Editor goes for ride in a Delorean bought at a garage sale

By Doug Schroder

Editor

STILLMAN VALLEY – On Saturday, Sept. 26, the weather was absolutely beautiful for the car show that took place during the annual Stillman Valley Fall Festival held in Stillman Valley. Over 211 entries were in the show this year and there was a wide variety of vehicles to see, as usual.

One particular vehicle caught my eye and that was a Delorean auto owned by Tom and Cindy Hayden of Crystal Lake, IL. It’s not very often one gets to see a Delorean up close as there were only about 2900 made back in the early 1980’s. Many recognize the car, as one of the Deloreans was used in the making of the movie series “Back to the Future”, starring Michael J. Fox and directed by Robert Zemekis. The Hayden’s Delorean even have direct a link to Zemekis, but more on that later.

Upon talking with Cindy and Tom, it was found out that they had purchased the car from a garage sale! Back in 1998 Cindy was perusing through garage sales on-line and she came across a sale held in Barrington, IL, that had a Delorean featured as one of the items for sale. As it turned out, the car had been purchased in 1981 as a graduation present for the original owner. Fast-forward to 1998 and that owner was now married. His wife had purchased a Jaguar and there was no longer room in the garage for his Delorean, therefore he had to sell it.

Tom and Cindy had the car appraised and ended up paying a little bit lower than the appraised price. At the time the car had 11,800 miles on it. The Haydens have only put on an additional 700 miles in the past 17 years, so it now has 12,500 miles on it, and it is kept in immaculate shape. Everything is original on the car, save for a few parts that had to be replaced due to age.

In the years between the purchase and now, Cindy continued looking around at different sales and she came across one in Pistakee Bay, IL. It was an estate sale for Richard Zemekis’ parents. The Haydens went to the sale and were able to pick up one of Richard’s director chairs that was used on the set of “Back to the Future”. They also acquired a bucket that was used in the movie Forest Gump, another movie that Zemekis directed.

While talking with Tom and Cindy, I asked if I could go for a ride in the car. They said yes! So, after the car show was over Tom took me for a ride. It was soooooo cool! Just to sit in one of these cars was a thrill, but riding in one was even better. Of course driving one would be the best, but I wasn’t even going to go there. Video of the ride can be found at the Win-Du-Pec Facebook page.

Well, we didn’t get the car up 88 mph and travel through time, but it was still quite the thrill for me anyways.

Tom Hayden poses next to the Delorean he and his wife Cindy own. Also in the picture is Richard Zemekis’ director chair used in the Back to the Future moves, and a bucket that was used in the movie Forest Gump, another Zemekis directed film. Doug Schroder photo