DeLorean — One Man, One Car and a Factory in Northern Ireland

DeLorean at a glance

Origins: John DeLorean at General Motors

John DeLorean was born in Detroit on 6 January 1925. He studied industrial engineering, then automotive engineering at the Chrysler Institute and business at the University of Michigan. After heading research and development at Packard, he joined GM's Pontiac division in 1956 and became its chief engineer in 1961. The Pontiac GTO of 1964, launched as an option package for the Tempest and LeMans, made his name, and in 1965 he became head of Pontiac. The story of that brand is told in the history of Pontiac.

In February 1969 DeLorean was put in charge of Chevrolet, and in 1972 he became GM vice-president for car and truck production. In April 1973 he announced that he was leaving GM to build a car of his own.

Funding the company and choosing Northern Ireland

The DeLorean Motor Company was founded in Detroit on 24 October 1975. Early money came from Bank of America loans, partnerships and private investors, among them the entertainers Johnny Carson, Roy Clark and Sammy Davis Jr. A dealer programme also made dealerships shareholders. The largest backer was the British government. According to The Times, it provided about US$120 million of the roughly US$200 million start-up costs of the late 1970s for a factory in Northern Ireland, with the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland involved.

Construction of the plant at Dunmurry, near Belfast, began in October 1978. The six buildings, with 660,000 square feet (about 61,000 m²) of floor space, were completed in 16 months by the contractors Farrans and McLaughlin & Harvey. Many of the workers had never held a job before.

The design: Giugiaro, Chapman and stainless steel

The car started as a safety-car idea. Chief engineer Bill Collins finished the first prototype in October 1976. Called DSV-1 (DeLorean Safety Vehicle), it later became the DSV-12 and then DMC-12, a name that referred to a target price of US$12,000 in 1976. The first prototype had a mid-mounted engine; the second moved it behind the rear axle.

The body was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, the design company he founded in 1968. Its outer panels were unpainted brushed stainless steel (grade SAE 304) over a glass-fibre underbody. The gull-wing doors used cryogenically preset torsion bars and gas struts developed with Grumman Aerospace. To get the car ready for production, the chassis was re-engineered by Lotus founder Colin Chapman, with a steel backbone and Y-frames derived from the Lotus Esprit. The engine was the 2.85-litre PRV V6, with 97 kW (132 PS) at 5,500 rpm in US form; a few cars that stayed in Europe had 115 kW (156 PS).

Production in Dunmurry (1981–1982)

Production was planned for 1979 but slipped. The first production car was announced on 21 January 1981. The list price was US$25,000 in 1981, rising to US$29,825 for 1982 and US$34,000 for 1983, far above the US$12,000 the name had promised. Early cars suffered from poor panel fit, alternator faults and problems with the doors. The company set up Quality Assurance Centres in California, New Jersey and Michigan to rework them before delivery. Performance was modest: DeLorean claimed 209 km/h and 0–60 mph in 8.8 seconds, but Road & Track measured 10.5 seconds.

The company needed to sell 10,000–12,000 cars a year to break even and sold about 6,000. Cost overruns, exchange rates and a recession hurt cash flow from late 1981. In March 1982 Bank of America sued over unpaid loans, and the company went into receivership in 1982.

In October 1982 John DeLorean was arrested in an FBI operation and charged with cocaine trafficking; hours before the arrest the British government announced that it would close the factory. He argued that he had been entrapped and was found not guilty in August 1984. The bankruptcy cost about 2,500 jobs. The last cars were completed on 24 December 1982 by Consolidated International, and remaining 1982 cars were re-numbered as 1983 models. The car's details are covered in the DeLorean DMC-12 article.

Back to the Future and the Texas company

The DeLorean's second life began in 1985, when the film Back to the Future turned it into a time machine; sequels followed in 1989 and 1990. Six cars and one glass-fibre replica were used, and three of the original cars survive.

On 12 May 1995 the Liverpool-born mechanic Stephen Wynne founded a new DeLorean Motor Company in Humble, Texas, with no direct connection to the original firm. It bought the remaining parts stock, registered the "DMC" logo and supplies parts, servicing and restorations. A 2015 settlement with John DeLorean's estate gave it the rights to the name and trademarks.

In May 2022 it announced the Alpha5, an electric concept with gull-wing doors and a 100 kWh battery, shown at Pebble Beach in August 2022. It had not gone into production by 2026. John DeLorean died on 19 March 2005, aged 80. The surviving model is listed in the DeLorean catalogue. More cars of the period are in the classic cars section. Its modest 97 kW against a weight of about 1.2–1.3 tonnes can be checked with the power-to-weight calculator.

DeLorean timeline

Landmark DeLorean models

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