The DeLorean DMC-12 was created by John Zachary DeLorean: an engineer from Detroit, a former top executive at General Motors and the "father" of the Pontiac GTO. The car was built by his company, DeLorean Motor Company, at a factory in Dunmurry near Belfast, Northern Ireland, starting in 1981. It had a stainless steel body, gull-wing doors and a rear-mounted V6 engine. The company went bankrupt in less than two years, and the film Back to the Future gave the car its immortality.
In this story:
- Who created the DeLorean, and how did its story begin?
- How did the Pontiac GTO make DeLorean a star at General Motors?
- Why was the DeLorean factory built in Northern Ireland?
- What are the technical features of the DeLorean DMC-12?
- Why did DeLorean Motor Company go bankrupt?
- What was John DeLorean arrested for?
- How did the DeLorean end up in Back to the Future?
- Who owns the DeLorean name today?
Who created the DeLorean, and how did its story begin?
Los Angeles, a hotel room. A tall, gray-haired man in an expensive suit takes a package out of an open suitcase, holds it up to the lamp and smiles. He doesn't yet know that FBI agents are waiting behind the wall. In a few minutes there will be handcuffs, camera flashes and his name in the news all over the world.
This man is John DeLorean. He gave America muscle cars, and gave the world a silver car with wing-like doors. How he ended up in that room, we'll tell you later. But we have to start in Detroit, with the hum of the assembly line.
We told this story in 3 minutes — watch how John DeLorean's dream soared and fell.
John's father, Zachary, an immigrant from Romania, stood at a Ford assembly line for years. He came home exhausted and distant, and eventually his parents divorced. The boy watched the new cars rolling out of the factory gates. As he recalled later, that was when he made himself a promise: I won't stand at the assembly line. I'll decide which car comes off it.
He studied engineering, worked at Chrysler and Packard, and then joined General Motors, the largest automobile corporation in the world. There he quickly proved that he could think not like a clerk, but like a customer.
How did the Pontiac GTO make DeLorean a star at General Motors?
The idea was brazenly simple: take an ordinary mid-size Pontiac Tempest and fit it with the big 6.4-liter V8 from the full-size models. Corporate rules forbade such engines in mid-size cars. So the novelty was packaged as an optional package, and the bureaucrats simply didn't have time to object.
DeLorean even "borrowed" the name from Italy: GTO — Gran Turismo Omologato, as in the Ferrari 250 GTO. Young people went wild. The Pontiac GTO is often called the first muscle car, and it was the one that launched the craze for powerful, affordable street machines.
At forty, DeLorean was appointed head of the Pontiac division: the youngest division chief in GM history. Long hair, an unbuttoned shirt, model wives. He looked like a rock star among gray suits, and they returned his feelings with mutual dislike.
He later headed Chevrolet and became a vice president of the corporation. It seemed there was only one step left to the top. But DeLorean left on his own. As the story goes, he summed up his complaints about GM like this: too many accountants and too few engineers. Now he wanted to build his own car.
Why was the DeLorean factory built in Northern Ireland?
The money for the dream turned up where no one was looking. Northern Ireland was living through the Troubles: explosions, patrols on the streets, mass unemployment. The British government was ready to pay tens of millions of pounds to anyone who would give people jobs.
DeLorean offered exactly that. In Dunmurry, on the outskirts of Belfast, a DeLorean Motor Company factory rose, with roughly two and a half thousand jobs. For the region it was not just a factory, but hope.
What are the technical features of the DeLorean DMC-12?
From the outside, the DMC-12 looked like nothing else on the roads of the time. The wedge-shaped silhouette was drawn by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Unpainted stainless steel panels cover a fiberglass body, and the doors fly upward like the wings of a seagull.
Beneath the steel hid a steel backbone chassis, refined by Lotus engineers. Behind the seats sat a 2.85-liter PRV V6, a joint development by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo. The American version produced about 130 hp.
Why is the DMC-12 called the DMC-12?
DMC stands for DeLorean Motor Company, and 12 is a reminder of the original plan: to sell the car for about $12,000. In showrooms it cost twice as much, but the name stuck.
Car specifications
| Parameter | Value |
| Model | DeLorean DMC-12 |
| Years of production | 1981–1982 |
| Engine | PRV V6, 2.85 L, rear-mounted |
| Power | about 130 hp (American version) |
| Body | stainless steel panels, gull-wing doors |
| Design | Giorgetto Giugiaro (Italdesign) |
| Production run | about 9,000 |
Why did DeLorean Motor Company go bankrupt?
The car came out years later than promised, more expensive than planned and slower than it looked. The market had just been hit by a recession. Thousands of DMC-12s sat unsold.
Debts grew, and the British government refused to provide new money. The company was placed into receivership. It was then that DeLorean, according to the script, grabbed at a "quick rescue."
What was John DeLorean arrested for?
DeLorean's former neighbor, who had become an FBI informant, proposed a deal: invest in a shipment of cocaine and use the profit to save the factory. It was an undercover operation. In the autumn of the year after sales began, DeLorean was caught red-handed in a Los Angeles hotel.
A jury acquitted DeLorean: he was found to be the victim of entrapment. But the company was already gone, and his wife left. "Would you buy a used car from me?" — that, as the story goes, was his bitter joke after the verdict.
How did the DeLorean end up in Back to the Future?
Three years after the arrest, the silver car took flight on cinema screens. In early drafts of the script, the time machine was meant to be a refrigerator. The filmmakers changed their minds and chose the DMC-12: with its doors raised, it looked like a flying saucer.
