The meteoric rise and fall of John DeLorean
Bad-boy exec looked ready to take reins of GM but instead risked it all on his own
Of all the auto ventures that might have been, few measure up to John DeLorean’s stainless-steel sports car. The story seems more fiction than fact: a “bad-boy” exec with no use for rules, an unusual car that couldn’t find its footing, and a narcotics sting some believe was a last grasp at success.
John Zachary DeLorean was born in Detroit in 1925 to factory workers, and earned degrees in mechanical and automotive engineering. He began his career with a short stint at luxury carmaker Packard before joining GM’s Pontiac division in 1956.
Under general manager Semon (Bunkie) Knudsen, Pontiac was transforming from what DeLorean called “an old lady ’s division” into a performance brand. For 1961 there was a new compact model, the Tempest, and while it was popular in its own right, DeLorean thought he could do better. By now he was Pontiac’s chief engineer, and for 1964 he had his team build one with a 389-cubic-inch (6.3-litre) V8. The Tempest’s strongest engine was a 280-horsepower V8, while this version made 348 hp.
But GM had a policy that limited horsepower by the vehicle’s weight, and the mocked-up car exceeded it.
And that was a double whammy, because DeLorean loved fast cars and hated rules. So he did what any self-respecting car guy would do: he found a loophole. Management scrutinized models, not add-ons, so he called it the GTO package, buried it deep in the options list, and quietly told dealers how to order it. By the time the top brass caught on, he’d sold so many that the GTO soon became a model on its own.
He moved to Chevrolet, but wanted to build something completely different from what was going out the GM factory doors. Although it looked like he might soon be named company president, he resigned in 1973. The following year, he registered the DeLorean Motor Company to build an allnew sports car.
It’s extremely expensive to create a car from scratch, and DeLorean used his reputation to convince 345 American car dealers to back him at $25,000 each.
Funding also came from partnerships, banks, and private investors. As with the similarly-styled but unrelated (and equally doomed) Bricklin, built in 1974 by entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin in New Brunswick with government funding, DeLorean wanted to build his factory in a jurisdiction that was eager for jobs and generous with cash. He found it in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
His team included top execs taken from Chrysler, Jaguar, Aston Martin and GM. Former Pontiac engineer William Collins designed the car, and an Italian coachbuilder created the first prototype in 1976. DeLorean wanted a rotary engine, but problems with that resulted in substituting a rear-mounted, fuelinjected 2.8-L V6 from France’s PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) making 130 hp. Transmission choices were five-speed manual or three-speed automatic.
The original design used a revolutionary substructure made of plastic and fibreglass instead of a frame, but development would have taken too much time and money. Instead, DeLorean brought in Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus, who created a steel “backbone” frame for it. The unpainted stainless steel body was actually a skin over fibreglass panels.
Building the car wasn’t easy: the gull-wing doors caused headaches, and it was difficult to fit the steel panels. The cars were promised for 1979, but production didn’t start until 1981. His team worked hard to get the company going, but DeLorean was seldom part of it. He was busy on several other projects, including six months working on the government bailout Chrysler was requesting in the U.S. He spent only 10 to 12 days each month at the factory.
The low-volume car was expensive: it was $26,175 for 1981 and it rose to $29,825 the following year, although dealers soon slashed prices when sales turned out to be sluggish. Although DeLorean intended it to compete with brands such as Porsche, the heavy steel frame’s weight taxed the small engine, and auto reviewers complained about its uninspired handling and performance.
DeLorean was burning through cash, and in January 1982 a complicated stock issue he expected would raise $27 million was cancelled. The British government had already invested some $138 million, and wouldn’t supply any more unless DeLorean could raise an equal amount from investors. The company went into receivership, and on October 18, 1982, the government announced plans to close it.
A day later, John DeLorean was arrested in a sting operation in Los Angeles, charged with attempted trafficking of 24 kilograms of cocaine. It’s believed he planned to use the proceeds to fund his car.
He was acquitted two years later on grounds of entrapment, and later beat subsequent charges of tax evasion and fraud. In 1985, his car found lasting fame when the movie Back to the Future put a flux capacitor into one and went timetravelling with it.
A total of about 9,000 DeLoreans were built. A Texas company now owns the name and provides restoration services, although its promised date for an all-new DeLorean has come and gone.
John DeLorean died in 2005 and is buried in Troy, Mich., with his gull-wing car depicted on his bronze marker.
DeLorean loved fast cars and hated rules. So he did what any self-respecting car guy would do: he found a loophole.