[DMCForum] Car Developer John DeLorean Dies at 80

["Scott Mueller" <scott.a.mueller@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mar 20, 1:59 PM EST

Car Developer John DeLorean Dies at 80 
By JEFFREY GOLD
Associated Press Writer




NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- John Z. DeLorean, the innovative automaker who left a
promising career in Detroit to develop the short-lived gull-winged sports
cars featured as a souped-up time travel machine in the "Back to the Future"
movies, has died. He was 80.
DeLorean died late 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.
"Obviously, we're deeply saddened by the passing of an incredible, talented
car person and loving family member," said DeLorean's nephew, Mark DeLorean.
DeLorean was among just a handful of U.S. entrepreneurs who dared start a
car company in the last 75 years. Nearly all faded away, but his crashed
spectacularly amid drug charges.
A Detroit native, DeLorean "broke the mold" of staid Midwestern auto
executives by "going Hollywood," and pushed 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, fondly
dubbed the "Goat" by auto enthusiasts.
DeLorean was a rising if unconventional executive at GM who many believe was
destined for its presidency before he quit in 1973 to launch the DeLorean
Motor Car Co. in Northern Ireland. Eight years later, the DeLorean DMC-12
hit the streets.
Its hallmarks, such as an unpainted stainless steel skin and the gull-wing
doors, have been ignored by mainstream automakers. The angular design,
however, earned it a cult following, and the car was a time-traveling
vehicle for Michael J. Fox in the popular "Back to the Future" films of the
late 1980s.
But the factory produced only about 8,900 cars in three years, estimated
John Truscott, membership director of the DeLorean Owners Association. That
figure is dwarfed by the major automakers, who sell more than a million
vehicles a month.
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 his venture.
DeLorean used an entrapment defense to win acquittal on the drug charges in
1984, despite a videotape in which he called 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, although
his passion for cars did not abate. After declaring bankruptcy in 1999, he
said he wanted to produce a speedy plastic sports car selling for only
$20,000.
A public viewing was tentatively set for Wednesday at the funeral home,
located north of Detroit, with a private burial scheduled for Thursday at
White Chapel Cemetery in the Detroit suburb of Troy.
C 2005 The Associated Press.

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