Reader Nick P and his dad are DeLorean fanatics, with several parked in their garage. They recently found the barn find example above and in the process, they discovered why it never hurts to ask! I’ll let Nick tell you the story of how they found this one below. From Nick – It started out by me and my father stopping at a local repair shop who used to sell DeLorean automobiles in 1981. We own two DeLoreans now and being big enthusiasts we thought of stopping in and talking to him to see if he had anything DeLorean left in stock that may be shoved in old boxes and stashed away.
He told us that he had some brochures and pictures from the early ’80s that he would sell with the cars that he was willing to hand over to us. We then jokingly mentioned as we were going to leave “if you ever find someone willing to sell a DeLorean let us know!” That’s when this story starts.
He said he got contacted by a gentleman looking to sell his DeLorean about 10 years ago! He wasn’t sure if he still had it or not but we got a general name. After contacting him and waiting a day I got a response. Sure enough, he still had it and he was still looking to sell it. He was out of town until late April, so we waited 4 months to meet up with him. It was then when we first got the look at the DeLorean.
He was the original owner and it had been sitting for 32 years. He had brought maybe 10 sets of keys to the barn because it had been that long. We got the initial look of 1986 dust that was left on the car. We forced the barn doors open and it was a beautiful sight. That day we left the barn and had a lot of thinking to do. We owned 2 of these cars already but when you see a car that has been covered in dust for 32 years, it speaks to you. We then met back up with the owner of the car a week later and pulled it out of its slumber.
Mechanics can often be great resources when hunting for a barn find, as a matter of fact, we’ve gotten several leads from a local mechanic. You never know until you ask! Our congratulations to Nick and his dad on their find, we hope they keep us updated as they revive it. If you’ve found a barn find, we would love to see it. You can send us your photos and story via email to mail@barnfinds.com!
It always amazes me to see people with such unused resources. Not just the car, but the empty barn.
Too much money….it’s actually a thing
Maybe they cleared the barn out and the DeLorean was the last thing to go? Who knows, but it made for some great photos of the car!
How hard is it to throw an old bed sheet or 2 over a car that will sit?
This car should have been in Back to the Future Part 3!! lol
no doubt the flux capacitor will have to be rebuilt but other than that it should fire right up and reach 88 mph
Found the link, but apparently they are no longer sold at O’Reilly Auto Parts…
Wonder if anyone sells the replacement parts to rebuild it yourself?
https://www.oreillyauto.com/flux-capacitor
https://www.amazon.com/Back-Future-Capacitor-Replica-Unlimited/dp/B001M5PTQM
Im sure they only paid $1500 for it or they wouldnt have bought it. It will be flipped soon. Watch for it on ebay.
Great Scott! thats a lot of dust.
I’m thinking that I’d have stopped at a DIY spot and hit it with a pressure wash before bringing it home and taking it off of the trailer. Job #1 would be to knock down the mildew in the interior, and vacuum up as much of the rodent droppings as possible. HAZMAT defense advised!
Cool video…always nice to see a true barnfind. Shame about the passenger rear wheel well. Hope they post a video after it’s reserection.
Hemmings says these are commanding high dollars these days after a long sleep. So the owner waited just long enough.
Wow! Wisconsin plates!
Nick, Bless you and your Father. My Father supported my dreams, too. I know how important it is. Good luck with the DeLorean.
My dad hated hot rods. He called them abominations saying he wouldn’t allow one on his place. That being said, he drove some cool cars and pickups in his day (he died in January 1978) but he kept them all stock. So he never saw a Delorean I like to think he might have owned one.
Back in 2003 when I made the unfortunately decision to move to NJ, we often used to drive down to the beaches at Keyport, off Route 35 I believe. Along the route, there was an abandoned repair shop. Sitting next to the shop was a Delorean. Flat tire, exposed to the elements, and looking forlorn. I was surprised to see a Delorean treated that way, but I had neither means nor a place to rectify the Delorean’s sad existence. A few years went by and I hadn’t been past that location for some time. When I finally did pass that way again, the old repair shop and the Delorean were both gone, a shiny Dunkin Doughnuts in it’s place.
Are they going to sell this one? Or just add to their collection?
Thank you ALL for the incredible kind words you have for me and my dad. I charish every day I have with him and it is very true what they say that a car is more than just a car. We appreciate all of your kind comments!
Excellent find! Glad to see these DMC’s are finding a new life. The article says you and your have got a few in the garage. Do you have any automatics that you’re thinking of selling? I’ve been in the market for about year and have learned to follow any lead I come across. Just thought I’d ask! Thanks!
Great posting. When I was a kid, in the 50’s there was a Cord, 810 or 812 sedan sitting outside in a CT shore town, for years, right on Route 1, and in the late 60’s a ’37 or so Lincoln Zephyr sitting outside in downtown Waterbury CT, both intact but Lincoln had a roof dent, like a tree had hit it, not too hard. Both were “not for sale”, not that I had the resources to buy and fix either of them at the time. I was told in each case the owners, elderly, “were going to fix it some day:. Having not had the sense not to buy a ’40 Ford Woodie for $75 in the early 70’s, I did have the sense to flip it a year later for $275. No useable wood, except for patterns, no engine or transmission, but all the sheet metal, glass, dash, were good. So this was a great find!
“having not had the sense not to buy….” ???
double negative — wish I had had the sense to not buy it.
No matter how long it sits, it’s still just a Renault V6 with far less HP than a new Camry.
No matter how you frame it, comparing the performance or attributes of any older collectible car against modern machinery is always a fail.
And the thing is, like it or not, a modern Camry has more horsepower than probably 80% of all “muscle cars”, but I still wouldn’t be caught dead in one!
Fun fact for this post (many ppl will likely be bothered by this). This car’s model name was just “DMC” (yes that’s also the make, yes it is strange that the make and model would be the same but if you knew the whole story behind it, DMC, the company, did what Mr. DeLorean thought best at the time). The fact is, DMC dropped the “-12” from the name in the final months BEFORE the assembly line went into production. The car went on sale at dealers with the MSO’s officially showing “DeLorean Motor Company” as the make and “DMC” as the model name. Of course DMC did not want this to be in the media (due to marketing reasons, i.e.: the embarrassment it would have caused them), so they said nothing about it and let reporters go on and continue to promote and print the pre-production concept car’s model name of “DMC-12”. DMC never corrected anyone using the “DMC-12” name and actually avoided the subject all-together the few times they were questioned about it. Furthermore, Mr. D. himself, didn’t even talk about it internally beyond his immediate “need to know” staffers. To this day, almost everyone including the media, insurance companies, car enthusiast organizations, non-original titles, and even some original titles still refer to the car’s model as “DMC-12”. Due to this, there are many enthusiasts who will swear that, of course, the model name is “DMC-12”. But consider this; original documentation from the DeLorean Motor Company, including sales brochures, company common stock prospectus, the car’s themselves (which don’t say “DMC-12” on them anywhere with the exception of a few obscure part stampings that were produced by vendors and/or before DMC production line began), and most importantly, the MSO documents themselves show the model name as simply “DMC”, not “DMC-12”.
Here’s my coal mine shop “barn” find DMC: