Former Barris "Replica" Delorean on sale for.... 300K!!! LOL

[EngineerGuY]

Ok... so I have actually seen this car in person. It was never used by Universal Studios, was never a promo car, to my knowledge. To my understanding Barris bought a delorean, slapped some parts on it using the Welly 1/24 scale model as reference (virtually identical) and then went around displaying it, saying he built the cars for the movie. Universal caught wind and then sued him. I spent a day with this car back in 2015 when the former owner was here and we hung out at an event. It was auctioned off and now a dealer in Florida is selling it for..... yes.... 300K!!! And he is advertising it as a former Universal car used for Back to the Future promos! I'd say the car is worth about 35-40K for the car and the parts you can toss!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...9002984587854/

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Welly model for reference
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[Mark D]

I'm pretty sure Barris got a cease and desist letter over some of the claims he was making about this car at the time. Unfortunately it sounds like that legacy of misinformation still follows this car today.

I never understood why a guy like George Barris would need to make false claims about the BTTF DeLoreans since he had plenty of other cars he actually worked on.

[EngineerGuY]

I'm pretty sure Barris got a cease and desist letter over some of the claims he was making about this car at the time. Unfortunately it sounds like that legacy of misinformation still follows this car today.

I never understood why a guy like George Barris would need to make false claims about the BTTF DeLoreans since he had plenty of other cars he actually worked on.

Exactly!! The guys work speaks for itself, he had no reason to do or say those things. A lot of bad info about this car for years. Sad this guy just took someone's word for it. Hell you can get a NICE screen accurate replica for less than 100K. I know Bruce talked to the guy as he asked for a quote on what he thought it was worth. Bruce told him 40k and the guy got pissed. If I'm him I'd pay to have Bruce or someone upgrade it then resell. I think he spent 60K on the car at auction.

[Mark D]

Exactly!! The guys work speaks for itself, he had no reason to do or say those things. A lot of bad info about this car for years. Sad this guy just took someone's word for it. Hell you can get a NICE screen accurate replica for less than 100K. I know Bruce talked to the guy as he asked for a quote on what he thought it was worth. Bruce told him 40k and the guy got pissed. If I'm him I'd pay to have Bruce or someone upgrade it then resell. I think he spent 60K on the car at auction.

Apparently that sharpie signature on the hood is worth 20k.

It looks ridiculous too, but I guess it's fitting considering how well the rest of the time machine conversion was done.

[delornut]

I'm pretty sure Barris got a cease and desist letter over some of the claims he was making about this car at the time. Unfortunately it sounds like that legacy of misinformation still follows this car today.

I never understood why a guy like George Barris would need to make false claims about the BTTF DeLoreans since he had plenty of other cars he actually worked on.

Dean Jefferies actually did several movie cars that Barris took credit for. Jefferies worked for Barris for a time and was by far more talented. He was also a movie stunt man as well as a creator of various movie cars and other items. George's brother Sam was the real metal artist behind a lot of the work, at least in their early days, that had George's name attached.

Bruce Benson

[Rich]

This is the current info about the "BTTF" car in question taken from the current Wiki entry for G. Barris, followed by a link to that page:

Back to the Future controversy

Over a decade after the release of Back to the Future Part III, one of the DeLorean time machine stunt cars used in the film was sent to Barris for restoration purposes to be put on display at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles. The car was returned to Universal Studios in 2003. Barris later purchased a stock DeLorean and converted it into a replica of the Back to the Future DeLorean, which he used to promote himself and his company. While Barris never officially stated that he had anything to do with the Back to the Future films, he did like to indulge in stating that he had built a Back to the Future DeLorean, but never disclosed that it was a replica car.

In 2007, Universal Studios officials sent Barris a cease and desist order demanding that he never again make misrepresentations regarding any involvement with the Back to the Future films. They called upon Barris to remove images of the flying DeLorean from his company's website and restrict his display of replicas of the gull-wing car used by Michael J. Fox in the popular 1985 movie and its sequels. Back to the Future writer/producer Bob Gale went on record stating that "George Barris had absolutely nothing to do with the design or construction of the DeLorean time travel vehicle.” The DeLorean was designed on paper by Ron Cobb and Andrew Probert, and it was built under the supervision of special effects supervisor Kevin Pike and construction coordinator Michael Scheffe."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George...to_customizer)

[EngineerGuY]

So the owner wrote me and said his son accidentally put it up in the marketplace to show it off, as its 100% not for sale. He said he plans on having someone update the car so it more closely resembles the Time Machine. I suggested Bruce since he is so close... or at least in the same state! He knows Bruce so that helps. He said he was offered over 100K for it, to which I replied he should have taken it and ran. He said knowing it's a George Barris car is enough for him, and plans on keeping it in his collection. Can't fault him for that, although George didn't really do anything to it personally. I think he just likes that fact it was owned by him I guess.

[Michael]

Sam sold me some toilet paper owned by John DeLorean.

[Riley88]

"accidentally" and if it sold wow we would take it. Calling bullshit. Also car with all the hubub on it is ewww.

[EngineerGuY]

"accidentally" and if it sold wow we would take it. Calling bullshit. Also car with all the hubub on it is ewww.

I agree, I just simply gave him some advice, but like I told him my advice isn't worth a thing. He seemed just tickled pink to have a car owned by George, which it was. I think he is disappointed it isn't worth much more than than what he paid, which was around 60k. I'd say it's worth about 40K at best, but a sucker is born everyday, it's worth what someone will pay. He mentioned he might have Bruce updated some of the parts at some point.