The DeLorean Motor Company produced the DMC-12 in Belfast, Northern Ireland from early 1981-late 1982(spanning 3 model years-the later '82s are considered '83s.) The changes between years are very minimal, mainly the elimination of both the gasflap and the grooves on the hood.
Contrary to popular belief, no DeLoreans were painted at the factory, however 2 were gold plated for an American Express promotion. The rest were all bare stainless steel, and fewer than 9,200 were ever built. Some dealerships painted a few DeLoreans in order to attract customers, but none left the factory painted.
Answers to the common questions:
The DeLorean, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign, has an extremely reliable Peugeot/Renault/Volvo rear-mounted engine and transmission, and a Lotus designed double-wishbone frame. Some DeLorean owners have upwards of 300,000 miles on their cars, and parts are readily available from Volvo and several DeLorean specialists across the US.
If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to mention them in my guestbook.
Before you see the picture from day one and stop looking at the page, here are some completed pictures of my car (built in June of '81, restored by June '04) to keep you reading about the restoration:
I have put 25,000 trouble free miles onto it so far in the past 4 years after the restoration. What is the point of owning a car like this if you aren't willing to drive it?
View the restoration from start to finish, starting with the early pictures below:
To make a long story short, a good friend of mine (Ken K, the www.deloreancarshow.com organizer) bought this car in early 2004. Ken knew that I liked DeLoreans and he left it at my house as he didn't have space for it at the time. He told me to clean it up for him, which I did (yet it wasn't nearly good enough the first time), and I learned a lot along the way. Shortly after Ken and I restored the car, he sold it to me.
This car was a true 'barnfind', as it had sat in a mouse infested barn for 10+ years with the passenger side window left down. It is one of the first 1000 DeLoreans shipped to the USA, and it was assembled in June of 1981. Who knows what the previous owner was thinking not replacing the broken window motor, but the mice sure didn't mind having an easy entrance. One plus to this situation was that the stainless steel body was absolutely flawless, aside from the thick coating of dust.
Here it is as it was found, all original down to the tires, and with only 6,700 miles on the odometer!
Notice the window that was left down for 10+ years:
One more dirty, dusty picture:
Once it was back at my house in the light it looked a little better after a quick wipe-off.
Notice the layers of dust, mouse droppings, and dirt in the interior on the first day, after a little vaccuming. Also note the chewed up leather shifter boot. Damn those mice...
I freshened up the interior with some Armor-All at first to see what it would look like semi-clean, and I was impressed. It still needed to be gutted to find mouse damage, but I wanted to see what it looked like without all of the dirt and dust before I ripped the interior out.
In the quest for finding mouse nests, the entire interior needed to be gutted. Neighbors were sceptical of what I had gotten myself into.
Another shot of the interior 'gutted'.
A seatbelt that needed replacing thanks to a hungry mouse sometime during the previous 10-15 years.
I would not have my dream car had it not been for John Z. DeLorean following through with his dream of building his own car company. Notice the very early prototype car on this 1977 postcard that was sent to prospective purchasers. John DeLorean was kind enough to autograph this for me a few years before he passed away.
Site Map: (Click Links to View Pages)
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2.) Mouse Nest Removal
3.) Rim Powdercoating/Flux Capacitor!
4.) Water Pump Replacement
5.) Lowered Suspension
6.) Sirius Radio Install
7.) Water Leak Repair
8.) Stainless Steel Coolant Bottle Replacement
9.) 3rd Brakelight Install/Stainless Steel Doorsills
10.) New Alpine Stereo Installation
11.) Sequential Fan Module
12.) Cupholder Installation
13.) The Finished Product?
14.) MultiVex Mirror Installation
15.) Dynamat X-treme Noise Deadening Installation
16.) Stainless Exhaust Install
17.) Frame Epoxy Repair (NEW)
