delorean goes on sale on SYFY network Wednesday Jun 8th.

[Chris Burns]

http://video.syfy.com/shows/hollywoodtreasure/v1331171

[stevedmc]

I'm no pro but I have doubts it is a screen used car. As far as I know the ones in the movie had the speedometer decals replaced with decals topping out at 95 mph. This one only tops out at 85 mph.

[Chris Burns]

Here is the webpage describing the car:

http://www.bttf3delorean.com/Home.html

[MikeWard]

I know the ones in the movie had the speedometer decals replaced with decals topping out at 95 mph. This one only tops out at 85 mph.
The decal was only replaced on 1 car I believe, and that was the car they cut up to use for the "in car" shots. (others more in the know keep me honest here)

[tjd]

The "C" (process) car was the only film car to have a 95MPH speedo. All other film used cars had the stock 85MPH speedo.

[BTTF-1]

This Back to the Future Part III Delorean is 100 percent Screen Used. The car was in typical Universal Studios condition when the company "Screen Used" purchased it off the Universal lot. The condition was absolutely pathetic. Years before in a feeble attempt to restore the car Universal painted the entire interior of the car with a dark grey spray paint. Screen Used spent many years restoring this car to it's probably better than original screen used condition. This was a major undertaking to say the least. It is a real shame that Universal Studio’s takes such poor care of their movie cars. You should see “KITT today from Knight Rider.” It’s shameful.

Thank You “Screen Used” for performing such a magnificent restoration and preserving this vital part of movie memorabilia.


Ed

[Chris Burns]

The show airs tonight at 10:00 pm on the SYFY network. Just a reminder.

[uhhair]

the appraiser in the show estimated it's value at a million dollars...seems a bit high for a car that needed so much restoration work.

[Michael]

I bet they rehearsed those lines for an hour...and what about the guy claiming the 85 mph top speed. 30 years to almost debunk the myth only to have that jackwagon reset the whole thing. Hopefully I will get someone at the next cruise-in willing to bet me a hundred dollars for every mph over 85 I go.

[Chris 16409]

I saw the ending of the episode, and they just showed them auctioning a BTTF II hoverboard. Did they show the car earlier in the show? I watched it on SyFy HD so it comes on earlier.

-edit- I was able to catch it at the 10:00 time. They only showed the car for a brief moment. It was only on the program to showcase the guy's movie memorabilia collection. The owner of the car wanted to buy a hoverboard with the handles as seen in BTTF Part II. He sold his Green Goblin mask from the Spiderman Movie to raise the funds to buy the hoverboard.

[David T]

There was a shot of the vin. Did anyone get it? If the car had that extensive a restoration it is almost like building one from scratch. Unless there is some other way to authenticate it for it's provenance I would suspect it being a reproduction. As for value, you cannot extrapolate using known Delorean values. You look at what other movie cars from other high grossing films have sold for and try to extrapolate from them to come up with a guess for this car.
David Teitelbaum

[uhhair]

I did see them talk about the VIN, and the appraiser saying that the VIN is what made the car truly valuable, as you can prove that Universal owned it for the BTFF movies which is where the real value in the prop is. I thought it was 46xx or something close to that, I could be way off. I have it DVRed, if anyone is interested ill fire it up tonight and see if I can figure it out.

[uhhair]

Also David, I wouldn't suspect it being a reproduction as much as others, as the engine/suspension in the car was the modified VW engine one used so the car could drive offroad. Looking at the website about the car, the before pictures of when they bought it prior to restoring it seem to confirm this. That would be a very unique setup to purchase already on a rotting reproduction D and restore.

[Chris Burns]

According to the webpage, the car was a big mess when the current owner purchased it. It had been scavenged for parts for the other cars so much that nothing was original (which is what happens with movie cars anyway). This is the same fate that has befallen the Delorean at Universal Hollywood. Hopefully that car will be restored soon. With movie cars there will be always questions of whether it's authentic or not. And in a way it's understandable (because when they sell the owner wants a lot of money for it usually) As far as I'm concerned it's looks genuine to me. Hopefully it won't be a garage queen forever and the rest of the world will get to see it!:D

[Dangermouse]

I did see them talk about the VIN, and the appraiser saying that the VIN is what made the car truly valuable, as you can prove that Universal owned it for the BTFF movies which is where the real value in the prop is. I thought it was 46xx or something close to that, I could be way off. I have it DVRed, if anyone is interested ill fire it up tonight and see if I can figure it out.