Doc Brown's car, the flux capacitor, 88 miles per hour. The DeLorean became immortal, but already without its creator.
In the DMC-12, the engine sat right behind the backs of the driver and passenger and, with every kilometer, breathed in road air along with dust. Today your car's engine does the same, even if it hides under the hood.
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Who owns the DeLorean name today?
John lost control of the company back when it was placed into receivership and the factory was closed. Today the DeLorean name belongs to Stephen Wynne, a mechanic from Liverpool who bought up the spare parts of the bankrupt factory in Texas. John's family has neither a stake nor any profits. His widow went to court over the rights and money connected with the name and the film, but the court did not side with her.
DeLorean himself went through personal bankruptcy, lost his estate and died at the age of eighty. To the end of his life he nurtured the idea of a new car, but never built it.
Do you own a DeLorean too? Or a car you feel just as passionate about? Today's cars are more refined than the DMC-12, but every engine, just as back then, needs clean air, and timely filter replacement protects the engine for a long time.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
| 1925 | John Zachary DeLorean was born in Detroit |
| 1964 | Debut of the Pontiac GTO, DeLorean's first big success |
| 1965 | DeLorean became head of Pontiac at the age of forty |
| 1973 | DeLorean left General Motors |
| 1975 | Founding of DeLorean Motor Company |
| 1981 | Start of DMC-12 production in Dunmurry near Belfast |
| 1982 | Arrest in Los Angeles and closure of the factory |
| 1985 | Premiere of Back to the Future |
The boy who vowed not to stand at the assembly line got his wish: he himself decided which car would come off the line. But the world remembered him not by the factory of dreams in Belfast, but in a hotel room with a suitcase on the table. The car, meanwhile, flew on without him, into the movies and into the future.
In the next episode of "Birth of Auto Legends," another story awaits you about a man and the car he left to the world. And what do you think: did the film make the DeLorean famous — or did the film simply find a car that had long deserved it?
The whole story in comic form
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9 / 9Frequently asked questions
Who created the DeLorean?
The DeLorean DMC-12 was created by John Zachary DeLorean, an American engineer and former top executive at General Motors, known as the "father" of the Pontiac GTO. He founded DeLorean Motor Company and built a factory in Dunmurry near Belfast, Northern Ireland. The car's design was developed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and the chassis was refined by Lotus engineers under the direction of Colin Chapman.
When was the DeLorean DMC-12 produced?
The DeLorean DMC-12 was produced from 1981 to 1982 at the factory in Dunmurry, on the outskirts of Belfast. In less than two years, about 9,000 cars were built. Production stopped after the company's financial collapse and the British government's decision to close the factory. Some of the cars were still unsold at that point.
Why is the DMC-12 called the DMC-12?
DMC is an abbreviation of DeLorean Motor Company. The number 12 comes from the original plan to sell the car for about $12,000. In practice, the DMC-12 reached the market significantly more expensive, at about $25,000, but the name stayed. In everyday speech the car is most often simply called the DeLorean.
What engine does the DeLorean DMC-12 have?
The DeLorean DMC-12 has a 2.85-liter PRV V6 engine, a joint development by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo. The engine is mounted at the rear, behind the seats. The American version produced about 130 hp, which seemed modest for a car with such a futuristic look. Because of this, the DMC-12 was criticized as slower than its appearance promised.
What is the DeLorean's body made of?
The outer panels of the DeLorean DMC-12 are made of unpainted stainless steel with a characteristic brushed finish. Beneath them is a fiberglass body mounted on a steel backbone frame. The doors open upward in a gull-wing arrangement. It was the steel shine and these doors that made the car recognizable at first glance.
Why was the DeLorean factory in Northern Ireland?
The British government provided DeLorean Motor Company with tens of millions of pounds to create jobs in Northern Ireland. The region was then going through a period of violence known as the Troubles and suffered from high unemployment. The factory in Dunmurry near Belfast was meant to provide work for roughly two and a half thousand people.
Why did DeLorean Motor Company go bankrupt?
The DMC-12 reached the market late, cost significantly more than planned and did not live up to expectations for performance. Sales coincided with an economic recession, so thousands of cars sat unsold. Debts grew, the British government withdrew further funding, the company was placed into receivership, and the factory was closed in 1982.
What was John DeLorean arrested for?
In 1982, John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles during an undercover FBI operation. He was accused of participating in a cocaine deal that was supposedly meant to save the company. The deal was proposed by an informant, DeLorean's former neighbor. In 1984, a jury acquitted him, finding him the victim of entrapment by the investigators.
Why was the DeLorean chosen for Back to the Future?
According to a popular version, in early drafts of the Back to the Future script the time machine was a refrigerator. The filmmakers chose the DeLorean DMC-12 for its futuristic look: the steel body and gull-wing doors made it resemble a flying saucer. The film came out in 1985, three years after the company's collapse, and made the car iconic.
Who owns the DeLorean brand now?
The rights to the DeLorean name today belong to the Texas company of Stephen Wynne, a mechanic originally from Liverpool who bought up the stock of spare parts from the bankrupt factory. John DeLorean's family has neither a stake nor any profits in the business. DeLorean's widow went to court over the rights connected with the name, but the court did not side with her.
When did John DeLorean die?
John DeLorean died in 2005 at the age of 80. In his last years he went through personal bankruptcy and lost his estate. Despite the acquittal, his reputation never recovered after the arrest, and his main creation, the DMC-12, became famous thanks to the movies, without his participation.
