What to Look for When Buying a 1981-1983 DMC De Lorean

What's Driving Demand for De Loreans?

As Gen Xers moonwalk toward retirement, they’re packing a little disposable income to finally afford that De Lorean they’ve dreamed about since high school or college. There were fewer than 9,000 of these cars built for the 1981-’83 model years and today they run the gamut from battered beater to concours quality. Buying one requires some specific knowledge, because the De Lorean automobile is unconventional: rear engine, stainless body panels over a fiberglass-reinforced resin substructure, and all riding on a steel frame with independent suspension. For insight into these cars, we spoke with James Espey, vice president of the De Lorean Motor Company, based in Humble, Texas, (with locations around the country) and author of The Illustrated Buyer’s Guide to DeLorean Automobiles.

"I’ve been buying and selling De Loreans personally and professionally for 27 years this summer," he says. "My perspective is a little different than other people’s—we don’t just buy and sell De Loreans here, we also do service and restoration. At any given time, at any of our locations, we’ve got 40-60 De Loreans in for service, from all over the world, so I get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly."

According to popular price guides, De Lorean values have more than doubled over the last decade, with some of the steepest appreciation in the marque’s history in just the last few years.

"I bought my first De Lorean in 1995 and that’s when I started paying attention to values," James says. "When John DeLorean passed away in March of 2005, we saw a bump. Then the great recession came, and values were flat. In 2015, it was the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future—and October 21, 2015, was the date in the movie Marty went to in the future—so there was a big resurgence of interest. That kind of coincided with the continuing robust economy—so values kept creeping up and up."

What's With the De Lorean's Stainless Bodies?

The De Lorean owes its unmistakable shape to Italian design legend Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign. The body panels were brushed, unpainted stainless steel, but there were three made with 24-karat gold-plated bodies—two of which were part of a promotion with American Express. Once in the hands of dealers or private owners, De Loreans were sometimes painted either for sales appeal, personalization, or to cover body work. Painted cars tend to be worth less and also bear close examination, according to James.

"Unless you have verifiable documented paperwork that says it was painted by the dealer then I would presume instantly that it was painted to hide damage," he says. "There was a period of time after the factory closed when it was very difficult to get any De Lorean parts. So, what do you do if you get in a crash and you can’t get or can’t afford a new stainless panel? You beat it out, fill it with body filler, and paint the whole car."

A number of painted De Loreans were sold through the dealership Cadillac by De Lorean in Lakewood, Ohio, which was owned by John DeLorean’s brother, Charles.

"[Charles] bought about 250 new De Loreans when things [at De Lorean] were tough. Imagine you have a car lot with 200 identical-looking cars—cars that are out of production. It’s kind of a hard sell. So virtually any candy-apple-color painted De Lorean, whether it’s red, blue, or purple, came out of De Lorean Cadillac. But they’re all pretty identifiable by the pinstriping he put on them and by the colors."

Stripping paint usually means having to refinish the stainless to get the correct brushed look and painting a stainless car is a good way to lower its value "If you have two mechanically identical De Loreans, it used to be that the painted one was worth about half. Now the painted one may be worth 60-65 percent," James says. "If you want a painted car, buy a painted one; if you want a stainless one, buy a stainless one."

New old stock body panels for De Loreans are available today with a couple of caveats. The factory didn’t have an abundance of left front fenders, so those are scarce and tend to be expensive today. James estimates you’ll pay between $3,000-$5,000 for one. NOS hoods are available, but only in the final "Flat" style—the third of three subtle variations. The original design incorporated a fuel filler flap and a pair of stamped accent lines. The second design did away with the fuel door but kept the accent lines. The final hood was flat, with a small De Lorean emblem in the left front corner.

One issue unique to the De Lorean, and a potentially expensive trouble spot, is the "roof box" between the gullwing door hinges. This support, beneath the stainless center roof panel, was made of mild steel and painted. Over time it can rust through, or the epoxy bonding it to the fiberglass substructure can fail and lead to problems opening and closing the doors. Stainless reproduction roof boxes are available, but it’s a labor-intensive job to install. One of the tests for this is to watch for a moving center roof panel as the doors are opened and closed. You can also look closely for rust at the edges of the center panel.

"It’s a real question mark, but if they’re honest, low-mileage cars they’re probably okay—if they haven’t moved a lot, they’ve probably been washed infrequently and stored inside," James says. "Anything with 30,000-40,000 miles on it I would take a hard look at. Sometimes with the door open, you can kind of push in the center where the roof box is. If you see the fiberglass separate from the roof box—you don’t have to push it far, 1⁄16 of an inch will tell you whether it’s bonded or not. If it’s not bonded, you’re going to be getting in there sooner than later. You’ve got to pull the windshield, you’ve got to pull the headliner, pull the T panel, the windshield header, and pull the doors. It’s about a $14,000 job. We put stainless roof boxes in them now—the parts are the cheap part of it, it’s all the labor."

How Well Does the De Lorean Chassis Hold Up?

The De Lorean rides on an X-shaped, or double-Y/center-backbone-style frame, with independent coil-spring front and rear suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, and a rear-mounted engine and transaxle. The frame was made of steel and then dipped in epoxy for rust protection. Over time, the epoxy coating can fail and leave the frame susceptible to corrosion, James says.

