On the silver screen DeLoreans (Doc Brown’s anyway) are a mechanical marvel worth turning into a time machine powered by stolen plutonium.
In reality by the time they finished jumping through all the hoops required to go from idea to production vehicle they ended up as stainless steel disappointments.
Don’t get me wrong I like DeLoreans, and the crazy story behind the companies rise fall and rise, but they really deserved something more impressive under the hood (..err boot?) to back up their looks.
138-hp does not a super car make and it was a far cry away from the 200hp John DeLorean originally envisioned powering the car.
Over the years people have tried to fix this problem with turbos and various other motor transplants but this is the first (and perhaps only) time someone tried to fix this cars problem of less than swift forward motion with a rotary mill.
A Mazda 20B motor to be exact lifted from the Mazda Eunos Cosmo. This swap bumped up the power to 300hp and 297 foot pounds of torque and since DMC-12s are said to weigh about 2800lbs from a performance aspect this swap makes fairly logical sense.
From a purists stand point it doesn’t really make a lick of sense and I doubt any mechanic would jump at the chance to work on this car since in additon to the Rotarty swap the original transmission was scrapped and replaced with a 1995 Porsche Carrera unit.
The Eunos half digital/half analog dash also made the trip Back To The Future.
A hilariously dated video of the car from six(!) years ago is below:
A bit more info about the car is here.
Oh and if you are curious about the paint a few DeLoreans did actually get painted shortly after leaving the factory while a few left gold.
Needs more Mr Fusion.
Site Updates
I will be in California from April 6th to the 12th doing the touristy thing with the better half. We will be driving from SF to LA so if there is anything particular I should know going on between those dates (other than Formula D which I can’t make it to) let me know.
There should also be a feature up Monday.
Flashback Fridays
Speaking of DeLoreans I am still looking for this car.
If it didn’t skip to a different time someone should be able to find it…
makes me sad that its painted tho the best thing you can do for a DeLorean is make it uk speck (of which i think only 4 were made) by taking the blocks out and droping it to the ride hight lotus actualy designed the chasis for a volvo turbo would be my mill of choice its just a shame i cant fit in one lol
It’s probably more reliable now too.
20b delereon = meega gnar. that is the best thing ever done that car but the bagged 1 is a close second this is more of a “fucking win friday” hahahaah
Forget purists feelings towards these cars…..cause that bagged one is shutthefuckup cool
Great post.