1981 DeLorean DMC-12 - 1 of 3 'Factory AXI' Right-Hand Drive Cars

The story of the three right-hand drive, UK-specification cars produced by DeLorean Motor Cars Ltd., for demonstration and senior managerial use is a little known tale. Who better to tell the story than our vendor, Christopher Parnham, co-author of “DeLorean: Celebrating the Impossible” and former Secretary and current historian of the DeLorean Owners’ Club UK. He informs us that in early October 1981, three grey-interior cars, one manual and two automatics were taken directly off the production line, re-engineered to produce 150bhp, a significant improvement over the US specifications cars with 130bhp, the brakes were upgraded and the rear light clusters redesigned. Converted to right-hand drive by Wooler-Hodec Ltd., all three cars were registered sequentially as AXI 1697, AXI 1698 and AXI 1699, the second automatic car. These cars, however, should not be compared with the earlier 20 or so US-specification cars with black interiors that were also converted by Wooler-Hodec to right-hand drive during the problematic first months of production.

There are numerous features unique to the 3 AXI cars; the small round side indicator repeaters - instead of two long ones, the black front grille with its integral DMC badge, the headlight trims were only on AXI 1697 and AXI 1699 (and subsequently AXI 1698), the roof antennas are unique to the three AXI cars as are the twin brake servos. All three cars had special UK rear-lights and the black f/glass trim surrounds made by William Towns were originally unique but the purchasing department went on to copy some for other RHD cars and they all had 140mph speedometers rather than the normal 85mph.

One of the “AXI” cars was due to be displayed at the International Car Show in Birmingham but on press day, 19th October 1982, John DeLorean was arrested during a $24,000,000 drug sting, although later acquitted, it was to seal the fate of the company. The Official Receivers sent AXI 1699, along with five left-hand drive cars, to auction and they were sold on the 25th November 1982. A press clipping of the sale, featuring a photograph of this car, states that a London dealer, Mr Tony Clutterbuck, bought AXI 1699 for £15,250, the highest price of the day.

A magazine article, published in January 1983, reviews this very car, now registered “MGJ 126Y” and is perhaps the only “new car” review for a manufacturer no longer in business. Our vendor had been searching for this car for years and he found it in 2001, it had been off the road for decades, and whilst his initial offer was turned down, he finally secured the car in 2018, reuniting it with stable mate AXI 1698 that he had owned since the 1990s. The story of the hunt for AXI 1699 featured in the Winter 2018 edition of DeLorean News, the club’s magazine.

Recommissioned and subsequently replated with its original AXI 1699 registration number, the car has been displayed at numerous events and at the NEC Classic Motor Show twice. With advancing years limiting our vendor’s mobility, the DeLorean car is reluctantly offered to auction. The odometer reading of 23,387 miles, at the time of cataloguing, could well be accurate given the car’s known history, and it will be accompanied by a hardback copy of “Motor Makers in Ireland” by John Moore that features this very car on the cover and signed for the vendor by John DeLorean himself, a number of receipts and invoices, various press clippings, the V5C and an MOT valid until May 2023.

AXI 1699 has a fascinating story that very few cars can claim; a documented history starting on the production line and one of three variants of a single model manufactured by a company whose founder inspired two biographical Hollywood films and lest not forget the DeLorean’s enduring legacy as one of the most iconic movie cars of all time.