Vehicle Description
If ever there was an American auto executive capable of taking on
the "Big Three" at their own game, John Z. DeLorean was that
person. A professional engineer and innovator, DeLorean progressed
during his earlier career from Chrysler to Packard, where he helped
develop that company's automatic transmission. After being
recruited to GM in 1956, DeLorean was given his choice of division,
selecting Pontiac, and serving there as assistant to division head
"Bunkie" Knudsen and chief engineer Pete Estes. DeLorean helped
Pontiac rise to third place in American automobile sales rankings
by 1962 and, as chief engineer, spearheaded the development of
Pontiac's most exciting models, including the fabled GTO and 1969
Grand Prix. Rising to Pontiac division head and then serving in
that capacity at Chevrolet, where he solved that division's many
issues from 1970 to 1972, DeLorean grew tired of GM's conservative
management and political matrix, establishing his own car company
in 1973. Soon, DeLorean began the development of a prototype
two-seat sports car called the "DeLorean Safety Vehicle," renamed
"DMC-12." Colin Chapman of Lotus fame invested heavily in the
venture, and his company provided significant chassis-development
expertise. Featuring an angular, mid-engine design by Italy's famed
Giorgetto Giugiaro, brushed stainless-steel body, and
Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 engine, the DMC-12 was produced in
Belfast, Northern Ireland, with heavy financial support from
Margaret Thatcher's U.K. government. About 10,000 cars were
produced in all during 1981-82 before the promising venture was
shut down. While its original run was all too short, the DMC-12
took on a life of its own in the popular imagination, boosted by
the car's starring role (with added Flux Capacitor power) in Steven
Spielberg's 1985 blockbuster movie "Back to the Future." Purchased
for the Mile-High Collection in 2015 and benefiting from
climate-controlled storage and limited use, this unrestored and
exceptionally original 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 remains an example of
John DeLorean's heroic effort to design, develop, mass-produce and
market his own vehicle. A Sony aftermarket stereo and Cooper tires
are the only updates made to this mostly factory-stock DMC-12. From
the Mile-High Collection.