DeLorean Motor Company
The 24-Karat Gold Plated
DeLorean Car
In a Bank in Snyder, Texas there is a 24 Karat Gold DeLorean Car. I've never seen anything like it. The more questions I asked about it, the more I wanted to know. It can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds without spinning the wheels and get an average 27 miles to each gallon of gasoline. Its stainless steel body is gold-plated. There are zero miles on the odometer. It has never had fuel in the tank. And it’s only one of two left like it in the world. The DeLorean car sits in a locked glass showcase in the lobby of the Snyder National Bank.

"They’ll probably think I’m a damn fool. But let me say this: About seven years ago I purchased a $4 gold piece for $15,000. Only 415 of the coins were minted. It’s worth $52,000 today," said Roger Mize, president of the Snyder National Bank. Mr. Mize said he hoped purchasing the car would put Snyder on the map, and it appears to have done that."

Jock Fearer, director of field operations for DeLorean Motor Co., Irvine CA., said they are the first and probably the last gold plated cars to be constructed by DeLorean Company. Mr. Mize has a hell of a collectors item. Mizes' car normally cost $25,000 in clad stainless steel, but he paid $85,000 for it in gold. When the gold car featured on the cover of an American Express Christmas Catalog, Kate Owens, the bank secretary kidded Mr. Mize, saying that he should buy it. Mize, walked over to a case where he kept his gold piece, thought about it and decided to buy the car. Not only did he order the car, He did it Texas style. The whole enchilada went on his American Express card. Ten or 12 people seemed interested in buying the gold car from American Express. But only two put down the required $10,000 deposit.

The car was brought to Snyder in the 1980’s The bank doors were removed, and it was rolled in by hand to its final resting place in a glass showcase in the middle of the Bank's Lobby. How long it will stay there is anyone’s guess. The car is for sale, and this time the asking price is $175,000, According to John Truscott a director of the DeLorean Owners Association, based in Los Angeles, "I would think it is one of the most valuable De Loreans in the world." said Stephen Wynne, owner of a Houston service business called DeLorean Motor Co. I have gone out to see it myself, and it is simply gorgeous. Most of the roughly 9,000 DeLorean cars made are encased in less expensive stainless steel. The gold-plated cars were made only for American Express Christmas gift catalog. One hundred were supposed to be made, but only two actually were manufactured. It turned out to be a better investment than Mr. Mize expected. The last time anyone checked the gold-plated counterpart to the Snyder car it was in a Reno, Nevada car museum, according to Truscott. To make things more complicated, two more gold-plated DeLoreans were assembled in the United States. The two that were manufactured in the original Northern Ireland factory - which includes the Snyder car are superior.
People are fascinated with the car for a number of reasons. For starters, the doors are hinged on the roof of the car instead of on the side, so they swing open upward like doors on an airplane. At charity functions, for instance, all you have to do is open the doors and boy, here they come. People will just walk by the Lamborghinis and the other high-priced cars to get a look at it. And then there is the stainless steel body. It use to be bothersome because everyone would say "Oh!, It’s stainless steel." They’d have to touch it like wet paint. And since fingerprints are a problem with stainless steel, they are even more of a besetment with gold.

Shortly after an article appeared in the Reporter-News, concerning the arrival of the gold car, news of the purchase was moved by a national wire service. Within a few days Mize received about 60 letter from people all over the country, some congratulating him on the purchase and others seeking money. Mize reached for a notebook full of correspondence and noted one five-page letter from a woman in Massachusetts requesting more than $3,000 to pay for funeral cost, shoes and other expenses, Mize said. The woman who claimed to be arthritic, was afraid she’d have to sell the furniture to pay for a funeral if her mother died. A man at a state penitentiary in Arkansas requested $200 for his family, the banker said, The convict was being held for embezzlement. Another fellow wanted to promote a movie and needed backing. Roger Mize died in 1987 leaving the car to his 4 grandkids with a clause that it never be driven and cannot be sold until the last one is 30 years old.
John Z. DeLorean
The story of John Z. DeLorean is part American fable and part Shakespearean tragedy. The eldest son of a Detroit automobile foundry worker, DeLorean managed to land a music scholarship and earned master’s degrees in industrial engineering and business administration. General Motors hired DeLorean when he was 24, and he began his rise in the automobile industry. In 1952, at age 27, John DeLorean completed his technical education at Chrysler Institute, receiving a Master of Science in automotive engineering. At this point in his life, John is in almost the exact same situation as many of the upcoming graduates from the Graduate School of Business.
In the 1960’s he helped usher in a change from larger to smaller cars, resulting in huge sales increases in in GM's Pontiac division. When he was 41, he became the youngest division manager in the company’s history, and many suspected he would eventually be tapped as the president of General Motors. But for as many ways that DeLorean fit the corporate mold, there were just as many instances where he defied it. He was enamored with the youth culture, which was reflected in his shaggy hair cut and trendy clothes. When he was 44, he divorced his wife of 15 years and married a 19-year-old daughter of a football star. After that marriage fizzled, DeLorean dated such women as Candice Bergen and Nancy Sinatra. Then in 1973 he walked away from his $650,000 job at General Motors and, according to news reports, said he was going to show them how to build cars. DeLorean managed to pool together about $175 million in financing and in 1974 formed the DeLorean Motor Co. After looking at such diverse sites as Detroit and Puerto Rico, DeLorean decided to build his car factory in Northern Ireland.

Interest in DeLorean’s car, called the DMC-12, was high but by the early 80’s DeLorean found himself in serious financial trouble. DeLorean frequently said that unidentified investors soon would inject the needed capital, but the money never materialized. Then in 1982, DeLorean was busted in a government sting operation. The automaker was videotaped as he attempted to broker a $24 million cocaine deal to rescue his beleaguered company. Two years later, a federal jury decided that DeLorean was a victim of entrapment and acquitted him of all charges. But the trap pretty much ruined his credibility.

On the Tonight Show Johnny Carson said: "For those of you that bought a DeLorean your rebate is in the trunk." The car was one of the most talk about cars in Hollywood and was part of a movie called "Back to the Future" starring Micheal J Fox in which the car is made into a DeLorean time machine. It was rumored once that DeLorean tried to get Canada to back him in making his car again, but it never materialized. That was the last we would hear or see of the great automaker and his car. For more information about the DeLorean try Book Bibliographies on John Z DeLorean.
A SPECIAL THANKS
I'd like to thank Bruce Kallameyn for giving me the golden oppertunity and opening up the glass showcase after banking hours so I could shoot these photographs. Bruce is the loan officer and son-in-law of Mr. Mize. Also a special thanks to Betty Hataway for taking the time to photocopy old news articles so I could peice together a story. If you enjoyed this homepage as much as I enjoyed putting it together click here and let me know.
mike@bigtexas.com
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Take a Peek at the Gold Delorean of Texas

DeLoreans For Sale


Click on Link to see photos Killeen, Texas_____$13,000 or best offer_____23,000 Miles
Maryland, LaVale_____$250,000_____636 miles_____((24K Gold Plated -This is a reskined car made for a Big Lots Store give away and is not one of the orignal ones made for the give aways.