World’s cheapest DeLorean doesn’t run and has multiple issues yet these guys wanna drive it 2,300 miles across the US, it went as expected
- This YouTuber took a DeLorean on a 2,300-mile road trip
- This DeLorean was modified with a GM engine
- The trip went well… apart from all the bits that went wrong
Published on Mar 03, 2025 at 8:31 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Mar 04, 2025 at 12:14 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A YouTuber decided to drive the world’s cheapest DeLorean on the road trip across the United States, and it went exactly as you’d expect.
The DeLorean is not exactly a fireproof car, and 2,300 miles across the United States would be a tough ask for any car.
The trip was especially problematic with the DeLorean.
But there was a silver lining.
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An unusual DeLorean
Derek Bieri, the guy behind the Vice Grip Garage YouTube, decided to take a modified DeLorean on the road trip across the United States.
The main modification is the engine, because the original V6 was replaced with a GM LS engine, with a six-speed gearbox.
The engine seems to be the root of most of the issues.
It overheated pretty much constantly and, in addition to that, the YouTuber had gasket problems, oil problems, brake issues, clutch issues and steering issues.
The steering was particularly annoying, according to Derek, because it was all over the place.
Even though Derek described the trip as ‘absolutely miserable,’ he also found a silver lining.
“The good thing is, it revs, we’ve got plenty of power on tap,” he said.
One of the most incredible cars ever created
The car everyone knows as DeLorean is actually called the DMC-12.
But the thing is, everybody calls it the ‘DeLorean’ precisely because this company was definitely a one-hit wonder, and it obviously owes its fame to the Back to the Future trilogy.
DeLorean, operating as DMC, went bust after about seven years, partly due to some shady business the founder was involved in.
As for the DMC-12, it was originally designed to accommodate a Wankel rotary engine, like the RX-8, but DMC ended up using a V6 produced by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo.
This 2.85-liter unit ‘only’ produced 130 horsepower, although we should point out that the car only weighed 2,718lbs, so the power-to-weight ratio was pretty good.
The vast majority of DeLoreans on the road today are replicas, partly because so many original DMC-12s were either lost or destroyed, and also because the ones that still exist are quite expensive.
A new, modernized version was launched a couple of years ago, and production was due to begin last year, but it doesn’t look like that actually happened.
