"That's right, Marty, I built a time machine out of a DeLorean.... I figure, since John DeLorean almost DID TIME because of this baby, it makes perfect sense...."
-Dan
(cribbed from MAD Magazine)
Posted on 03/20/2005 10:35:27 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
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.
I saw a DeLorean out on the road just yesterday. Was wondering what had happened to this guy.
Spoiled rotten children in the Jersey Highlands? Say it aint so? Some of them even grow up to right books about how the Republican party isn't "inclusive" enough.
right=write. I need to cut back on the vino...
I had the opportunity to drive a Delorean once...It was running beautifully when the cops pulled me over. Unbeknownst to me, as I was driving along, the car was sucking up the white line along the side of the road.
Can you splain!!!
you have freepmail
It's a DeLorean/cocaine joke....
OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LOLOL......sheesh.........this old lady has culture gap, big time. LOLOL
Ha. I was called upon yesterday to overnight an item on behalf of Evil Knevil. At least two people involved wondered of he's still alive. Is he?
DeLorean was a high-flyer who let his media-driven 'legend' go to his head. He convinced hImself that he was not subject to the laws of economics and practical business - he tried to introduce an 'exotic' sports car into a national market with no post-sales support infrastructure. Even if he had managed to sell all 8,000 cars - there was no way to maintain them across the US.
I thought the 65 still had horizontal lights. Did they change in 65?
He won his criminal case but his life totally fell apart from that moment on.
Go to Google and do an image search for "65 gto." Lots of confirmation.
BTTT
Nah, not that interested. I believe it, I've apparently just been wrong all these years.
That was SOME car. Saw one once. Man--others should have run with that! Very impressive!
"That's right, Marty, I built a time machine out of a DeLorean.... I figure, since John DeLorean almost DID TIME because of this baby, it makes perfect sense...."
-Dan
(cribbed from MAD Magazine)
That what happens when you use a Renault powertrain.
Delorean's actually look halfway decent when they're painted.
I though the engine and transaxle was from Renault?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.