1983 DeLorean

Canadian Automotive Museum Audio Content

Our bilingual audio tour explores less well-known stories from the collection, in the voices of the Museum’s volunteers, historians, vehicle experts and more.
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Justin Sookraj and I own and operate Wells Auto, the only facility specializing in sales and restoration of the DeLorean DMC-12 here in Canada. The futuristic 1983 DMC-12 is still one of the most distinctive cars on the road today- and we say on the road, because out of the approximately 9000 made, around two-thirds are still being driven. Still, for all their looks, decent performance and pop-culture fame (who doesn’t want to travel through time, after all), caring for a DeLorean, as with any car of its age, takes some finesse.

It starts with the skeleton of the car; while the skin of a DeLorean is stainless steel over fibreglass, and can’t rust, the same can’t be said for the chassis. The mild steel that makes up the double y-frame skeleton of the car is vulnerable to salt and damp, which can quickly cause rusting, holes and worse.

The stainless steel skin has aged pretty well, but is trickier to fix if it gets dented or scratched. You can’t just paint over damage on a DeLorean. Repairing the skin requires the use of picks, filing, and other metalworking tools. Panels damaged beyond easy repair can be replaced, but are notably more expensive than traditional stamped steel.

And the technology that makes those iconic gullwing doors work so well ages too. A cryogenically-treated torsion bar that makes the door spring open combines with a pneumatic strut that holds them in the upright position. After 40 years, the torsion bars can sag, requiring adjustments or replacement, which isn’t a job for the faint of heart.

But, If you’re willing to put up with its unique quirks, and have specialists such as ourselves give it the care it deserves, there’s no reason you can’t drive one of the coolest sports cars ever put into production - being able to, as the original slogan said, "Live the Dream".