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  • Concordia resident Will Metcalf displays his 1981 DeLorean, complete with the gull-wing doors, at the Heartland Auto Club Spring Extravaganza car show Saturday at the Concordia National Guard Armory
    Spreading his wings

Metcalf joins the short list of DeLorean owners

Will Metcalf, a fan of the movie “Back to the Future”, had always wanted to own a DeLorean — and now he does.
Metcalf had his 1981 DeLorean, featuring the gull-wing doors and brushed stainless steel outer body panels, on display at the Heartland Auto Club Spring Extravaganza Saturday at the Concordia National Guard Armory.
“I always wanted one of these since I was a fan of the movie,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf didn’t have to go as far as one might think to find his DeLorean. He purchased it from an owner in Downs in October 2018.
“It had been sitting in storage for 14 years,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf said the owner was a collector of Ford Thunderbirds. He had been outbid on one at an auction and ended up buying the DeLorean.
Because the vehicle had sat for 14 years with fuel in it, there was some work to be done to get it running.
“A lot of work on the fuel system,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf has done some of the work himself, along with having some done by local mechanics.
Although the Delorean was only produced in 1981, 1982 and 1983, finding parts was not difficult.
When production was halted in 1983, there were enough parts for three more years of production.
In 1995, Stephen Wynne, a British entrepreneur, created a company based in Texas using the Delorean Motor Company name. He acquired the remaining parts inventory of the original DeLorean Motor Company.
“There are a lot of people who want to keep them on the road,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf said that the DeLorean is not a great car mechanically.
Despite the sports car look, the 2.85 liter Peugeot-Renault-Volvo engines is rated at just 130 horsepower.
The DeLorean was made famous as a time machine in the 1985 “Back to the Future” movie.
“I get a lot of thumbs ups,” Metcalf said of driving the iconic DeLorean around Concordia.
John DeLorean was the youngest division head in General Motors history when he broke away and started the DeLorean Motor Company in 1973.
Produced in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, the DeLorean did not reach the consumer market until 1981.
There were about 9,000 DeLoreans produced over the course of about 24 months.
Metcalf said it is estimated there are about 6,000 DeLoreans remaining.

 

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