"Common areas for rust are in the rear crossmember and in between the shock towers. We’ll separate the body from the frame, clean out in there, and replace that crossmember.

Another common spot for rust to dig in: the front frame extensions or the crumple tubes, which are designed to collapse in a front-end collision.

"The epoxy coating tends to get damaged and then you’ve got bare metal exposed," James says. "There’s also a spot in the driver’s side wheelwell, directly beneath the brake master cylinder. If you get a leaky brake master, which is fairly common, the brake fluid leaks on to the epoxy, softens the epoxy, and then you’ve got bare metal exposed."

Front frame extensions are available and can be installed. De Lorean Motor Company has discontinued its reproduction stainless steel replacement frames but it’s about to offer new steel replacement frames.

De Lorean Motor Company also offers new springs made by Eibach that correct the De Lorean’s stock high ride height, and the firm sells chassis and steering components as well. Regarding the disc brakes, James says that his company recommends rebuilding the De Lorean’s original brake calipers, because the replacements aren’t the same specification.

"We’ve got caliper kits and stainless pistons," James says. "The front brakes are European Ford and the rears are Jaguar. The common Jag replacement has a markedly smaller piston and with the weight distribution of the car, the rear brakes do get some action as opposed to a front-engine car."

The wheels are cast alloy and there were two different styles and colors used, though they look very similar. The front and rear wheels are different sizes: 14 x 6 inches up front, 15 x 8 inches in the rear. Reconditioned wheels are available on an exchange basis, but tires in the stock sizes are getting thin on the ground. James says they source new treads from Hankook.

Are the De Lorean's Engines Troublesome?

The De Lorean is powered by a Volvo-sourced, single-overhead-cam 2.85-liter (174-cu.in.) aluminum V-6 engine, outfitted with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. With just 8.8:1 compression, it made 130 hp at 5,500 rpm and 160 lb-ft of torque at 2,750 rpm. This engine was mated to the buyer’s choice of a five-speed manual or three-speed automatic transaxle.

One of the more serious drivetrain trouble spots is engine block corrosion.

"It’s an aluminum block and there are two common locations for rot," James says. "One is what they call the valley of death—the center of the vee, underneath the intake manifold. There are some oil galleys in there and when the oil has sat in the car too long without being changed, it gets acidic and will eat a hole in those galleys. People will often report an oil leak where oil is coming out of the oil pump weep hole, but what you’re seeing is it coming out of the oil galley. The only place it can go is out of the front or the back of the engine."

Blocks have also been known to crack due to excessive heat radiating from the catalytic converter heat shield. In either case, De Lorean Motor Company recommends a new engine.

"If someone has a car with a hole in the block, we try to steer them into a complete engine," James says. "We’ve got 30 or 40 crate engines left and maybe 30 or 40 partially disassembled engines that may have usable short blocks."

The manual transmissions are generally trouble-free, as are the automatic transmissions’ mechanicals. James says that a computer-controlled automatic transmission governor can be a source of shifting issues.

"The computer is very susceptible to voltage spikes, so if a car has been sitting and someone jump starts it, it begins the downhill slide," James says. "The more often it happens, it pops a capacitor and it begins to shift funny—then it won’t get out of second gear and it will hunt for gears like it’s low on fluid."

De Lorean sells a replacement that also improves the transmission’s shift qualities.

Are Resto Parts Available for the De Lorean's Interior?

De Loreans were sold with either black or grey interiors. They all had leather seating surfaces trimmed with vinyl and vinyl-upholstered door panels. A molded carpet covered the floor, while a four-piece headliner covered the ceiling. The steering wheels were a three-spoke design, wrapped in leather on most cars, and the U.S. instrument cluster had an 85-mph speedometer with 55 highlighted in red, an 8,000-rpm tachometer, and gauges for volts, engine temperature, oil pressure, and fuel level. Virtually everything needed to make a De Lorean interior look new again is available, James says.

"We’ve got literally 10,000 pieces of glass for these cars. The windshields are aftermarket—we have them made in Europe. We’ve got molded carpet interior replacements made in the U.S. As far as the switches and steering wheels, either we reproduce them, or we’ve got original stock."

To eliminate a common source of interior odors in these cars, the original headliner was improved during the design of a reproduction.

"The originals had a pressed fiberboard backing material and when it gets wet it tends to smell like old car," James says. "So we do a fiberglass backing then cover them with new material."

If you’re in the market for a De Lorean, there’s still an ample supply of solid cars, and factory-style support is readily available from the people who bought out the factory.

"We’re boosters of the brand," James says. "We feel really strongly that De Lorean is coming into its own now. It’s become less of a movie prop and less of a cocaine joke as it is a car that, for better or worse, was emblematic of the ’80s."

What to Pay for a De Lorean

1981: Low-$20,000; Avg.-$35,000; High-$57,000

1982: Low-$20,000; Avg.-$35,000; High-$57,000

1983: Low-$30,000; Avg.-$36,000; High-$58,000

* Source NADAguides.com

Parts Prices

Brake caliper (front, rebuilt): $150

Brake rotor (front): $94

Carpet set: $795

Engine gasket kit (complete): $305

Exhaust manifold: $439

Front fascia (refurbished): $1,225

Front seat covers: $700

Interior rearview mirror: $45

Oil pump: $219

Quarter panel: $1,247

Wheel (rear): $514

Windshield without antenna: $575