Rare DeLorean going to auction in UK

One of the most instantly recognisable cars from the last 50 years, the DeLorean DMC-12 is as much a pop culture icon as it is an automotive one, with many current owners attracted to the car purely for its starring role in the Back to the Future trilogy.

With only 9,000 cars built over less than two years of production, DeLoreans are a rare car today, but rarer still are right-hand drive versions.

From the outset of the DMC-12 project, John DeLorean only ever intended to build the gullwing sports car in left-hand drive for the US market, but soon after production began, there was enough interest in the UK to consider adding a right-hand drive version.

With all the DMC-12 tooling and engineering based around LHD production, re-engineering much of the car for RHD wasn’t considered feasible, so DeLorean looked to an aftermarket conversion, choosing a company in the UK called Wooler-Hodec to do the job.

A few months after production began in 1981, around 20 cars were sent to Wooler-Hodec for conversion, but only 13 were completed before DeLorean filed for bankruptcy and the project collapsed at the end of 1982. Some of these cars survive, while others were converted after DeLorean was dissolved.

In between sits a trio of factory-authorised RHD DMC-12s that were produced in late 1981, one of which is going to auction with Silverstone Auctions in the UK this November.

Known as ‘AXI’ cars for their consecutive registration (AXI 1697, AXI 1698 and AXI 1699), the three DMC-12s (two automatics and one manual) were built in October, 1981, but received engine modifications that resulted in more horsepower (150hp vs 130hp) from the PRV V6, upgraded brakes, a 140mph speedo, new tail light clusters, different side indicators and some cosmetic changes.

These were applied at DeLorean’s Dunmurry factory in Northern Ireland before the three cars were sent to Wooler-Hodec for conversion.

Given the special treatment they received at the factory, along with the skills Wooler-Hodec had now acquired, these three cars are considered superior to the earlier RHD conversions in terms of overall build quality, making them highly sought after when interest in the DMC-12 began to grow.

The car consigned with Silverstone Auctions is AXI 1699, the sole manual of the trio of premium RHD DMC-12s, which was initially acquired by a London car dealer at DeLorean’s liquidation auction in November, 1982. Re-registered soon after, the car vanished later in the 1980s, with its fate unknown until the vendor tracked it down in 2001.

As an office bearer in the DeLorean Owners’ Club UK and co-author of a book on the DeLorean, the vendor knew the rarity and value of the car. He had also owned AXI 1698, one of the two 'AXI' RHD automatics, since the 1990s.

Initial attempts to buy the car were rebuffed and it wouldn’t be until 2018 that the owner finally agreed to sell to the vendor. As bought, the car hadn’t been running for decades, which was reflected in a low odometer reading that still shows only 23,387 miles at time of consignment.

After returning the DMC-12 to running condition, the vendor re-registered it with its original AXI 1699 plates and has regularly displayed it at UK car shows since. However, the vendor’s age and limited mobility has resulted in him now offering the car for sale.

To be sold at Silverstone Auctions’ live auction event in the UK on 12 November, the pre-auction estimate on this rare RHD DeLorean is £80,000 - £90,000 (AU$115,500 – AU$130,000 approx.); significantly more than the £46,000 a low mileage DMC-12 with a later RHD conversion sold for at another auction in 2014.

For more details, go to: silverstoneauctions.com