DeLorean DMC-12

Few discontinued automobiles have experienced a transformation as dramatic as the DeLorean DMC-12. The story began with John Z. DeLorean, one of the most prominent automobile executives of his generation. DeLorean had built a remarkable career at General Motors, where he became closely associated with high-performance cars and helped establish his reputation as an unconventional executive willing to challenge the conservative culture of the American automobile industry. He eventually left General Motors with ambitions to create an automobile company of his own. The DeLorean Motor Company was founded with the goal of building a distinctive sports car that would look and feel unlike the conventional automobiles offered by Detroit. The resulting vehicle became the DMC-12. Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro created its striking wedge-shaped exterior. Giugiaro was already one of the most respected automobile designers in the world, and the DeLorean reflected the angular, futuristic styling becoming increasingly influential during the 1970s. John DeLorean wanted the car to be immediately recognizable. He succeeded. The body panels were made from brushed stainless steel and normally left unpainted. That gave virtually every standard DeLorean the same metallic appearance and eliminated the traditional painted finish found on almost every other automobile. The doors were even more distinctive. Instead of swinging outward like conventional car doors, they opened upward in a gull-wing configuration. The combination of stainless steel, gull-wing doors, and an extremely low wedge-shaped body gave the DeLorean the appearance of a concept car that had somehow escaped an auto show and entered production. Turning that design into a production automobile was considerably more difficult. The original engineering plans changed substantially during development, and Lotus became involved in reworking the car before manufacturing began. The final production DMC-12 used a fiberglass body structure mounted on a steel backbone-style chassis. Power came from a rear-mounted 2.85-liter V6 developed through the partnership of Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo. In American specification, the engine produced approximately 130 horsepower. That became one of the car's most persistent criticisms. The DeLorean looked extremely fast. It was not. Its exotic styling suggested supercar performance, but acceleration was relatively modest compared with the image created by its dramatic appearance. Buyers could choose between a five-speed manual transmission and a three-speed automatic. The car's equipment level was relatively generous, and options were limited largely because the DeLorean was sold as a highly specified specialty car rather than a conventional mass-market automobile. Manufacturing took place in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. The British government provided significant financial support for the project in part because the factory promised to create badly needed jobs in an area suffering from high unemployment and political instability. For many employees, automobile manufacturing was an entirely new industry. The factory began producing cars in 1981. Early examples developed a reputation for inconsistent build quality. Problems had to be corrected as the manufacturing process matured, and cars sent to the United States sometimes required additional quality-control work before reaching customers. At the same time, the company's financial position was becoming increasingly difficult. The DMC-12 had originally been envisioned as a relatively affordable sports car, but development expenses and rising production costs pushed the actual selling price much higher. A new DeLorean cost more than $25,000 in the early 1980s, placing it in competition with established performance and luxury cars. That made the modest engine performance increasingly difficult for buyers to overlook. The company needed substantial sales volume to remain viable. It did not get it. Demand weakened, unsold cars accumulated, and DeLorean Motor Company needed additional financing to keep the factory operating. By 1982, the company was in serious trouble. In February of that year, DeLorean Motor Company entered receivership. John DeLorean desperately searched for financing that might save the business. Then the company's financial crisis became entangled with one of the most notorious scandals in automotive history. In October 1982, John DeLorean was arrested during an FBI drug sting involving a proposed cocaine deal. The story immediately became international news. The arrest appeared to destroy what little chance remained of rescuing the automobile company. John DeLorean was ultimately acquitted after his defense successfully argued that he had been entrapped, but the verdict came long after his company had collapsed. Production in Northern Ireland stopped. Approximately 9,000 DeLoreans had been built, with some sources placing the total slightly below that figure depending on how incomplete and later-finished cars are counted. A small number of remaining vehicles were sold or titled as 1983 models. The DeLorean Motor Company was finished. At that point, the DMC-12 seemed destined to become an unusual footnote in automotive history: an ambitious but underpowered sports car produced for only a couple of years by a company that collapsed spectacularly. Then Hollywood changed the meaning of the DeLorean forever. In 1985, Universal released Back to the Future. Filmmakers needed a time machine for the story of teenager Marty McFly and scientist Doc Brown. They chose a DeLorean. The stainless-steel body and gull-wing doors already looked futuristic, making the DMC-12 an unusually convincing foundation for a fictional machine capable of traveling through time. The movie transformed the car with fictional equipment including the flux capacitor, time circuits, cables, switches, lights, and a nuclear reactor. The DeLorean needed to reach 88 miles per hour before it could travel through time. Back to the Future became the highest-grossing movie of 1985 and one of the most enduring films of its generation. The DeLorean returned in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III. A car whose manufacturer had already gone bankrupt became one of the most recognizable automobiles on Earth. The real DeLorean had failed commercially. The fictional DeLorean became immortal.

