(#2) Against GM’s Wishes, DeLorean Created A Workaround To Put Big Powerful Engines Into Smaller Cars
The GTO - short for the Italian phrase gran turismo omologato - was DeLorean's biggest success. The design, however, was one that went against GM policies and standards of practice. DeLorean wanted to put a big, powerful engine into a small automobile frame, something GM executives were ardently against. To get around this, he devised a plan with Pete Estes, the head of the Pontiac division, to get around the policy. Instead of designing a new car that featured a V-8 engine, they'd simply offer an upgrade on the current Pontiac Tempest model.
The Pontiac Tempest was introduced in 1961 as a model that, according to Motor Trend magazine, had superior, "riding qualities... probably the best in its class... [with] a precise feel at highway speeds... [and] better than average handling at all speeds." When Pontiac presented the Tempest LeMans later that year, it was a sportier version of its predecessor. Continued tweaks and options on the design in 1962 and 1963 made the midsize Tempest the perfect candidate for even more innovation.
While DeLorean and other Pontiac team members - namely Bill Collins, Russell Gee, and Jim Wangers - looked at the chassis of a Tempest one Saturday morning, Collins said, "You know, John, with the engine mounts being the same, it would take about 20 minutes to slip a 389 into this thing." In that moment, the GTO was born.
Pontiac sold the Pontiac Tempest GTOs - the first of the so-called muscle cars - as a version of the standard 1964 Tempest. The bigger V-8 engine was a $295 upgrade.
(#3) DeLorean Divorced His Wife, Completely Made Over His Appearance, And Started Dating High-Profile Actresses And Models
After the success of the GTO, John DeLorean underwent a transformation of sorts. The lifestyle that made his colleagues nervous wasn't representative of how DeLorean lived when he entered the automotive industry. Until the GTO, DeLorean looked the part of an automotive executive, donning suits and ties while going home to with his wife every night.
As his position in GM rose, DeLorean began working out, wore shirts unbuttoned down to his lower torso, and grew out his sideburns. DeLorean spent an increasing amount of time in California, socializing with the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Johnny Carson. He divorced his first wife, Elizabeth Higgins, in 1968, more interested in trying to win the affections of models and actresses such as Tina Sinatra and Ursula Andress.
DeLorean, 44 years old at the time, married his second wife, Kelly Harmon, in 1968 or 1969. Harmon (sister of actor Mark Harmon and daughter of athlete and sportscaster Tom) was a 20-year-old model. The couple spent most of their time on the West Coast and divorced in 1972.
The following year, DeLorean wed again, this time to supermodel Cristina Ferrare. DeLorean, 48, and Ferrare, 23, moved to New York, where they lived on Fifth Avenue until the early 1980s.
(#8) DeLorean Tried To Manipulate The Media, Evoking The Name Of Rupert Murdoch
One of the main stories that exposed DeLorean's inappropriate financial dealings was written by John Lisners. A freelance journalist, Lisners started investigating DeLorean after the car manufacturer himself contacted him. DeLorean, via his assistant Marian Gibson, asked Lisners to reach out to a journalist in the United States who had written a critical account of his time at General Motors. DeLorean offered Lisners £25,000 plus expenses to get the reporter to New York so he could be served legal notice to bar publication of the book. Lisners declined and found his interest in DeLorean acutely piqued.
Lisners went on to meet with Eddy Koopman, a mutual friend of DeLorean's, who told him about the engineer's excessive spending. Lisners also stayed in touch with Gibson, who contacted him in 1981 and had him come to New York, ready to provide an exclusive story. Gibson laid out the details of how DeLorean was hoping to restructure his company - taking it public - a move that would negatively affect his investors and the British government alike.
Lisners had the story of a lifetime, one he tried to sell to several London-based newspapers. By that time, media mogul Rupert Murdoch controlled four major national papers, including the London Times. Lisners contacted the newly appointed editor at the Times, Barry Askew, who was enthusiastic about the story. Askew took the story to Murdoch.
