1981 DeLorean DMC12

Design by Giorgetto Giugiaro

2,849cc OHC V6 Engine
Electronic Fuel Injection
130bhp at 5,500rpm
5-Speed Manual Transmission
4-Wheel Independent Suspension
4-Wheel Power-Assisted Disc Brakes

*Sought-after 5-speed manual transmission
*Under 42,500 believed-to-be-original miles
*Clean CARFAX
*The ultimate time machine!

DE LOREAN

The brainchild of ex-General Motors executive John Zachary De Lorean, the DeLorean sports car project was touted around the world before finding a home in Northern Ireland thanks to generous grants from the British Government. Designed by ex-Pontiac engineer Bill Collins, the DMC12 was extensively reworked by Lotus prior to production, emerging with the latter's trademark steel backbone chassis and all-independent suspension, and powered by a rear-mounted Peugeot/Renault/Volvo 2.9-liter overhead-camshaft V6 engine. Apart from its larger-than-life creator, it was the car's stylish coupé body that attracted most attention by virtue of its method of construction - a combination of fiberglass inner panels and stainless-steel outer skin - and doors that opened gull-wing fashion à la Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

The much-hyped DMC12 finally arrived in 1980 and immediately ran into quality control problems, a not altogether surprising occurrence considering the local workforce's unfamiliarity with automobile manufacture. No doubt the company would have sorted out the glitches given time, but sales never approached projected levels and De Lorean's 1982 indictment on drugs charges - he was subsequently acquitted - brought the project to its knees. By then some 9,200 DeLoreans had been built, of which approximately 6,500 survive today. They are now seen as highly collectible, thanks in no small part to the one that starred in the 1985 motion picture,'Back to the Future.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

This DeLorean is in virtually time-machine condition. As with all DeLoreans DMC-12s (save for the rare American Express examples), it is finished in polished stainless steel with grey leather inside. The PRV V6 is mated to the desirable 5-speed manual transmission, a feature that lends a good measure of sportiness to the driving experience to match the Giorgetto Giugiaro styling.

Coming to the collection in the 1990s from California, the 42,480 miles currently indicated on the odometer is believed to be original and from new. A clean CARFAX report indicates that 4,000 of those miles have been added since 1992.

With its creased styling that is only getting better with age and the growing enthusiasm for vehicles of this era as evidenced by the wild growth of events like Radwood, there's never been a better chance to go back in time and slide into a DeLorean!