Back To The Past, The DeLorean DMC-12

[sciencefiction.com]

            When I was a kid I always dreamed about driving a DeLorean DMC-12. The futuristic controls and lights in the car intrigued me; it was so fast it left trails of fire on the blacktop (as shown on the trilogy “Back to the Future”).

I remember asking my dad: “Why can’t we have the “Back to the Future” car?”

He told me: “The man who built them just doesn’t want to build them anymore and he dumped the car dies (used to shape the body panels) in the ocean so nobody else can build them.”

It made me angry that a selfish man was preventing us from being able to own a “Back to the Future” car. I still want a DeLorean, and I have always been disappointed that I couldn’t have one. I have never taken the time to research and find out the real story behind the DeLorean Motor Company, and why they no longer make the DMC-12.

Believed to be the DeLorean car dies being used as net anchors by a fishing boat in Northern Ireland [jalopnik.com]

            The founder of DeLorean Motor Company was John Z. DeLorean, former Pontiac chief engineer who also developed the Pontiac GTO. In 1973, John left GM and founded the DeLorean Motor Company in 1975. He was able to get financing from a number of sources including: Johnny Carson, Roy Clark, and Sammy Davis Jr. “DeLorean also sought lucrative incentives from various government and economic organizations to pay for constructing the company's automobile manufacturing facilities” [Wikipedia.com]. The British government gave him around 120 million dollars to build his factory in Northern Ireland, which provided the government a much needed economy boost, and also provided jobs for over 2,000 people. “Production was scheduled to begin in 1979, but … delays and budget overruns caused the assembly lines to start only in early 1981.” [Wikipedia.com]

Most of the factory workers had never had a job before, so early productions of the expensive DMC-12’s were poorly built. Due to the lack of reliability in early production, and the high sticker price of $25,000, DeLorean needed to offer an incentive to encourage consumers to buy the car. In order to boost sales, DeLorean offered a 12-month, 12,000-mile warranty. John DeLorean, “in a desperate attempt to raise the funds his company needed to survive”[Wikipedia.com] was arrested for allegedly providing funds to support drug trafficking. His company was able to produce 9,000 cars before manufacturing was halted. The British government took control of the plant and it finally went bankrupt.

John DeLorean [google images]

After DeLorean Motor Company went bankrupt there were many consumers who needed repairs and parts for their vehicles. Since the company was bankrupt, car dealers were unable get parts to perform any of the warrantied repairs. Stephen Wynne, a mechanic in England “operated an independent auto service facility that specialized in English and French cars… he was approached by a DeLorean owner who needed repairs to his car and Wynne quickly recognized the Renault drivetrain and other components commonly found on cars that his company normally serviced.” [Delorean.com/about] Word quickly spread that Wynne could repair the DeLorean. To better serve the overwhelming demand for repairs, Wynne moved his company to Houston, TX. He was later able to get the rights to rename his company “DeLorean Motor Company”, and to this day the Wynne’s “DeLorean Motor Company” offers repairs and services for the DeLorean DMC-12. On their website (delorean.com) you can purchase a restored DeLorean DMC-12 for $25,000-$55,000.

After doing more research I found that federal agents baited John DeLorean into getting involved with drug trafficking. A convicted narcotics smuggler, who later became an FBI informant, approached DeLorean with a “business opportunity”, which had been set-up by the FBI. John DeLorean put off funding the “business opportunity” until he was told that his family’s lives were in danger if he didn’t cooperate. He was told by his attorney to act as though he had the money with him and then when he went to meet the smuggler, he was arrested for drug trafficking. After his company went bankrupt, he was able to get all the charges dropped under the laws of Entrapment.

John DeLorean put everything he had into keeping his dream company afloat, federal agents had taken advantage of him in a desperate time, they threatened his family’s safety, and lured him into doing something illegal. The federal agents didn’t accomplish any good by doing this; instead they ruined John DeLorean’s company, put thousands of people out of work, and ended the production of a beautiful car.

“In the years before his death, DeLorean planned to resurrect his car company, and gave interviews describing a new vehicle called the DMC2.” [Chicago Tribune] “In an effort to gather funds for this venture, he designed and sold high-end watches via the Internet under the name DeLorean Time.” [The Washington Post]… “Purchasers were placed on a waiting list for the chance to buy one of the first DMC2s when they became available. None of the watches seem to have ever been built or delivered to customers before DeLorean's death.” [Wikipedia.com]

John DeLorean 1925-2005 [google images]