Red project Delorean for sale at 15k

[Chris Burns]

Ugly aftermarket rims, part chipping off in places, but may have potential!!

http://www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/329/1981-delorean-dmc-12

[Parzval]

Holy hell, don't drive that thing anywhere! There's tread separation bigtime on that RR tire.

In other news, what do you guys think about that paint? I'm guessing not factory since it's peeling so badly... and that leads me to think "body damage".
This is fairly near me. Gonna give a call.... I may go look tomorrow if it's still available.

[Rich_NYS]

No HDMI port.....pass.


(What's that "jug" in the engine compartment?)

[Dangermouse]

There were never any "factory painted" cars, apart from a couple of trials. Most "dealer" painted cars look better than this.

Looks like a Maaco special that will undoubtedly look worse up close. Body damage would have been likely imho

[Rich_NYS]

When I was shopping, I looked at a red DeLorean in Penn. Not sure if this is the same one, but the frame & undercarriage was a mess.

[Parzval]

There were never any "factory painted" cars, apart from a couple of trials. Most "dealer" painted cars look better than this.

Looks like a Maaco special that will undoubtedly look worse up close. Body damage would have been likely imho

Well, that's what I meant anyway.... sorry. But yes, I'm suspicious of this cheapo looking paintjob and wondering if everyone agreed.


When I was shopping, I looked at a red DeLorean in Penn. Not sure if this is the same one, but the frame & undercarriage was a mess.

Well he hasn't posted any undercarriage shots. And some of that interior (console especially) looks pretty bad. I'm not going in with high hopes. (I can practically smell the mouse nests in the pictures.) At the very least it will be an opportunity to poke around one in person a little bit.

[Rich_NYS]

At the very least it will be an opportunity to poke around one in person a little bit.

Check it out & post pics!

BTW, you should go to an event this Spring, there's 1 or 2 in the Jersey/NY area.

[Parzval]

Check it out & post pics!

BTW, you should go to an event this Spring, there's 1 or 2 in the Jersey/NY area.

Definitely. Let me know when they pop up. I've got Sundays off until May and I can probably arrange a Saturday off if needed.

[Dangermouse]

Just noticed that it has an after-market single pipe exhaust.

If you go, get some pics of how that is piped up.

[steel-and-fire]

Is that the clutch pedal laying on the floor? Looks like a lot of repairs were done without delorean specific parts.

It has potential, but I'd offer like 11k for it and see what happens. The paint job is the big worry since any one of those panels could be gashed.

[DannonWeb]

Is that the clutch pedal laying on the floor? Looks like a lot of repairs were done without delorean specific parts.

It has potential, but I'd offer like 11k for it and see what happens. The paint job is the big worry since any one of those panels could be gashed.

11k sounds generous :)

[DMCVegas]

[QUOTE=(What's that "jug" in the engine compartment?)[/QUOTE]

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/MTM0/54002/N0186.oap?ck=Search_N0186_-1_-1&pt=N0186&ppt=C0331#itemDetailTab_

Universal Coolant Recovery Bottle. If you had the kind of car which has a vented coolant system (which is an inheriently bad idea) instead of a sealed system with an expansion tank (which is what the DeLorean, and many other modern cars use), and the recovery tank was broken, yet somehow you refused to reinstall an original part, this is a universal one.

And it is completely useless on a sealed system here. The radiator cap is designed only to pop when the pressure is exceeded in order to protect the plumbing and the engine, so it's not as though it's going to actually benefit the car in any way, shape, or form. This is a HUGE tell-tale sign that whomever was working on this car isn't exactly that knowledgeable.

The wires around the Ballast Resistor, and the exposed harness atop the engine are further concern for this car.

This is like an $8K car. Lots to gamble on. We've no chassis shots, no idea why the car was painted, but it's going to need to be stripped obviously. The passenger side bolster is held in by damn machine screws, the trip reset is broken, bad sun damage with half-assed repairs to cover it up, busted lenses, missing a muffler and piped directly out the back...

$8K for this car. And that is with the expectation of sorting it out, and then giving it a wild paint job with the assumption of accident damage and molestation by past mechanics that have damaged this car more than the ravages of time and mice could have.

[Parzval]

Well, I called... Left a message. And he just called back.

In the meantime I had done some browsing on his site, and judging by the quality of other cars on the page (both active listing and sold) this Delorean is FAR below the quality of the rest of his offerings. I suspect the undercarriage shots were omitted on purpose. Every other car I looked at had three times the pictures and at least a half dozen undercarriage shots. However, he says the underside is solid. We shall see.

Apparently this is a collector friend's car and is being purged from the collection. Hasn't run in 15 years. Says he's changed the fluids and belts. (Those belts don't look new to me.) So I don't get a warm and fuzzy reading off this guy. He seemed offended when I said the car looked pretty beat up. C'mon dude, like you don't know it isn't. It's got odd fasteners holding the taillights and license panel in and others are missing. The taillights don't even line up properly. The seat frames and any exposed metal (fasteners, etc) in the cabin is rusty, visor exploded, ashtray missing (broken?) The switches in the console look really odd to me... why are they white? There's no shot of the passenger door in the open position... it probably either doesn't stay up, or doesn't even open. Not to mention the previously noted items. There's no way this D can look better in person. No car ever does.

Despite this, I've arranged to go see the car on Sunday as he is in Atlantic City until then.

And he says he just listed this last week, and has had a decent amount of activity on it. But yet it's still there. If it really was a deal, it would be gone.

Can somebody tell me where to look for the signs of overheating? Was it the oil fill or something? I'll look in the forums in the meantime. But I'm concerned with that extra coolant reservoir. I'd like to make sure they didn't install that because of overheating (which... IS probably really why they installed it IMO ).

[papanoel]

Definitely. Let me know when they pop up. I've got Sundays off until May and I can probably arrange a Saturday off if needed.

April 23rd is the DMA spring social in NJ.

[Parzval]

April 23rd is the DMA spring social in NJ.

Sounds doable! Only two short months away. :cool: