DeLorean bought sight unseen out of North Dakota for $33,000 but it breaks and turns into a mechanic’s worst fear

  • This DeLorean was picked up from North Dakota for $33k
  • It was put out on the front lawn for a Halloween display
  • But it had a few issues

Published on Mar 18, 2025 at 10:03 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson

Last updated on Mar 19, 2025 at 12:37 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Tom Wood

This man bought a DeLorean sight unseen out of North Dakota for $33,000, but it soon became a mechanic’s worst nightmare.

Alex Palmeri, the host of LegitStreetCars, took his one million subscribers behind the scenes of his work on his DeLorean.

He had taken it to DeLorean Midwest for a fix-up, having bought it originally to be a Halloween decoration.

Could it be fixed or would this be something only Doc Brown could save?

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How did this DeLorean end up broken? Let’s go back in time…

Let’s face it, these are just straight up cool cars.

And that’s largely down to the Back to the Future movies.

But even if we’d never heard the name of Marty McFly before, we reckon these cars would still have an audience.

Whether they are made out of snow or contain a Ferrari engine, DeLoreans are a real treat.

But they are a vintage car, having first been released in 1981.

Alex’s was no different.

After bringing it down from North Dakota down to Chicago, he embarked on a three month restoration in order to get it ready for October 31st.

The plan was to have it sat out front on his lawn as a Halloween decoration.

Fixing up the car was no picnic.

Alex recalled: “There were probably about 500 ‘While you’re in there’ [jobs], but in the end, it turned out better than I’d ever imagined.”

But getting it dolled up was only one part of the process.

A family of rodents living in the engine and nearly getting his arm stuck whilst changing the oil also threw some issues his way.

But thanks to perseverance, he soon had the car running for the first time in 30 years.

And despite the snow, he still managed to get it out on the front lawn in time for trick-or-treaters.

He dressed up as Marty and his wife dressed up as Jennifer, Marty’s girlfriend in the movies.

That sounds really positive right, so you might be wondering what the problem was.

Great Scott! This car needs a lot of work!

The mechanics at DeLorean Midwest found that there were several problems with the car, ranging from oil leaks to broken studs and issues with the exhaust manifold.

To fix them, the car needed to be disassembled and parts had to be replaced.

It’s not a quick fix process by any means, and there’s a lot of trial and error along the way.

But eventually, it’s restored to its best shape.

Alex gushed: “I’ve dreamed of this for a very long time! It’s ready to hit the road.”

So much for ‘Where we’re going, we won’t need roads’.

To see this restoration process of this car from North Dakota for yourself, head over to LegitStreetCars’ YouTube channel.

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Ben Thompson is a Senior Content Writer at supercarblondie.com. Ben has more than four years experience as a qualified journalist, having graduated with a Multimedia Journalism degree from News Associates. Ben specializes in writing about Teslas, tech and celebrity car collections.