The DeLorean DMC-12 was discontinued because the DeLorean Motor Company ran out of the money required to continue producing it. The problem was not caused by a single event. Developing a completely new automobile from scratch required enormous amounts of capital. DeLorean Motor Company had to design the car, engineer it for mass production, establish suppliers, construct and operate a factory, train workers, ship vehicles internationally, support dealers, and continually correct manufacturing issues. The DMC-12 also became substantially more expensive than John DeLorean's early ambitions had suggested. By the time it reached American customers, its price exceeded $25,000. That was an enormous amount of money in the early 1980s. The price placed the DeLorean against established sports and performance cars produced by companies with long histories, extensive dealer networks, and considerably greater financial resources. Performance did not necessarily justify the premium. The car's futuristic body looked like it should deliver exotic performance, but its American-market 2.85-liter V6 produced only about 130 horsepower. For buyers primarily interested in speed, more powerful alternatives existed. Build-quality problems associated with early production also hurt the car's reputation. Most importantly, DeLorean Motor Company could not sell enough cars to support its expenses. The company became increasingly dependent on additional financing while unsold inventory accumulated. By February 1982, DeLorean Motor Company had entered receivership. John DeLorean attempted to obtain additional money to save the business but was unable to secure enough conventional financing. His October 1982 arrest during an FBI cocaine sting then became inseparable from the company's final collapse. The prosecution alleged DeLorean had become involved in the proposed drug transaction while desperately seeking money. He was later acquitted after a jury accepted the defense argument that he had been entrapped. That acquittal did not save the company. The Dunmurry factory had already stopped producing cars and DeLorean Motor Company was effectively finished. The DMC-12 therefore disappeared for a different reason than an ordinary discontinued automobile. A major manufacturer did not replace it with a newer model. Its manufacturer collapsed around it.

The DeLorean DMC-12 became vastly more successful as a cultural object than it had ever been as a commercial automobile. When production ended, the DeLorean was primarily known as the product of an ambitious automobile company that had collapsed. Three years later, Back to the Future completely transformed that reputation. Director Robert Zemeckis and the filmmakers chose the DeLorean because its stainless-steel body and gull-wing doors already looked futuristic enough to serve as Doc Brown's time machine. The decision proved enormously influential. Back to the Future became a worldwide hit in 1985, and the DeLorean became central to some of its most memorable scenes. The movie established 88 miles per hour as perhaps the most famous speed associated with any automobile in popular culture. The fictional flux capacitor became inseparable from the car. The gull-wing doors, once simply an unusual design feature, became part of the visual identity of the time machine. The DeLorean returned in both Back to the Future sequels. That exposure introduced the DMC-12 to millions of people who had never seen one during its brief original production run. The car effectively received the marketing campaign its manufacturer could never have afforded. Except the manufacturer no longer existed. Surviving cars began attracting enthusiasts. Some owners restored their DeLoreans to original factory specification, while others converted them into extraordinarily detailed replicas of the Back to the Future time machine. A strong ownership community developed around maintaining a car whose original manufacturer had vanished decades earlier. Parts availability also remained surprisingly strong. A later company using the DeLorean Motor Company name acquired a large inventory of original parts and materials associated with the original cars and became an important supplier for owners and restorers. The DMC-12's stainless-steel construction contributed to its unusual longevity as a collectible. Unlike ordinary painted automobiles, the exterior did not suffer from conventional paint fading or peeling. Stainless steel presented maintenance challenges of its own, but a properly maintained DeLorean could retain much of the striking visual appearance that made it famous when new. As the 1980s became increasingly nostalgic, the DeLorean's cultural value continued growing. The car appeared in television programs, video games, advertisements, toys, model kits, memorabilia, and countless references to Back to the Future. Even people with little interest in automobiles could recognize one. That recognition is remarkable considering how few were actually built. The original production total was only around 9,000 cars. By comparison, successful mass-market automobiles can sell hundreds of thousands of examples every year. Yet the DeLorean became more recognizable than countless vehicles that sold in vastly greater numbers. Its reputation as an automobile has also become more nuanced. The criticisms remain valid. The DMC-12 was expensive. Its engine output was modest. Early build quality could be inconsistent. The company behind it was financially unstable. But the design itself has aged remarkably well. More than four decades after production began, a DeLorean still does not look ordinary. The brushed stainless-steel panels, low wedge profile, black trim, rear louvers, and gull-wing doors remain instantly recognizable. The car looks like a product of the early 1980s and simultaneously like something that never truly belonged to any ordinary era. That makes its history especially ironic. John DeLorean created a company to build an automobile that would carry his name. The company survived only a few years. The car survived in popular culture for decades. Back to the Future ultimately accomplished something DeLorean Motor Company could not. It made the DMC-12 timeless.