Fire it up and let us know

[David T]

The other thing that happens a lot to movie cars is during production they chop things up and move them around a lot with no records about what was done. About the only car that is kept "nice" is usually the "hero" car. In most movies they have at least 3 cars for all of the different shots. The "hero" car is usually the nicest, most complete car. The others might be only parts of cars, like the front or just the rear so the camera can get in close with the actors "inside". They put the part car on a trailer and film while the car is being towed. I agree this appears to be real but if I was the one buying the car I would be skeptical until proven wrong. $1M is a LOT of cash to buy a fake! Besides, if you were to buy the car and eventually want to sell it and get a high price anyone you would sell the car to would ask for some kind of proof of provenance.
David Teitelbaum

[DOCSDELOREAN]

The post above about this car is pretty clear in showing just how and what was restored. A million bucks does sound like a heck of a lot of money. There is some Hollywood value to the show, so I always keep that in mind. Still cool to see an original BTTF film time machine looking good.

[Dangermouse]

So I didn't see the show.

Did the car actually sell? If so, details please...

[David T]

It was really just a tease. The owner didn't want to auction the car but he did have other things he was willing to consign. On the previous show they had Robbie the Robot and again, that was another tease to get you to watch the show. They fill the teasers up with this stuff and don't tell you anything. You get maybe 2 seconds of it. The car did look really nice. Probably nicer than when they used it in the movie! When you get up close movie cars usually look pretty bad. They are made under very tight schedules and they always try to make them as cheap as possible. Once the movie is over the cars are neglected to the point where they look like junk unless you know what you are really looking at. Anyway if someone can get the vin it would be interesting to look it up.
David Teitelbaum

[tjd]

Vin on it is 4689.

[David T]

According to the DoD production Chronology VIN 4689 is listed as an '81 in Woodland Hills, CA and sold by dealer # 5153 so it is a California car. This lends some credibility that it could have been in CA when it was purchased to be customized for the movie. Further investigation of the Chain of Ownership could possibly be done from Motor Vehicle records to authenticate the car's provenance. For $1M I would expect no less!
David Teitelbaum

[Mark D]

The DeLorean itself IS well documented as being a screen used Part III off road car, so there is nothing to debate there. However, the entire car it is NOT "100% screen used"

Much of the restored car as it appears today contains non-original restoration parts. The car was in such horrible shape when it was purchased there wasn't a whole lot left on it that was screen used. Everything not seen in the photos of the car all spray painted black on the inside had to be added after the fact.

Some of the new parts were replicated to the highest degree of accuracy (Like the hood box) while others were done poorly, like the flux bands and mesh that don't have accurately sized rod or mesh hole sizing.

Joe M on Hollywood Treasures throws some wild numbers around for what things are worth. He also said Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was worth 1M (which is where the auction price started) and there were no bids. Nobody knows what this car is actually worth until it goes up for auction.

[Michael]

Estimates are just that. They can go either way. If you are a Star Trek fan then you know about Christies auction a few years ago of all the movie memorabilia including the screen used models. The USS Enterprise was valued at around 30k, it went for a quarter of a million! The Next Generation Enterprise went for one half million, so those estimates were off quite a bit too, in the other direction.

I personally think the part III car is the ugliest of the three. If it were the original first version, I think the interest(and money)would be greater. If the hype stays up, I will guestimate 80-120k, but wouldn't be surprised if it were even less.

[David T]

If much of the car is not original to the car and was not used in the movie then what you have is a very nice reproduction of the screen car. I also agree the BTTF III car was the most ugly of the series. Even so it can still be worth a lot of money, just how much is anyone's guess till it is actually auctioned off. The car was not authenticated by Joe so that was not even a # that might actually be used. If you watched other shows, some things, after some research, were not even offered for auction so that $1M # is not really even a starting point yet. There was what they thought was the BD-5J from a Bond movie, it turned out to be just a mock-up replica worth nothing. The thing to learn from this is you cannot value a movie car just using Delorean car values. You need to know what other movie cars have sold for and the condition. IMHO $1M would be on the high side but then again, that is only my guess for what it's worth!
David Teitelbaum

[jmrydholm]

I always hated those ugly tires. I mean, I have my whitewalls on my Goodyear Eagle GT's facing out, but eegh...50's treads on a DeLorean *shudder*