As Lisners waited for his story to go to print, he contacted DeLorean for comment. DeLorean told him, "John, you're never going to get this story published." Why? Lisners asked. "I know who you are and where you are from and you will not get it published because I am a friend of Rupert Murdoch."
DeLorean was right - Murdoch shut down the story, sending Lisners to the Daily Mirror. While the Mirror gladly published Lisners's work, the journalist was soon banned from all of Murdoch's publication outlets.
(#12) Desperate For Funding To Keep His Factory Afloat, John DeLorean Got Embroiled In A Massive Coke Deal
The DeLorean company continued to hemorrhage money. Cars were underselling, the British government denied John DeLorean additional funds when he made a request in January 1982, and the future of the entire enterprise was dire. As the British government placed the company in receivership, the Belfast factory got shut down, and some 2,500 workers were laid off, the depths of DeLorean's desperation became clear.
On October 19, 1982, DeLorean was detained and charged with possession of coke. According to FBI Special Agent Richard T. Bretzing, DeLorean "expressed an interest in financing some operation that would return quickly on his investment." DeLorean had, with the assistance of his FBI-informant neighbor, agreed to a deal through which he'd offer up DeLorean stock in exchange for more than 50 pounds of coke. This amount was only a fraction of the 220 pounds he'd agreed to purchase.
(#5) DeLorean Set Out To Start His Own Company And Make The Small, Sylish, Fuel-Efficient Cars That GM Was Against
In DeLorean's words, GM "had a moral responsibility to build smaller cars, especially in GM's case as America's major supplier of transportation equipment... We had a responsibility to do that - whether it was profitable or not. And what happened is that we didn't, and we left those cars to overseas."
Where GM failed, DeLorean was determined to step in. DeLorean founded an automobile company, aptly named the DeLorean Motor Company, in 1975. By 1977, DeLorean, assisted by former collaborator at GM, William "Bill" Collins, and Italian designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro (of Alfa Romeo fame), had created an "ethical" sports car. Collins was soon replaced by Colin Chapman, engineer and founder of Lotus Motors in the UK.
The DMC-12 was supposed to weigh less than all other sports cars - only 2,200 pounds - and get far better gas mileage. It had numerous features, including wing-like doors - to "add sex appeal" - and, despite a smaller engine, could go from "0 to 60 mph. in less than eight seconds." According to DeLorean, the car would be made in a factory absent "spray booths and paint ovens" to protect employees from "[finding] out 20 years from now they have some funny lung disease."
(#11) The Company Unveiled A Crazy-Expensive 'Gold' DeLorean As A Promotion - And Sold Two
Sales of the DeLorean didn't meet expectations, with only about 6,000 finding their way on the roads by 1982. In addition to the standard DMC-12, the company also produced an even more expensive version of the car - this one plated with 24-karat gold.
According to the original ad for the gold-plated DeLorean, it was "the car of the future - a sports car so spectacular that it surpasses the imagination." DeLorean indicated it would make 100 of the gold-plated versions, telling consumers that time was limited on such an exclusive luxury car. The DeLorean was equipped with...
A richly appointed Connolly English and Italian glove leather interior, multi-speaker high output stereo system, air conditioning, full instrumentation and electrical locking, a rear-mounted, light alloy overhead cam PRV V6 2.85 litre engine, Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, Lambda Sond/catalytic emission control, 5-speed manual, or 3-speed automatic transmission, counter-balanced gull wing doors with cryogenically pre-set stainless steel torsion bars - to name just a few of its features.
The price tag was $85,000 - "chargeable, of course, on your American Express Card account." For comparison, a Porsche 911 ran for $27,700 in 1980, while a Corvette cost just over $16,000 in 1981.
Only two gold-plated DeLoreans were sold, one to a buyer in California and the other to a customer in Texas.
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DeLorean Motor Company is a mysterious automobile company in the United States. The special thing about the company is that it has only produced one model of car, called DeLorean.In the science fiction movie "Back to the Future", the car DeLorean that can travel through time and space, was mass-produced in real life, but the company went bankrupt before the movie was released. The founder of the company is John DeLorean. This Englishman was once known as the most daring car businessman in history, and may also be the biggest car liar in history.
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