Delorean spotted at Mazda dealer near Denver, CO

[dmcerik]

I friend of mine just sent me a picture of a Delorean at a Mazda dealership outside Denver Colorado. The dealership name looks to be Mazda of Lakewood. From what he told me the dealership just bought it from a guy who had it in a barn for the past 10 years. No vin sent over to me. The Delorean has the bigger side stripe. Any nearby to check it out?

[FLUXING]

I'll copy this message to Denver Delorean owners...

I friend of mine just sent me a picture of a Delorean at a Mazda dealership outside Denver Colorado. The dealership name looks to be Mazda of Lakewood. From what he told me the dealership just bought it from a guy who had it in a barn for the past 10 years. No vin sent over to me. The Delorean has the bigger side stripe. Any nearby to check it out?

[dhaney]

I friend of mine just sent me a picture of a Delorean at a Mazda dealership outside Denver Colorado. The dealership name looks to be Mazda of Lakewood. From what he told me the dealership just bought it from a guy who had it in a barn for the past 10 years. No vin sent over to me. The Delorean has the bigger side stripe. Any nearby to check it out?

This is on my way home from work I can check it out tonight.

Dan

[dhaney]

It is Vin #1294 gas flap hood (more on that later) black interior 5 speed. Pictures to follow later.

I recognized this car right away by the (IMO) really ugly dual windshield wiper blades done in plastic chrome and the incorrect or just falling off wide stripe on the side. Several years ago a guy stopped by my car at a show and said he had a Delorean and he was interested in someone helping him get it running well and straighten out a few problems. He himself was a car salesman who worked at a different Mazda delarship than the one where this car is now. It barely ran then and it had been tricked out with IMO a bunch of ugly ricer stuff. Besides the chrome wiper blades it had chrome (plastic) foot pedal covers over all three pedals. It also had/has black fake fur seat covers because the orginal seat covers are crumbling into dust. I gave him my contact info and even went to his place of business to see the car but never heard from him after that.

Good news... The tires had air and tread but are old and should be replaced. Most of the body panels are in really great shape except the hood and the drivers side qtr panel. The wheels are darker and look fantastic. The carpet on the package tray loooks good as does the relay/fuse area is essentially unmolested. I think all of the parts (except for the water pump and a couple of heat shields) are there. Both fascia's are in reasonable shape. It was a bit dark and I couldn't get under it too far (its a Delorean) but the frame looked pretty good which would be expected from a Colorado car. Both of the rear dust shields were there so I couldn't see the TAB's. The center console was in pretty good shape as was the instrument cluster and the a/c control area. It has a clock the clock down on the shifter plate next to the reostat. Also the shift boot and shift knob appear to be correct and in ok shape.

The bad (where to start!)... The drivers side rear qtr panel had been crashed and a really poor repair has been performed. The hood has a crease in it about the size of your fist 5" from the front and about 8-10" in from the passanger side. Most likely unrepairable.

It has a different muffler than stock and IMO ugly exhaust tips with dual ports out the back, meaning 4 ports coming out of the muffler. All the regular heat shields are gone.

The fan fail module wiring is jumpered to nowhere. I am betting for this reason the fans are not working but also up front the wiring had been hacked and disconnected and I could see the individual fans have been disconnected. Fuse #4 is starting to melt. An additional ground has been added to the drivers side of the front extention what it is for is anyone's guess.

It doesn't run at a minimum it needs a water pump but seeing as it has not run in many years it will need more than that. I could see corossion and crust all along the drivers side of the radiator and I am certain it needs to be replaced. The hoses and belt should be replaced.

The drivers side door is stuck closed and the passenger side one won't latch closed. It is bad need of new door strut for the one door that will open at least. :-)

The dash is cracked in so many places I couldn't count. The binnacle as well and only one of the knee pads looked as though it didn't need to be recovered. It has an aftermarket stereo and it appears to still be using the stock speakers.

The wire for the bonnet is broken off so I couldn't see inside that area. I wasn't going to break in without the owner being there....

And finally the price.... The owner was thinking..... $15K. The story is the owner recently bought the car and wholesales cars for profit. I don't know what he paid nor do I know what he would really take. In my opinion, in its current state $5K would not be a steal for this car.

Dan
vin 03254

[DeLorean03]

Well a DeLorean being at a car lot = this was totally predictable.

I wouldn't offer a $1 over 5000, and that's IF the frame is in solid shape.

[dmcerik]

Thanks for checking the car out. Sounds like a basket case for sure. I'm flying out to Denver in 2 weeks for a wedding. Maybe i'll stop by the dealership while i'm there to check it out myself.

[congerz83]

Any chance for pictures?

[dhaney]

Any chance for pictures?

Coming soon. Need to get to a computer.

DMCERIK send me a note and when you come to Denver let me know and maybe we can arrange a time for you to get together with our club if you have the time.

Dan