WTB Late '81 Gray 5-speed

[nirvanaman]

Hey all,

New here. A DeLorean has long been on my "must have someday" list, and I am thinking about pulling the trigger on a local car here in L.A. I am looking for a really nice condition car or one that has been restored. It will be an occasional driver, I have a few other cars and motorcycles as well. The car I am looking at supposedly only has 1600 original miles on it. The pics of it look like the car is in nearly new condition. Seller claims replacing the fuel pump, belts, hoses etc and that everything in the vehicle (including A/C and electric) works. Looks like the only thing it needs is tires. No frame rust (no rust that I can see at all) and no dings in the stainless.

The seller wants $34,000. Looking around here and ebay, that seems like it might be too high. Just wanted to get some thoughts from the expert folks on here. I am concerned that the vehicle is not driven often, but he said they do take it around the block, though the car is primarily a museum piece at the moment.

Thanks!

[Mark D]

Hey first off, welcome to the forum!

It's tough to put a number on the car you're describing without seeing a few photos. At that price point the car should be cosmetically perfect with no flaws in the interior, stainless, painted fascias, black trim parts, etc. It should also be in top mechanical condition with good documentation of recent service or restoration. Mileage is not always the best indicator of condition since some low milage cars have been well stored and taken care of while others have sat in the elements and deteriorated away. If the tires need replacing I'd start with taking a grand off the price right there. The only benefit of knowing the tires need replacing is that you can chose your perferred tire after the sale rather than settling with a car with new tires that may be bargain brand/low quality.

If you are anywhere near DMCCA it might be worth having them do a pre-purchase inspection...I think the cost is a few hunded bucks, but it would be well worth it to know for sure what you're getting into before writing a check for 34k. They should be able to give you an idea if the car will be needing any service in the near future or if there are any obvious flaws that would make you want to lower your price with the seller. A few hundred spent may save you thousands.

Or if you can get some good pictures and post them here we can give you some better help and pick out any issues there might be. There are also plenty of owners in CA that might be willing to go take a look at the car with you.

34k is the top end of the market for a privately sold car so you should expect nothing but the best. If you branch out to looking at cars for sale from DMCH affiliated dealers or DPI you can definiately exceed that price in a hurry, but you should still get an excellent car for that price from a dealer.

[nirvanaman]

Hey thanks Mark.

Here is a link to the former listing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291230121348...84.m1423.l2649

There are a bunch of pics on there. Appreciate the help! I was looking to have DMC Huntington Beach take a look, only issue is that the car is registered non-operational so the car would need to be trailered down (I have a Lightning that I could tow it with, but no trailer).

[DavidProehl]

Looks like a very nice car from the eBay pictures, but as Mark said, for 34k everything better be perfect. That is a no compromises price. I would want to ensure the stainless is perfect without any scratches or dents and that the car is as mechanically sound as possible. It should either be 100% reliable or 100% original. It doesn't look 100% original since it at least has a stainless coolant tank and is missing the throttle shield, so make sure everything else has also been gone over.

I see in one of the eBay photos it looks like there are jumper cables attached. That, along with the mileage, suggests the car isn't run or driven often. If it isn't run often the owner likely can't speak to how reliable and sound the mechanicals are. The seller will tell you it runs and he has never had problems, but he also hasn't driven it. Sure it runs, but can it handle 2,000 miles a year? Or a 200-300 mile drive?

Get the service history as Mark suggested. You'll want to see that brakes (rebuilt calipers), clutch hydraulics (new master/slave & line), A/C (new seals & hoses), cooling (new hoses & radiator), and engine (plugs & cap, seals/gaskets), have all had major tune up work done. For this price if you intend to drive it, there shouldn't be any 30 year old rubber on the car. It may have been done, just hard to tell from the pictures.

[Rich]

Seller claims replacing the fuel pump, belts, hoses etc and that everything in the vehicle (including A/C and electric) works. Looks like the only thing it needs is tires. No frame rust (no rust that I can see at all) and no dings in the stainless.

