RickR's Blog

Nice that you got to see one of the 24-karat gold American Express DeLorean's in person, they only assembled 3 🙂

Just now, Justin said:

Nice that you got to see one of the 24-karat gold American Express DeLorean's in person, they only assembled 3 🙂

I wanted to hop in and drive home in it. 

1 minute ago, RickR said:

I wanted to hop in and drive home in it. 

Also one of only three with the saddle tan interior, very rare. Don't scratch the gold off driving home! Crazy to think you could just order these out of the American Express Christmas Catalog! 🎅

To avoid scratching the gold, I'll take one of these home instead.

 

And this one reminded me of the gift Mr. Miyagi gave to Daniel-san.  Wax on, wax off. 

 

All beautiful cars ☺️

This is kinda weird! I googled "Neo Geo Gold" last night, looking for the original US release Neo Geo system that seems to be more difficult to get your hands on today than the Japanese released system. People today usually refer to it as the "Neo Geo AES" (Advanced Entertainment System) but at the time we all called it the "Neo Geo Gold" as the US system that came with two joysticks and two pack-in games was called the "Gold System" on the box and in catalogs.

Searching "Neo Geo Gold" on Google Images brings up countless photos of the "Neo Geo X" mini console which was frustrating. It's increasingly difficult to find relevant results for the US Neo Geo "Gold System" but I continued my search! 

After scrolling through a number of pictures on Google Images, I saw a De Lorean out of the corner of my eye. I clicked on it and it was a 24k gold plated De Lorean with a Neo Geo setup on the hood of the car. What?? I immediately thought of your recent blog post and wondered how this person was able to pull off taking this picture. I suspect this is the same gold car you saw at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV and likely where this photo was taken. Possibly by a Neo Geo playing employee sneaking a photo when the car was in the back? Not sure how they pulled this off!

There were only two 24k Gold De Loreans sold through the American Express catalog at $85,000 each (equivalent to $257,000 in 2021) and a slightly different third gold car that was assembled from spare gold parts in 1983 and was not sold through American Express. The second of the two original cars was on display in a bank in Snyder, TX for many years until 2004 until it moved to the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles where it's currently on display. The first of the two cars was sold to a collector named Sherwood Marshall in San Francisco. This is the car that currently resides at the National Automobile Museum in Reno that you got to see in person! It's possible the car in the Neo Geo photo is the third "leftover" car and that it the photo was not taken in a museum. I can't tell what color the interior is for the car in the Neo Geo photo (the seats look potentially grey to me but it's hard to see) that would be an easy way of telling them apart.

You can read more about what happened to the 24k Gold De Loreans at the De Lorean Directory: https://www.deloreandirectory.com/articles/going-gold/

Honestly this was the last thing I expected to see when I googled "Neo Geo Gold" 🤯

That is weird for sure!

I will tell you that the museum is set up for personal events.  They have a room for that very purpose, and it was set up for a wedding reception when I was there.  I imagine they'll put whatever cars you request in there (for a fee, of course).  It looks very much like a marketing photo and maybe a few bucks got someone this type of access.  My point being that the museum seems very accommodating to personal requests to bolster their revenue. 

20 minutes ago, RickR said:

That is weird for sure!

I will tell you that the museum is set up for personal events.  They have a room for that very purpose, and it was set up for a wedding reception when I was there.  I imagine they'll put whatever cars you request in there (for a fee, of course).  It looks very much like a marketing photo and maybe a few bucks got someone this type of access.  My point being that the museum seems very accommodating to personal requests to bolster their revenue. 

That makes a lot of sense! That's probably what happened. It's weird when "worlds are colliding" and something from one totally separate part of life shows up in the search results for another.

Looks like a very cool museum, thanks for sharing all of the pictures ☺️

I took a lot more pictures.  Probably close to 100 pics.  The museum is a really cool place.  That day I visited, it was mostly empty (maybe a dozen people).  So I had plenty of room to take as many pics as I wanted (and also sneak in a few "touches" on the cars I really cared about -- Shhhh don't tell).  I would definitely go back to this museum. 

Edited November 2, 2021 by RickR