“Barn” Find of the Year ? + free engine swap

[Dangermouse]

Some/Many of you might have seen this on the Facebook, but I thought it was worth cross-posting here as FB posts have the life expectancy of a mayfly and this is worth keeping

A guy in Lake City FL posted that he had just picked up a “rough running” D for “under $2k, and posted several shots of a reasonable looking car parked by a house in southern Georgia.







I was interested as it is VIN 02739, only 4 from mine and one of the few +/- 5 VINs that I haven’t found yet. And it was still in the SE area (apparently sold new in Birmingham AL.

There was considerable doubt that the guy had paid $2k until he posted the engine bay.




Apparently the PO had hacked away at the fiberglass to shoe horn a “Caddy 500” engine – 8.1L V8 of indeterminable horsepower. Our V8 transplant heroes, Nick R and Josh, had to sit down out of surprise.



The new owner’s initial pan was to “shine it up a bit, drive it around and then flip it”, but 2 days later he had it listed for sale at $7,000.


Will be interesting to see what becomes of this one.

[Bitsyncmaster]

A guy in Lake City FL posted that he had just picked up a “rough running” D for “under $2k, and posted several shots of a reasonable looking car parked by a house in southern Georgia.

"rough running"

Must be pretty bad running without a carb on it.

[Mark D]

I doubt that thing was ever running at all with that engine. It looks more like it was mocked up into place to check fit and then the project was abandoned.

[Josh]

Everyone complains about the poor weight distribution of the the delorean.
Well here you have it, a mid engined delorean! Never mind that it is ~500 extra pounds overall and the frame significantly compromised haha.

I wonder what will happen with this one.

[mrpeterman]

At this point with a cut up tub I'm curious if you could wedge a small mid-engine setup, kinda like the Proto 1 transverse 4 cylinder. Maybe the next owner will have a wrecked NSX they could use as a donor

[Alex Brooks]

My god. I would part that out and sell Vin title to a Vender. if he paid 2K I'll offer 1250.

[Andrew]

Okay, this car is frightening on a number of levels. The tub and firewall have been obliterated to accommodate the engine and trans. The package shelf is now akin to a conversion van engine access panel in reverse. I have serious concerns that this swap could ever be safe on a number of levels including the potential for carbon monoxide leakage into the passenger compartment. Furthermore in the event of a rear end collision, there is a real risk that the engine could be pushed into the passenger compartment. Heck, I suspect that the engine / trans could end up in the passenger compartment in a front end collision as well due to the inertia! Furthermore, I don't think this design could ever be safe from a fire prevention perspective for more reasons than I can count! Plus, even if it were ever to run and drive, I can't even imagine how it would handle from a weight distribution perspective.

I'm not a purist at all, and no offense to the LS guys, but I caution anyone against extreme engine swaps due to the high likelihood that the car will become a half-finished dilapidated parts car. I myself have swapped a Volvo sourced B28F into a DeLorean, but that was pretty easy as the Volvo PRV can be turned into a DeLorean PRV with a scrap Delorean engine and a few hours of time. This spring I'm replacing my Olds 307 in my 1985 Toronado with an Olds 403; however, externally all small block Olds engines from the 260 through the 403 share the exact same exterior dimensions and accessory mounting locations. Just like my Volvo PRV swap in my Delorean, the only way to identify the 403 swap on my Toronado will be to check the block numbers! ;-)

Until I saw the engine compartment picture I had some hope regarding this car's potential. The hole where the engine compartment wiring harness used to be is a huge concern. In addition, I suspect that the relay compartment was hacked to pieces. To say this car is an electrical nightmare is an understatement!

Could it be brought back to life as a running, drivable, reliable DeLorean...probably. The cost involved...anyone's guess. The time investment...even more speculative. However, I would hate to see the car parted out.

I don't fault the seller for trying to flip the car for a profit. Any of us would have jumped to buy $2,000 parts car with decent stainless panels. I hesitate to speculate on the component value of this car because I don't want to see it get parted; however, let me just say, gas flap hood, left front fender, driver's torsion bar, etc... Plus a clean vin and title has value in and of itself (however, I'm not sure if this car has a clean title).

This car could be a candidate for an EV conversion. Or perhaps the right owner could combine this car with another basket-case (such as a rollover or car with massive front end damage like the cars that were recently for sale in TN) to make one decent car. Frankly, that might be kinda fun!

[David T]

The best hope for this car is someone who would be willing to do some kind of engine swap, not the one tried for but something more reasonable. Trying to bring this one back to stock is probably not worth the effort. Maybe some kind of hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle? No matter what anyone does it will take a LOT of work to make this one run again. Probably worth closer to $2K than $7K and that would be with a "clean" Title. The mocked up engine and tranny may actually be worth something to sell. Maybe as much as $1,000 towards the project.

[Dangermouse]

Any bets on whether it will be at BHCC next month

[Jonathan]

Any bets on whether it will be at BHCC next month

I'll take that action. We betting Timbits or peaches??