The seller wants $34,000. Looking around here and ebay, that seems like it might be too high. Just wanted to get some thoughts from the expert folks on here. I am concerned that the vehicle is not driven often, but he said they do take it around the block, though the car is primarily a museum piece at the moment.

Interesting specimen. Highly original-looking, which can be good.

Additional to the good comments already make an allowance of $500-800 to replace all of the headliner material depending on who does it.

In two photos (#5 and #7) we see that the driver door headliner is shot. So you can assume they are all bad. Even sitting indoors an original set of headliners won't last forever.

Have a real good look at the front fascia to understand what you have there. While there are 3 pics of it on the expired listing I cannot tell whether it has a light case of eyebrows on it or not. Need a low 3/4 side shot - or a look-see - to rule it out. Repair isn't too costly in any case.

Toss in $500-800 for all of the cooling hoses to be replaced unless they've done that some time recently.

As David and Mark say, look for records. They might have recently done lots of things but if the car ever went more than 3 years at a time without coolant change, brake fluid flush/fill, clutch flush/fill then there are perhaps hidden demons in terms of corrosion/pitting/leakage/seizing. All of it is repairable and, aside from the heater core and clutch slave, not hard for your mechanic or you to access.

Depending on what you're looking for and what else is out there for you to buy you can come to your own conclusion about a fair price.

[refugeefromcalif]

+1 to all the above, and Welcome to the forum!
One other thing I noticed, the eBay listing states it's a 1982 but, the VIN should be for a 1981 car.?

George

[Jonathan]

Door straps?
Cargo net?

Coolant reservoir has the cap in a position I have not seen before (most of the SS ones I have seen it is closer to the front end of the car. Not that this matters, just noting it).

Trunk area photos showing spare, carpet board?
Fuse and relay area photo?

+1 on recalls perhaps not being completed.

Looks nice though. Not one thing looks tragic, but will require work as others have mentioned. Battery tender and flat tire tell you that among other things. Doesn't mean it's a bad car. It just means it doesn't command a $34k price tag. Assuming what has been mentioned here is the case and not much more, I would put it more at $22k - $25k. I say that wishing the cars would get more than this, but they don't unfortunately.

[Mark D]

I finally got a chance to look at the ebay listing. I think what the seller is asking is in the ball park for the condition the car is in, at least from what is shown in the photos.

The interior is a 10/10 as far as i'm concerned.....It looks to have been stored in such a way that preserved the leather/vinyl pieces extremely well. The headliners are sagging but it is not a huge issue. I think at this point the foam they used in the headliner material is way beyond the expected lifespan and to find a car that has pristine original headliners would be pretty unlikely and amazing. It's something you can use as a bargaining chip though to knock some dollars off your offer since it is an expense that you'll be looking at shortly down the road. The seat leathers and all the vinyl interior pieces are in immaculate shape and definitely reflect the low mileage shown. DeLoreans are known to have the speedometer cable drive fail due to the angle drive at the driver's front wheel, so often times a car may have been driven for thousands of miles with an inoperable speedo/odometer. I don't think this is the case with this car at all, and the mileage appears to be actual.

The frame looks excellent as well...basically no rust to speak of, and there don't appear to be fluid leaks either which is very promising. With the exception of the stainless coolant overflow bottle in the engine it also looks to be very original. All of the yellow plating on the various brackets is in great shape which means this car probably hasn't seen much rain in its lifetime. The fuel lines, coolant hoses and belts look original which you may want to consider updating in the future since rubber parts don't usually age well. Depending on how many miles you're looking to put on the car you may not need to do these things for a while since the car looks to have been stored very well.

The tires look like the original Goodyear NCT's that came with the car also. I'd be cautious about driving long distance anywhere especially at high speed. Very few owners still run original tires but there are still some out there that do. If you're going to be putting on limited miles and want to keep them original just be sure to inspect them often for signs of cracking and dry rotting. Otherwise new tires would probably be a good investment if you are planning on lots of usage.

