Having made a brilliant career, John Zachary DeLorean quarreled with the leadership of General Motors and, in 1973, leaving everything, resigned as vice president of the concern. The following year, he begins to create a car where he will try to invest all his ideas that were not implemented in previous posts. DeLorean wants to build a vehicle that is "as safe as possible, reliable, comfortable, great to drive and, finally, simply beautiful."
In 1978, prototypes were ready. The body design of the two-seater mid-engined coupe was developed by Giorgetto Giugiaro from ItalDesign and fully corresponded to the automotive fashion trends of those years. The highlight was the gullwing-style doors that open upwards. The car, the project Bill Collins created, was equipped with a V6 engine co-produced by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo with a volume of 2.8 liters and a capacity of 130 horsepower.
Intended almost exclusively for the American market, DMC 12 must be economical. Still, in the meantime, immediately recognizable, for this reason, the bodywork is in brushed steel non-painted, and seagull wind opening only seen before on Mercedes 300SL in 1954.
The same abbreviation chosen for this car suggests the sale's price, established at $12.000 (an amount that will be significantly increased). A few details remind the Medici I and the Hyundai Pony, two prototypes John Z. DeLorean noticed at Italdesign stand at Turin Motor Show in 1974. Those details pushed him to choose Giugiaro to design his new car.
When Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) came out in American cinemas in 1985, bringing to the DMC 12 eternal glory, the production of the car stopped because of the financial crisis that the DeLorean, in the meanwhile, moved to Northern Ireland, after only 8700 patterns.
Seth MacFarlane's American Dad! Dedicated an entire episode to the DMC12: episode 16, season 4 DeLorean Story-an. Steve discovers Stan has secretly been building his dream car for the last six years, but it is missing one vital part: the gull-wing passenger door. Quotations from Back to the Future aren't missing. Steve locates the missing part via Craiglist, and he and his dad set out for Albuquerque.
Source: www.italdesign.it
Images: ItalDesign; Andre LE ROUX; www.conceptcars.it www.carculture.com
Pictured Above: 1976 DeLorean Safety Vehicle Prototype (ItalDesign)
Pictured Above: 1976 DeLorean Safety Vehicle Prototype (ItalDesign)
Pictured Above: 1981-1983 DeLorean DMC 12 (ItalDesign)
Pictured Above: A gold-plated 1981 De Lorean offered for sale by American Express for Christmas 1980. Only two were built.