This Rare Black DeLorean is a 121 Mile Beauty

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2015 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted  by Zach Doell

 

 

If there’s one thing more visually stimulating than encountering a DeLorean… it’s encountering a painted one. Back in the early ‘80s, the DeLorean Motor Company built over 9,000 DMC-12s, with the vast, vast majority leaving the factory dressed in nothing but stainless steel. 

 

Over the years, a few colorful outliers have come to surface – some official, others not – yet every time they do, they command attention. The originality of the black paint on this DMC-12, which is listed on eBay, remains a mystery, but the car’s startlingly clean condition and claimed 121 original miles may get your mind a racing.

According to the seller, this 1982 automatic transmission-equipped DMC-12 recently emerged from storage and carries its original bill of sale and window sticker. Its shockingly clean exterior and interior would suggest either a full restoration or immaculate preservation, and collectors would love for the latter to be the case. Here’s why.

 

Officially, only three DeLorean production cars were ever built with the intention of sporting a different color. In fact, that color was gold… 24-karat gold. According to The DeLorean Museum, a promotion between DeLorean and American Express allotted for 100 gold-plated cars to be produced and sold. Only two were ever fully built at the Dunmurry factory, with a third later constructed from spare gold-plated parts in the US. But…

The real interesting twist also comes from US shores. A minuscule allotment of DMC-12 road cars were reported to have been sent to a DuPont facility in Delaware, in an attempt to devise a technique to apply paint over the stainless steel body panels.

 A red DeLorean suspected by some to be from that group surfaced online last year, though neither that or this DMC-12 are verified from that bunch.

Mystery or not, this black DeLorean is an eye-catching rarity among the usual silver crop of cars, and with only 121 miles on the odometer… it’s got some significant life ahead of it.

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