The next step would be to get as much information as possible on any work that has been done to the car and if there has been routine flushes of the coolant, brake, clutch and transmission fluids. If the car is running and driving fine currently than you shouldn't have to be too concerned with fuel system issues which is a major concern for cars that have sat for long periods of time without use. Try to find out as much history about the car prior to the current owner purchasing it, find out what has already been done to it to bring it back out of hibernation to get it where it is today.

Overall this is a really great looking car. If it's as mechanically as good as it looks then I'd be all over this one trying to see what I could do to get the price down a bit. It's hard to imagine finding a better car out there with lower miles that isn't in a museum. This car just needs a good detailing and it would probably be right at home in one. It's to the level where I might actually feel bad about driving it more than occasionally since it really is a beautiful example.

Are you looking at this from an investment standpoint or are you just looking to have fun driving the car? This car has got to be in the top 5% so if you are going to be racking up miles and putting a lot of wear and tear on it you may want to even consider finding something in more 'driver' condition that won't be devalued with lots of use. If you buy this car and put 50,000 miles on it in the next 5 years and then go to resell it you may be looking at a loss of 7-10k, especially if the interior and other parts start to show visible wear. Otherwise if you're just looking for a weekend fun car and if you drive it on nice days and only put on a few thousand miles if you get sick of it in 5 years this car will still hold a lot of value if it's maintained in its current condition.

Great find and thanks for sharing, it's great to see cars like this so well preserved. Best of luck too with the sale if you decide to go forward on it. Keep us all posted as you find out more details!

[nirvanaman]

You know, I have had a a number of interesting cars in my life. I would argue to say, most of them were interesting. At least they were to me. And each time, I would find an online community to share and gain insights and support. Grabbed a beer or 2 with a few of them over the years as well. I gotta say, the level of detail that you guys have gone into here, for a n00b and complete stranger is impressive and humbling.

Thank you all so much. Though I have been a fan of the car most of my life, this detailed analysis is brand new to me, so I appreciate all the insights you guys are sharing. You are awesome. Great board, great community.

To answer a few questions above, the owner did mention that the fabric on the drivers door headliner has separated and needs to be re-glued. He did state all belts and hoses were replaced, but sounds like I need to get some proof of that. In terms of my interest, I definitely want to drive the car. But it will not be a daily driver for me. I have a number of cars and this would add to the fleet. Imagine I would drive it a few times a month, prolly less than 1,000 miles a year, based on some of my other non-daily-drivers. It would be treated quite gingerly and preserved, though my garage is not a heated/air conditioned space (wish it was!). Hope not to lose big cash on it. Was really looking more for a $25,000 or so driver that could put a bit of cash into restoring, but this one popped up and piqued my interest.

[Jonathan]

Glad you've got a good feeling about the car and the forum/community. Agreed on getting together with other owners for a beer or two. Funny how you put people together from every possible walk of life and description and with one common interest, none of those other differences matter. You'll see that in person for certain at a local event if you get to one, and especially the big ones like at DCS.

A thought came to mind when you said how you'd like to drive it a couple times per month and 1,000 miles per year type thing. One way to look at buying these cars might be to figure out how much you intend on driving the car, and then go shopping for one where the current owner drives it at least that amount or more, but not less.

You know what I mean?

If you want to drive it only once in a while, then find one where the current owner only drives it once and a while.
If you want to drive it every weekend, find one that is currently driven every weekend.
If you want to drive it daily, find one which is a daily driver for the current owner.
If you want to drive it all across the country every summer, find one that is already doing that.

You can definitely make a new to you car purchase work if you want to buy one that is driven less now than you want to drive it, but it will come with some extra work and perhaps surprises (to your enthusiasm and wallet). A car that only gets started and revved up in the garage a couple times per season can still be driven every weekend, but will require a fair bit of work to get it there.

That's all I was trying to capture with that thought. If you want to play it the safest, seek out a car that is proven to do more currently than you intend on doing with it yourself. The proving piece can be the toughest part, but can give you some insight as to what questions to ask when you go look at it.