final credits - john delorean
John DeLorean was among a handful of entrepreneurs who attempted to start a car company in the last 75 years. But instead of becoming the new king of America's car industry, he ended up a jester, his career crashing spectacularly amid drug charges as a result of an F.B.I. sting operation. DeLorean died March 19, 2005 at age 80 of a stroke.
A Detroit native, DeLorean started his career with the Packard Motor Car Co. where he developed an innovative automatic transmission system that he called the "ultramatic." He made the leap to General Motor's Pontiac division in 1956 and became director of advanced engineering. His designs for the Catalina and Bonneville won praise from notable auto racers, and his compact Tempest model was named "car of the year" by Motor Trend magazine in 1961, the year he was promoted to GM chief engineer.
DeLorean then created what some consider to be the first "muscle car" in 1964 when he crammed the Bonneville’s powerful 389-cubic-inch V-8 engine into the smaller body of the Tempest/LeMans, calling it the GTO, after a Ferrari coupe called the Gran Turismo Omologato. The car was nicknamed the "Goat" by car enthusiasts and inspired the song "Little GTO," a hit for Ronnie and the Daytonas.
DeLorean also developed the Pontiac Grand Prix and the Firebird, which proved enormously popular with younger buyers, and led to his being named head of the Pontiac division in 1965. While at Pontiac, he was credited with creating the overhead-cam engine, concealed windshield wipers, self-cancelling lane-change turn signals, vertically stacked headlights, windshield-encased radio antennas, racing stripes and an emphasis on cockpit-like driver consoles among over 100 other patents.
DeLorean first started to ruffle feathers within the auto giant when he suggested that GM abandon some its bigger cars in favour of smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. His introduction of the Monte Carlo model after being named head of the Chevrolet Division in 1969 helped enrich GM's coffers. He also introduced the compact, fuel-efficient Vega, anticipating the fuel crisis of the mid-1970s. It turned out his advocacy of smaller cars had been right on the money.
DeLorean was promoted again, to chief of GM's truck and car division. And in April, 1972, at a time when many believed the unconventional executive was destined for GM's presidency, DeLorean resigned.
DeLorean decided to set up a network of companies to design, manufacture and market a sports car. Eight years later, the DeLorean DMC-12 hit the streets. It surprised no one when he named the car after himself.
Suggesting that it would help win its war with the Irish Republican Army, DeLorean got the British government to invest more than $140 million in his venture in hopes of stimulating the economy in Belfast, North Ireland, where a modern plant was constructed. As a foreboding of what was to come, the plant needed two doors, one for Protestants to enter and exit, another for Catholics. American investors put up another $31 million, among them entertainers Johnny Carson, who contributed $500,000, and Sammy Davis Jr., who coughed up $150,000.
The individual design points of the DeLorean were not new or unique, but had never appeared together in a single automobile before: a two-seater with a rear-mounted, 130 horsepower 2.8-litre aluminum block V-6 fuel-injected engine, gull-wing doors, independent four-wheel suspension, a 62-inch wide stance with the front wheels smaller than the rear (to improve handling) wrapped up in an angular and unpainted stainless steel skin that could achieve 100 kmh (60 mph) in under eight seconds. However, in 1981 its $25,000 price tag was almost double that of its principal competitor - GM's Corvette.
Its visual appeal was immediate (and was put to best use to use in the three Back To The Future films) but unsold DeLoreans soon began piling up at dealerships. The factory only produced about 8,900 cars in three years, many unsold.
Short of cash, DeLorean asked the British government for another $30 million. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, already under fire for the earlier investment, turned him down. In February, 1982, the British government declared the DeLorean Motor Co. insolvent and appointed a receiver to take over the firm.
Desperate to keep his company rolling, DeLorean found himself in October, 1982 under the unblinking eye of a hidden video camera. DeLorean was arrested by FBI agents, charged with buying, and then re-selling, either 55 or 220 pounds [reports vary] of cocaine from Colombia, then worth $24 million. He faced more than 60 years in prison.
While two others involved with the deal plead guilty, receiving sentences of five and ten years, DeLorean's lawyers put the government on trial in what has since become known as the ‘entrapment defense.’ DeLorean's defense contended that he had been conned by a lying government informant, was enticed by prospects of big investments in his dying company, that government agents lied, destroyed crucial notes, backdated documents, choreographed the videotape evidence, while choosing a smuggler and providing much of the up-front money for the scheme.
DeLorean never took the stand, and after 29 hours of deliberation, a jury acquitted him on all counts. DeLorean was acquitted again the next year in 1985 after a grand jury accused him of siphoning off about $9 million that investors had put into his auto company.
The nearly 40 legal cases stemming from the death of the DeLorean Motor Co. took years to sort out. After declaring bankruptcy in 1999, DeLorean said he wanted to produce a speedy plastic sports car selling for only $20,000 and which would survive the impact of road accidents. Recently, DeLorean sold watches over the Internet under the brand name DeLorean Time (the watches were named "D=MC2" and cost $3,495 each). Those who purchased the high-priced watch would be guaranteed a spot on the waiting list for the new sports car. Nothing came of the venture.
DeLorean's personal life mirrored his meteoric rise and fall in the auto industry. Early in his career at GM, his lifestyle conformed to the corporate image of an executive. He cut his hair short, wore conservative, three-piece suits and put on weight. He and his wife, the former Elizabeth Higgins, belonged to the right country club and attended the right social functions.
As he ascended the steps of the ladder, DeLorean divorced his wife, underwent cosmetic surgery to enhance his jaw, let his hair grow, dyed it jet black to cover the gray, went on a diet, abandoned the button-down look for monogrammed shirts with plunging necklines and, almost blasphemously, drove a Maserati instead of a Corvette.
DeLorean was then frequently seen with the likes of Candice Bergen, Tina Sinatra and Ursula Andress. In 1969, he married model Kelly Harmon. DeLorean was 45 at the time, his bride was 20. The president of Ford was best man at the wedding. In 1973, the marriage ended and DeLorean then married another beauty-model, Cristina Ferrare. He was 48, she was 22. They shared four homes that eventually included a 434-acre estate in the exclusive foxhunting country of Bedminster Township, New Jersey. The couple divorced in 1985.
In January, 2000, a federal judge approved sale of the estate to a golf course developer for $15.25 million. The course is now operated by Donald Trump. All of the money went to DeLorean's creditors. A few weeks later, vans hauled away the furnishings, most of which also were sold to satisfy outstanding debts.
Neighbours would later describe DeLorean as a man who kept to himself, and would often be seen picking up trash along area roadways. He last drove an Acura.
DeLorean's company survives today as an outfit in Texas that bought all of the remaining DeLorean parts, and repairs and refurbishes cars for collectors. For more about the DMC-12, visit the DeLorean Owners Association site or Tamir's DeLorean site.