John DeLorean was a large man that lived an exorbitant life, who’s legacy is even more exorbitant. Known as the father of the revered early American muscle car the Pontiac GTO, among many others at General Motors, DeLorean made a legacy in a car that although hasn’t been physically produced in over 40 years, still lives on to this day.
The DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) DeLorean DMC-12 was produced between January 1981 and December 1982, before the company finally went bankrupt. So why is the DeLorean still revered to this day? Well in short, Hollywood. In the 1985 smash hit “Back To The Future” the DeLorean is used by the eccentric Doc Brown as a time machine, used by him and Michael J Fox’s Marty McFly character sending him back 30 years in time on a wild ride to secure his future.
Even today, the DeLorean remains one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable cars on the road for one reason — it’s look. A wedge-shaped fiberglass body covered in stainless steel panels with gullwing doors that open vertically, inspired by the Mercedes 300 SL.
Designed by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro of famed coachbuilder/designer firm Italdesign who also designed other iconic vehicles including BMW’s first and to date only super car — the M1. Other popular designs by him include the Volkswagen Golf MK1, and the similarly wedge-shaped Lotus Esprit, an also iconic car that shares the DeLorean’s movie star status, mostly known for being a submarine car in the James Bond franchise, which also shares chassis components with the DeLorean.
A vastly overlooked and one of the most interesting aspects of the DeLorean is in my opinion, the mixed bag of countries and cultures the DeLorean is made up of. The engine for example, is a Peugeot-Renault-Volvo (PRV) V6, a culmination of two French and a Swedish company. While only rated for about 130 horsepower in the DeLorean, the PRV also powered the WM P88, which is known for holding the top speed record of 252 mph at the infamous 24 Hours of LeMans.
Both the standard 5-speed manual and the 3-speed automatic transmissions were built by Renault in France, with the chassis and suspension designed by Lotus in England. Designed by an Italian, built in Northern Ireland, and of course led by an American, the DMC-12 was definitely a product of globalism.
The DMC-12 was built in the middle of a massive ongoing conflict between Unionists who wanted to remain in the U.K. and Republicans who wanted Irish independence in a decades-long feud known as “The Troubles” in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. In order to incentivize building in the area, John DeLorean was able to secure funding from the British Government in order to provide jobs and stability to ease the strife that plagued the country.
Unfortunately, due to poor sales (mainly from its high price and underperforming power figures) and the cutoff of British Government assistance, the DeLorean Motor Company went bankrupt in late 1982, following John DeLorean’s arrest by the FBI in October for alleged drug trafficking.
Now almost 45 years later, I had the opportunity to actually drive this legend and really get the lay of the land on how it’s aged and some potential quirks.
To start, getting in and out of the thing is an event in itself. Being an above-average height male (the same height as John DeLorean himself, actually), I had to basically crawl in and out of the seat to not hit my head. This is partially due to the design of the overhead doors, but also due to the fact that the car itself is incredibly short and low to the ground, especially compared to other modern cars.
Once you actually get seated and pull the door down, the first thing I noticed was the actual seating position. This is the most reclined starting position I’ve ever experienced in a car, and with the plush, comfortable leather seats, it almost felt like I was sitting on the couch watching TV. The interior of the car screams retro, whether it be the classic gauge cluster borrowed from Renault, a small cat-flap that only opens a small part of the window, or the abundance of plastic covering it all, it still somehow works and looks good.
Testing out this supposed sports car, the first thing I noticed actually driving it was the ride. Even though the steering and suspension were designed by Lotus (a name synonymous with handling and performance), and it has a rear-engine layout, which is also a design choice with handling in mind, the feeling I got driving this was most similar to the feeling I had driving my grandmother’s Ford Taurus.
Although it lacks power-assisted steering, I had no issue maneuvering it around turns, the issue is more the suspension. The front of the car rides about two inches higher than the rear, which gives a weird bobbing feeling at lower speeds as you dip down the road. The car’s biggest and most apparent enemy to me in the brief time I drove it were potholes and speed bumps, which produce a violent crashing sound every time I had the misfortune to encounter one.
The engine is noisy at idle, the car has a less-than-sterling reputation for being unreliable, and I, personally, wouldn’t want to own one. However, all of that is rendered irrelevant due to its sheer coolness factor. In my short time with the car, I saw multiple people physically walk up to it and take photos, and countless more staring wide-eyed, mouth agape in awe.
The founder of Genius Garage Casey Putsch best explained the appeal of the DeLorean when he said, “The younger people will remember the DeLorean from “Back to the Future”, all the baby boomers will remember it from all the scandals in the media with John DeLorean, but if you look past the pop culture stuff and the smears it faced, it’s actually just a really cool car.”
