Dealer Painted Example: 1982 DeLorean DMC-12
When it comes to DeLoreans, there’s not a lot of variation in the basic recipe. You have your stainless steel, gullwing doors, and aside from the choice between a manual or an automatic transmission, there’s not much that sets one apart from the other besides the basic condition. The one exception to that rule is whether the car was ever painted. Most DeLorean enthusiasts simply want what everyone thinks of when they picture a DeLorean, which is the stainless steel body. But a handful were painted by the selling dealer when new, and some even escaped the factory with a custom finish. They are exceedingly hard to find today, and the seller claims this red example is one of the dealer-painted cars. Find it here on eBay with an asking price of $39,900.
A fair amount of research has been done around the subject of the painted DeLoreans, and the history books confirm that the factory only commissioned three cars to be painted: one black, one red, and one yellow. I’m sure these cars are well documented today, but one report I found indicated the red car was stripped back to stainless and the black car has been repainted blue. Supposedly, the yellow car is still yellow. Numerous others were painted by the dealers, and I suppose if you want to get super granular about it, the cars that arrived at the dealer and then promptly painted are more desirable than ones that were redone by the owners themselves.
The seller does indicate this is a dealer-painted example, but before I put too much stock in that, I’d like to see a paper trail of some kind that bears this out. As mentioned earlier, the one distinguishing feature tends to be whether a car has a manual or automatic transmission, and this one is equipped with the preferred manual gearbox. The interior condition is tidy with some wear on the driver’s seat, but nothing excessive. The dash is untracked and the center console appears to be in good order, too. Overall, this seems like a decent, unrestored manual car with the added intrigue of the red paint job.
The engine bay is clean just like the rest of the car, and mileage is indicated as being just under 14,000 with no confirmation as to whether that’s genuine. The fact that this is a claimed dealer-converted car in terms of its color does make this one a touch more desirable, but many owners still prefer a standard stainless steel finish. Personally, I’ve always liked the way a painted DeLorean looks, but I wouldn’t buy one as an investment given most buyers want the one they saw on the movie screen back in the day. What about you – would you seek out a rare painted DeLorean, or stick with the original recipe?
Comments
I parked my Toyota Tacoma next to one of these at a Dunkin Donuts over Christmas break. I was astounded at how small the DeLorean was next to my not that big truck.
Is that an ash tray on the top of the center console? If so, does that console open? Odd.
It’s possible that the console doesn’t open. These cars have a backbone frame, so the tunnel is structural and tall.
No ashtray, and console does not open, as I recall. Owned two early 1981s, 1 bought new, second in 1983.
Yes that is an ashtray, and no the console does not open, it’s just an armrest. I had 8 of these over an 18 year period.
The red doesn’t show the fingerprints as bad as the stainless does.
I’ve always liked the dealer painted cars. I give this one a thumbs up.
Interior has that Lotus Esprit build quality
A guy I know bought one new (unpainted).
I went to his garage to see it,& wasn’t overly impressed.
Looking on the other side of the garage was a Jaguar XK140.
I asked him if he wanted to sell it,but got the usual answer –
he was going to finish it someday.
I kept asking him after that,”When are you going to sell-
me my car?”.He wouldn’t sell.
I ran into his daughter a few years later,& she said “My-
Dad sold the Jag”.That didn’t bother me,but she had to add-
“He got $2500 for it”. ARRRGH.
The only way to buy a painted Delorean is if it is documented from the dealer.
Any other painted one usually means that it needed body work due to an accident.
…and often was painted because they used a fiberglass replacement panel, which was cheaper and/or more readily available than a NOS stainless panel.
Trying to understand why someone would paint a stainless steel car? It’s called “stainless” for a reason.
The local Ford dealer around here was a DeLorean dealer.
They got their first DeLorean in and sold it fairly quickly. Then they got their second one and it sat and it sat and it sat…………………………….. It sat forever. In fact, it sat so long that it became a joke around here. Especially with all the car guys.
Then, suddenly, one day I drove by there and lo and behold the DeLorean was gone! Well they must have sold it!
Then about two weeks later, I drove by there again and looked in the showroom and they had the DeLorean in there and it was RED!
And it was no time before they sold it. “Nuff said.
I think this is a car I looked at a few years ago, when it was in private ownership. If so, it’s a 20-footer if ever there were one. Rattly, water damage to the battery area, lots of little hips in the paint at panel edges. It was $24,900 then. Not worth that, either. I passed and bought a Fiero Formula instead.
I prefer the look of the red one to bare stainless,
One of the major drawbacks of the stainless finished Delorians is that body damage is almost impossible to repair without replacing or refinishing in paint.
I never spoke with one of these pointless guys about taking a ding out of a Delorian but it’s a composite panel, a stainless veneer over Fiberglas and I expect that it cannot be done easily.
The body panels are not composite. They are stainless steel mounted over a fiberglass sub body. All of the panels are repairable and available new, but the hardest to find is the LF fender as fewer spares were made. I once sold a new one for $3500. I sold parts for these cars for 18 years and know them well.
Not a composite panel. The s/s panels simply bolt on over the fiberglass sub body. All panels are repairable and available new but the LF fender is hard to find as fewer replacements were made. I sold parts for these for 18 years and know them well.
It looks great in red but not crazy over those wheels. The seller has another one not painted for the same price, and other hot cars.
@Howie Mueler
You do realize those are the original wheels, don’t you?
Yes, and they remind me of stock Bricklin wheels.
No ashtray, and console does not open, as I recall. Owned two early 1981s, 1 bought new, second in 1983.
Yes it is an ashtray – you can see the typical “snuffer” tab at he front. And the armrest does not open. I had 8 of these and know them well.
I have seen these stock and was not impressed. They look much better painted imho. It looks like a kit car, poor quality, no power and the stainless makes it look like my refrigerator. If it wasn’t for Back to the Future I don’t believe you could get more than 10k for one. You can buy a much better vehicle for the money. The Crawford in Cleveland Ohio had several stainless Ford’s, they were a collaboration with Alcoa? 36 sedan, square T-Bird and one other I believe.
I find it hard to believe those are 5mph bumpers – look at the Bricklin’s!