2 consecutive number VIN Deloreans for sale

[Helirich]

While I am not doubting the seller claims at all, consecutive numbers on a DeLorean is not all that....

X2,

I don't see any extra value in consecutive numbers at all. (Maybe if it was number 1 and 2, lol)

[David T]

Consecutive vins don't mean all that much but the ultimate for a collector would be the first and last ones. Some owners do collect 2 Deloreans but of the ones I know of they got an automatic and a 5-speed, his and hers. Or a driver and project cars to work on and eventually sell. Vin #'s of little importance except to differentiate early cars from later cars.

[Timeless]

X2,

I don't see any extra value in consecutive numbers at all. (Maybe if it was number 1 and 2, lol)

Even then I think it would only be slightly cool to have 500 and 502.

[dn010]

Vin 663 uses what looks to me like the wrong rivets to hold the vin plate down so I'd be suspicious of that one. Vin 664 looks correct and has the correct early frame.

I stand corrected, I had no idea the early frames were constructed like that. Is there a particular VIN cutoff when they changed to the later style frames, or was it a running change?

I'm also curious to know if the lower plates were dipped in epoxy separately and then installed, or if the parts were riveted together first and dipped with the rest of the frame. It looks like the center of each fastener is raw metal and starting to rust, or the epoxy has chipped off on the end of each one.

I'd have to go home and look at it later but I think my frame differs even from the 664 frame, so they were clearly working out whatever issues they had early and at some point shortly after they settled on producing them how they ended up on later cars. I do not know when these changes took place or if there is even any documentation on it. There was also differences in front end frame wiring from low vins to later ones that changed at some point early.

The rivets were not epoxy coated on mine so I'd imagine everything was dipped and then the plates added to the frame later. Speculation of course but maybe this helped aid the install of the rear suspension with whatever method they were using at the time, without those plates you can just swing the lower arm into position, tighten it down, then rivet the plate down. Again it's speculation, we'd need a factory worker to set us straight.

[Henrik]

The car with 14 miles... no longer has the original engine.

Must have been a rough 14 miles...

[Mark D]

Must have been a rough 14 miles...

From what I can understand from the listing on Hemmings, the original owner was a dealer and got both cars wholesale though a consolidated auction. The car with 14 miles was used as a parts car. I don't know a lot about the availability of parts immediately after the factory shut down, but it sounds like the parts car was kept on hand at the dealership to scavenge if a customer came in and needed replacement parts.

Later on didn't Consolidated have a mail order / phone order system set up that people could call and order parts? This car must have been stripped sometime between the factory closing and before individual parts became more readily available again.

Also, since both of these cars have low VIN's they must have been basket case cars that had some defect that made them unsaleable back in 81. From what I've read there were a handful of those cars left on site in 83 that had unresolved quality issues. Those cars didn't get sold until the factory closed and everything was auctioned off.

[David T]

According to speakers we had that worked at the QAC's, when it was all over they got parts and put all of the cannibalized cars together with whatever they had but they were all complete and running. It's possible the dealer got the car and cannibalized it for parts to service his other customers. That could account for the 14 miles, they were from driving it onto the ship, off the ship, loading and unloading, and delivery to the dealer. If it is really 14 miles.

[funkstuf]

My experience over the years are that what the odometer says rarely has anything to do with the actual miles on a Delorean. Furthermore it really has nothing to do with what the car should be worth because Condition is everything. I've noticed in the last few years there have suddenly become a high number of very "low mileage" cars showing up on the market that seem to show a lot more wear than the the odometer indicates. Funny enough, when I bought mine 20 years ago someone told me not to believe the odometers on Deloreans and there are more low mileage cars now than there were then.

[Timeless]

My experience over the years are that what the odometer says rarely has anything to do with the actual miles on a Delorean. Furthermore it really has nothing to do with what the car should be worth because Condition is everything. I've noticed in the last few years there have suddenly become a high number of very "low mileage" cars showing up on the market that seem to show a lot more wear than the the odometer indicates. Funny enough, when I bought mine 20 years ago someone told me not to believe the odometers on Deloreans and there are more low mileage cars now than there were then.

Thank the crappy OE angle drive...

[artisticent]

Looks like one of those is the very rare one of kind DWC. Priceless lol. Seriously though on another note one of them seems to have the eyebrow situation going on. At such low miles this would disprove the heat from the headlamps causing the issue wouldn't it?