Many brands were featured prominently in Back to the Future, but the most iconic of them all had already ceased to exist as a company by the time the first film came out.
The DeLorean DMC-12 and Back to the Future are inseparable. Setting aside Marty's self-lacing Nike Air-Mags and hoverboards, the DeLorean stands out as the movie franchise's most iconic prop. So, what exactly is a DeLorean?
The story starts with the company's namesake, John Z. DeLorean, a General Motors executive who began his career at Pontiac, making a name for himself after devising the GTO, the muscle car that started it all.
By dropping in a powerful V8 and a host of performance goodies in the rather humdrum Pontiac Tempest, DeLorean virtually created the template for the muscle car, helping triple Pontiac's sales in the process. Victories with the Firebird and Grand Prix made a rock star out of DeLorean, who became an icon in his own right, dating famous models and wearing expensive suits.
He was promoted to lead Chevrolet, which was (and still is) GM's largest division, but he rubbed many of his colleagues the wrong way. While most automotive executives were very staid and conservative, DeLorean was bombastic. He left GM in 1973 under somewhat mysterious circumstances, though it seemed he was unhappy with the corporate culture.
DeLorean didn't need to work after his resignation, since GM still paid him six-figures a year, but he was restless. A couple of years later, he began to think about developing an "ethical" sports car.
According to an excellent history prepared by Ate Up With Motor, DeLorean wanted a sports car that was fast, but also safe and fuel efficient, reflecting the gas-crisis influenced automotive landscape of the 1970s.
DeLorean had big ambitions for his sports car: It was to have stainless steel panels, a design by well-known car designer Giorgietto Guigiaro, a weight of 2,220 pounds, a mid-engined chassis and highly advanced safety. Development for the car would cost a small fortune, so the DeLorean Motor Company was created in 1975, with an IPO in 1977. The same year, DeLorean showed off a prototype for the DMC-12 sports car, complete with its iconic gull wing doors, creating a stir in the process.
From there, things didn't go so well.
DeLorean sourced a V6 engine jointly developed by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo (called appropriately, the PRV V6), which required a Renault transmission. It wasn't a bad powertrain, but the mid-engine layout had to change to a rear-engine design, not an ideal setup for handling.
To engineer the chassis, DeLorean turned to Lotus, the english car company known for building great handling cars. Lotus' engineers, working under a time crunch, added more than 500 pounds to the DMC-12's weight, doing away with some of DeLorean's proposed advanced safety features in the process. With only 130 hp on tap from the PRV V6, the DeLorean would end up being slower than a contemporary Porsche 911, which had 172 hp to push around 2630 pounds of car.
The biggest issue wasn't the car's development, it was the DeLorean factory.
The biggest issue wasn't the car's development, it was the DeLorean factory. DeLorean decided to build a factory in Northern Island, getting an extremely healthy investment from the British government. It created jobs in a tumultuous country, but the factory workers lacked experience, leading to cars with incredibly poor build quality when production finally began in 1981.
The DMC-12 wasn't a bad car, but at $25,500, it was vastly too expensive for its lack of quality and performance. What was fast, though, was the rate at which DeLorean was loosing money. A glut of unsold cars and mounting expenses forced DeLorean to close its doors in 1982, though many cars were sold as the 1983 model.
Things just got worse for the carmaker. Much worse.
On October 19, 1982, the same day DeLorean's factory was announced to be closed, the man behind the car was arrested in a cocaine trafficking bust. He had been set up by his neighbor, an FBI informant, and was caught at an LA hotel saying "it's better than gold" after being given a large case of cocaine by the undercover FBI agents.
He was acquitted in August 1984, successfully claiming governmental entrapment, but the damage to his reputation and finances had been done.
That's why including a DeLorean in 1985's Back to the Future was somewhat of a joke in and of itself, that and the futuristic look suited Doc Brown's character well. Funnily enough, Doc's time machine was nearly a Ford Mustang because Ford — a company that existed — would have paid for product placement, but screenwriter Bob Gale wouldn't have any of it.
"I said, 'No, no, no, Doc Brown doesn't drive a fucking Mustang.' It had to be a DeLorean," said Gale, speaking to Adweek. A rather incredible decision given the franchise's love of product placement.
Thanks to the film, the DeLorean was elevated to icon-status, with licensing for toy cars reportedly paying DeLorean's bills. DeLorean even sent Gale and Director Robert Zemeckis a thank you letter. n the movies, the DeLorean was allowed to exist in a pure form; the cocaine scandal and the car's failure didn't matter. Then and now, the car looks like a bright vision of the future.
On Back to the Future day in 2015, Verizon and Lyft brought a handful of DeLoreans to New York City as a promotion. Matthew Bozievich, president of the DeLorean Mid-Atlantic Club, took me for a brief ride in his 1981 model.
In busy Times Square, his car drew a crowd, and unlike in something like a Ferrari or Lamborghini, all the attention was positive. Some recognized its appearance, but many were happy to experience the way this car communicates joy;
strip away all the drama and what remains is DeLorean's vision for a brighter future.
strip away all the drama and what remains is DeLorean's vision for a brighter future.
Where Back to the Future II's 2015 was often a dystopia, DeLorean's — who passed away at 80 in 2005, due to complications from a stroke — was optimistic. asked Bozievich how his DeLorean was to drive. "Shit," he replied. His in particular is in need of some suspension work to make it the best it can be, but even the very best DeLoreans aren't the sports cars by which other sports cars are defined. But to him, this isn't the sort of car you buy to tear up backroads with; you buy it because it's special. You buy it because, well, it's a DeLorean, and that's reason enough.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
