Gull wing doors only require 14 inches of clearance Somewhere between 15-25 right hand drive cars left the factory two gold plated cars were produced. None of the cars were painted

Brought up in Detroit, it's no surprise that John Delorean would end up passionate about cars. Having gained a masters degree in automotive engineering, Delorean climbed his way up the corporate ladder to become chief engineer at Pontiac at the age of 36. Responsible for the Pontiac GTO, he revived the marque at a time when it was failing to appeal to a younger customer base.

Climbing further up the ladder via Chevrolet he became vice president of GM's American car and truck divisions in 1973. The ride to the top wasn't smooth though with his manner and initiative ruffling many feathers. Expected by some to become the next president of GM, the management at GM thought otherwise and he found himself out of a job instead.

With a successful career behind him, but still with many supporters Delorean was now in a position to pursue his own goal of producing his own car from scratch. His target was to design and build a car that would be "As safe as possible, reliable, comfortable, handle and perform well, be enormous fun to drive and unmistakably elegant in appearance."

Ethical Sports Car

Starting with a small office in Detroit, he set about getting the company off the ground. Working closely with a former GM engineer, Bill Collins, work started on the design in 1974. Delorean was excited about the prospect of building his 'ethical' sports car using new materials and manufacturing techniques. The car was to feature safety systems that no other manufacturers were offering at the time.

A style brief including gull-wing doors was given to Giorgetto Giugiaro of Ital Design, one of the world's top designers. Collins worked on the structural design for some time, producing a number of prototypes before John Delorean mysteriously sidelined him and began talking to Porsche, hoping they would design the car for him. With Porsche requiring a four year lead time, Delorean then turned to Lotus for inspiration.  At the time Lotus was struggling and Colin Chapman was persuaded to take on the work to save the ailing company.

Heavyweight

Ironically when Lotus became involved, the car sprouted many powered goodies that weren't in Bill Collins' original design. Collins was of the opinion that the car should be kept as simple as possible with no electric windows, heated mirrors etc. to complicate the car or go wrong. Many of the new materials and techniques that were originally planned also fell by the wayside with only the stainless steel body (bolted to a fibre-glass under-body), gull wing doors and rear engine surviving.

The target market was the USA and it was orginally intended that the cars be produced there too. The financial motivation for producing the car abroad was compelling though. Initially Puerto Rico was selected until the British Government stepped in and offered massive incentives for Delorean to locate themselves in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.

The engine was sourced from Renault, in the shape of a 2.8 litre V6 as used in Volvos destined for the USA. With all the necessary polution containment measures bolted on, the engine churned out a puny 130bhp.

The DMC-12 was named with the goal of producing the car for $12,000 but once the long development process was complete it retailed at $28,000.

Quality

Quality problems afflicted the original cars, although demand was still high. Strong initial sales prompted production to be increased to 400 cars a week by mid 1981. By 1982 though, this overproduction was causing problems with insufficient sales to support the volume. It wasn't long before the British Government, who had heavily supported the company called in the receivers.

At this point John Delorean got mixed up in dodgy deals as he tried to save his company. Claiming that he thought he was involved in a legitimate business deal, Delorean got caught up in a drugs deal, was arrested and subjected to a lengthy legal battle and trial before being acquitted.

All at Sea

In the meantime, the British Government had passed the Delorean Motor Company Limited over to a company by the name of Consolidated. They assembled the remaining 1983 cars taking the total (recorded) production total to 6,539 cars. In a move that has never been fully explained (other than as a fit of anger?) the moulds for the body were dumped in the Atlantic ensuring that no further cars could be made.

Despite further drugs scandals, Delorean still has petrol in his veins and only recently was looking at producing a new car, but with his reputation badly tarnished, if that project is still on the table, funding is sure to prove a challenge.

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