Some cars were instant classics, others surprised the world, some were dismal failures, and then there were those cars that ingrained themselves as pop culture icons. Few cars can say they achieved several of these titles all at the same time like the DeLorean DMC-12 can. It was a failure from a sales and marketing standpoint, but was a massive success as a pop icon. Just about every person, car nut or not, at least knows about the DMC-12. They may not know its name or its story, but they know about the stainless steel sports car with flip up doors and time traveling abilities. This 1982 DeLorean isn’t exactly a barn find, but having covered just 188 miles since new it’s certainly a survivor that’s worth a look. Find it here on eBay.

We have come to the conclusion that either the DMC-12 was deemed a collectible right away by most owners or it was so much better to look at than drive that many preferred to leave them parked in their garage, as we have seen a number of low mileage DeLoreans over the years. We have heard mixed reviews about the driving experience, but most often we hear complaints about the lackluster acceleration. The chassis was based off of the Lotus Esprit and should have handled beautifully, but for whatever reason the front ride height was increased and that negatively impacted handling.

While many owners had the suspension returned to Lotus’ original front suspension geometry, the 2.9 liter V6 still kept the car from being a real performance machine. With emissions equipment installed the PVR or Peugeot Volvo Renault motor only produced 130 horsepower and gave the car a 0-60 time of nearly 11 seconds. A few adventurous owner installed turbo systems and other performance upgrades, but this one has been left original. The seller claims all the mechanical systems have been gone through and are working properly.

For the ’80s, the DeLorean had a relatively nice interior. It was simply, effective, and sporty. This one looks how a car with less than 200 miles on it should. As an added bonus, the original owner optioned it with the 5 speed manual, which should help make up for some of the motor’s lackluster performance. We just wonder about that center tunnel and if it gets in the way of shifting, but a number of sports cars from the era have similar designs.

We have to admit that the DeLorean is one of the best looking cars to come out of the 1980’s, but every time we come across a low mileage example it leaves us wondering why so many ended up never being driven. Given how many are emerging in this kind of condition it makes us wonder if the DMC will share a similar fate as the Anniversary Corvette? It wasn’t built to be collected like the Corvette was, but it seems that some people collected them and never used them out of fear of hurting value. Or perhaps they really weren’t that great to drive then and still aren’t today? We don’t know, we haven’t ever had the pleasure of taking one for a spin. If one of our fine readers has one and would like to let us go out for a spin in it, we certainly wouldn’t turn them down! We would even just be happy to see a few photos and hear your impressions on why so many low mileage examples keep turning up. Any ideas?