[DML] Wings of Desire

["gjl463" <gjlednicky@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's another well written article just posted on BBC News!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4369883.stm

Wings of desire  
By Jonathan Duffy 
BBC News Magazine  

  
Leaking windows, ill-fitting doors, sluggish performance... for a 
car that was trashed by the press when it hit the road in 1981 the 
DeLorean has aged remarkably well. Its creator may have died but the 
car lives on. What's its lasting appeal? 

Cars are the ultimate lifestyle purchase. What you drive speaks 
volumes about who you are. The new Mini - jolly singleton; Ford 
Focus - parent; anything with moulded spoilers - wideboy. 

So what about the DeLorean DMC-12, one of history's most talked-
about cars, although not always for the right reasons? 

"To drive one, it helps to have an ego the size of a house," says 
Chris Parnham, reflecting on the two DeLoreans in his garage. 

Such is the celebrity of the DeLorean that a simple excursion to the 
local filling station can turn into a major outing, he says. 

"You get mobbed. When you draw up at a junction everyone wants to 
let you out first so they can tuck behind you and see what it is. 
Absolutely nothing on the road gets the attention the DeLorean gets. 
You see people's jaws drop." 

 THE DELOREAN DMC-12 
 
The DMC-12 took its name from the $12,000 price tag - it actually 
sold for about $25,000
Because of US emissions standards, the DMC-12 was the first 
production car in Europe to have a catalytic converter 
The stainless steel bodywork is built of Alloy 304 - commonly used 
in the catering industry  
Costing a relatively modest £18,000 to £20,000 for a well-maintained 
model - a fraction of the price of other head-turners such as a 
classic Ferrari or Lamborghini - the DeLorean, it seems, is a car 
for show offs on a budget. 

The death, at the weekend, of John DeLorean, the controversial 
American tycoon, will do nothing to detract from the buzz about the 
cars that bear his name. 

The saga of how this maverick industrialist took £85m of government 
cash to set up a production plant in Northern Ireland in the late 
1970s, only for the whole thing to collapse amid recriminations and 
reports of lost millions, is one of those rare things: a truly 
thrilling tale about politics and industry. 

But while the DeLorean production line ground to a halt in 1982 as 
John DeLorean himself was charged with cocaine smuggling - he was 
eventually acquitted - the car itself lives on in the hearts and 
garages of fanatics. 

With its brushed stainless steel shell, gull-wing doors and low, 
wide profile, the DeLorean was an exotic creature. Targeted at the 
US market, it quickly won admirers. Talkshow host Johnny Carson, a 
DeLorean investor, was among the first to be seen pootling around LA 
in his DMC-12. 

The press, however, was less gushing. Early DeLoreans were damned 
for their leaking windows, erratic electrics and sluggishness. The 
fancy doors, meanwhile, had a tendency to jam, says Chris Parnham. 

Film role 

The DeLorean was fast becoming a relic when it won a remarkable 
reprieve - a starring role as the time machine in 1985's Back to the 
Future, one of the biggest grossing films of the decade. 

 
Chris Parnham and celebrity DeLorean owner Patrick Kielty 
Martin Gutkowski was a teenager when he saw the film. Now 28, and 
owner of two DeLoreans, he believes a recent resurgence of interest 
in the cars is down to others like him fulfilling their childhood 
dreams. 

"A lot of owners, like me, saw the film when they were young and now 
they've got the money they're living their dream." 

Originally an IT engineer, Martin's passion for DeLoreans has become 
a profession. He and a friend have set up a business in Southend, 
Essex, importing, restoring and selling on the cars to a British 
market. 

It's lucrative work. Of the 9,000 or so DeLoreans built in the early 
1980s between half and two-thirds are thought to be still on the 
road, mostly in the US. But Chris Parnham, secretary of the DeLorean 
owners club, says on average one a month is being imported back into 
the UK. 

The average age of club members is 28 - unusually young for classic 
cars, he says. Their love of the Back to the Future series also 
helps them bat off jibes about "flux capacitors" which are an 
occupational hazard for DeLorean owners. 

Like other DeLorean devotees, Chris would not be happy with just the 
one in his garage - he owns two DeLoreans, one of which is a Back to 
the Future replica, with all the additional pipework and jet-like 
exhausts. Its capacity for travelling back to 1955 high school proms 
is, however, so-far unproved. 

 
Dave Howarth with the DeLorean once owned by John Taylor (inset) 
As well as the ego factor he admits the whole John DeLorean image - 
maverick, fast-living, dicey businessman - "only adds to it" when it 
comes to the car's appeal. Owners, it seems, are happy to be 
associated with John DeLorean, warts and all. 

No-one though can hold a candle to Dave Howarth, 63, on the DeLorean 
glamour front. One of his three DMC-12s used to belong to Duran 
Duran bassist, and arch petrol-head, John Taylor. 

Dave does steady business in hiring his cars out for local PR 
stunts, especially if a company wants to convey a message about "the 
future". Safeway, for example, once borrowed one to announce its 
annual sales targets to employees, he says. 

"It's a pulling car," says Dave, perhaps shedding more light on its 
appeal to the twentysomething male market. But he sounds a note of 
caution to any Lothario intent on impressing the fillies with a spin 
in their silver dream machine. 

"The wife has only been in it twice in the 12 or 13 years since I've 
owned one, and it broke down both times." 

 









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