1981 DeLorean found in disintegrating Kansas garage is the talk of the town and everyone rushes to take a look at it

The DeLorean DMC-12 is one of the most famous cars in history for a variety of reasons – and one Kansas couple own a stunning example.

Mary and Bob are the proud owners of a 1981 DMC-12, which Bob painstakingly restored and refurbished to its former glory (albeit without the flux capacitor).

Mary’s brother owned the car for over 30 years, and kept the car in a barn in Wichita. Sadly, he passed away, leaving ownership of the car (along with 18 others) to Mary and Bob.

Amazingly, for a 44 year-old car, the clock has just 19,000 miles on it. In fact, Bob has only put about 1,000 miles on the clock in the eight years he has owned it.

Back to the past: a history of DeLorean

At this stage, it feels right to take you on a little trip to the past to explain the history behind the icon.

John DeLorean made his name as a legendary executive at General Motors.

He was offered the chance to work for any of GM’s five major divisions, and he chose Pontiac.

He is the man responsible for the beautiful, legendary GTO.

DeLorean then moved to Chevrolet, and was responsible for bringing the Nova to market.

Shockingly, he announced that he was quitting GM in 1973, and left to start the ill-fated DeLorean Motor Company.

The now-iconic DMC-12 was manufactured in a place called Dunmurry, just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Renault built the factory and the engine, whilst Lotus designed the body and the chassis.

The silver icon was powered by a V6 PRV engine – the result of a collaboration between Renault, Peugeot and Volvo.

Unfortunately, the DeLorean fell flat on its face.

Despite the hype, the car never delivered anywhere close to expectations.

By 1982, over half of all DeLoreans were unsold. The Dunmurry factory was placed in receivership, DMC was $175 million in debt, and John DeLorean was eventually arrested on cocaine smuggling charges – though there’s more to that story that we can get into here.

DMC-12 remains much beloved

In spite of the brief and controversial history of DeLorean, the car remains beloved.

A starring role in the epic sci-fi movie Back to the Future in 1985, as well as the wider trilogy, cemented its permanent role in popular culture.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Bob always gets asked questions related to the movie. But it doesn’t bother him one bit.

In fact, when Bob and Mary head to dinner in their (not) time machine, it tends to draw a big crowd.

In fact, it draws masses of people eager to get a glimpse of the car Marty McFly drove back to 1955. To quote the man himself – ‘that’s heavy’.

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