A 1981 DeLorean with just 977 miles on it is being restored after sitting in an Illinois barn, gathering dust, for nearly two decades.
“He said he would go out in the barn and just look at it, ’cause he thought it was a really cool car,” said Michael McElhattan, owner of restoration company DeLorean Midwest. His company just bought the classic.
The nephew of the car’s original owner told McElhattan they were looking to sell the piece of history. So McElhattan, along with his social media coordinator, made the trip to the barn to see their dream car. But when they got there, they found more than they bargained for.
“We open it up and the first thing I saw was a mouse go across the center console,” McElhattan said.
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Despite the mice invasion, McElhattan says this car has withstood the test of time.
“The condition of the leather, the condition of the instruments cluster in the dash and a lot of places where you see sun damage. And that’s one of the big killers on this, this car virtually has no sun damage,” McElhattan said.
He hopes to return the car to its glory days.
“To take a car from this condition to what I know we can do with it is just, that’s an adventure anybody wants to be on,” McElhattan said.
