BERIGAN Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Car Developer John DeLorean Dies at 80 25 minutes ago Top Stories - AP By JEFFREY GOLD, Associated Press Writer NEWARK, N.J. - John Z. DeLorean, the innovative automaker who left a promising career in Detroit to develop the stainless steel-skinned, gull-winged sports car bearing his name and was acquitted of charges he planned to sell $24 million worth of cocaine to support the venture, has died at the age of 80. DeLorean died Saturday at Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., of complications from a recent stroke, said Paul Connell, an owner of A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Directors in Royal Oak, Mich., which was handling arrangements. DeLorean, whose namesake car was turned into a time machine in the "Back to the Future" movies, was among just a handful of U.S. entrepreneurs who dared start a car company in the last 75 years. DeLorean "broke the mold" of staid Midwestern auto executives by pushing General Motors Corp. to offer smaller models, auto historians said. While at GM, he created what some consider the first "muscle car" in 1964 by cramming a V-8 engine into a Pontiac Tempest and calling it the GTO. Although he was a rising if unconventional executive at GM, and was believed by many to be destined for its presidency, he quit in 1973 to launch the DeLorean Motor Car Co. in Northern Ireland. Eight years later, the DeLorean DMC-12 hit the streets with its unpainted stainless steel skin and gull-wing doors. Its angular design earned it a cult following, and the car was a time-traveling vehicle for Michael J. Fox in the "Back to the Future" films of the late 1980s. However, the factory produced only about 8,900 cars in three years, estimated John Truscott, membership director of the DeLorean Owners Association. DeLorean's company collapsed in 1983, a year after he was arrested in Los Angeles, accused in a sting of conspiring to sell $24 million of cocaine to salvage the company. DeLorean used an entrapment defense to win acquittal on the drug charges in 1984, despite a surveillance videotape in which he was shown calling a suitcase full of cocaine "good as gold." He was later cleared of defrauding his investors, but continuing legal entanglements kept him on the sidelines of the automotive world. He declared bankruptcy in 1999. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron S Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 (edited) Sounds like it's time for a Martin Scorsese-directed biopic, which will earn more money than DeLorean ever earned with his car, or any other "enterprise" in which he was involved. Edited March 20, 2005 by Ron S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 RIP - but still not a popular man in these here parts after de-frauding HM Government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 We rode the Back To The Future ride at Universal Studios just this past Monday. Great simulator ride, highly recommended! If I'd known he was about to die, I'dve had us all wear black armbands or some kinda shit like that. Just goes to show you, you can't help if you don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 (edited) I once worked right around the corner from the one of the first dealerships. The "cartoonist" we worked for had one of them stainless jobs w/ the slant blind rear window, nice! Edited March 20, 2005 by Man with the Golden Arm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted March 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 When I think of him, I will always think of the first (American) G.T.O. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted March 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Dig the performance of a "stock" Royal Pontiac car.... 1964 Performance Car and Driver, March 1964 389 3x2 bbl V8 0 to 60 mph . . . . 4.6 sec. 0 to 100 mph . . . . 11.8 sec. Standing 1/4 mile . . . .13.1 sec. @ 115 mph Note: As revealed later, the GTO tested was heavily breathed on by Royal Pontiac, a noted Pontiac GTO tuner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonym Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Imagine how hard it would be to clean those DeLoreans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Imagine how hard it would be to clean those DeLoreans. Brillo pads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 My father used to have one. Not a problem to clean with soap and water. For more thorough jobs use stainless steel cleaner common in restaurants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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