Autoblog

Kathryn DeLorean appeared on the DMC talk forum as Dmckid recently and asked, "Do you have a question about JZD?" That would be John Zachary DeLorean. Members, would you believe, did have lots of questions about DeLorean, the man and the machine whose fortunes and iconic status are inseparable. Kathryn has taken the time -- in between midterms, it appears -- to address them as she can.

She says some things you might expect: it wasn't easy to grow up in a famous household that had to regularly deal with legal hassles, and the other kids weren't always kind. She even says that there aren't many memories of things that happened before she was nine years old, perhaps because she blocked them out. But she also reveals some unexpected things: DeLorean wanted to be a professional musician -- he played the clarinet -- but gave it up and went to night school for engineering. And it turns out she is not happy at all about the return of custom-built DeLoreans by the new DMC, though she doesn't say why.

Her father's favorite accomplishment is not the DMC. It's the Pontiac GTO. But the biggest accomplishment of all, for her is the man himself, who she says was "my best friend, my best teacher, my hero and remains the inspiration in all I do." Head on over to DMC Talk to find out more about the real DeLorean.

[Source: Winding Road, Photo: Josh Haldeman]

Glomming onto a Federal program in the 1970s meant to spur the development of more accessible buses, DeLorean Motor Corporation saw a potential revenue stream. Not that the DMC 80 had anything to do with their now cult-classic sports car, it wouldn't have even been built by DMC. An example of how badge engineering and pimping platforms has been going on forever in the automotive business, DeLorean was essentially planning on affixing the DMC badge to buses from Germany's FFG.

Like the DMC-12, success was not to be had. The Urban Mass Transit Administration's (now Federal Transit Administration) Transbus program was cancelled in 1981 after several years of floundering. DMC couldn't continue to devote resources to the effort, so they abandoned the licensing effort and scrapped a proposal for a bus assembly plant in New York, too. While DeLorean may be little more than a passing curiosity in automotive history, the fact that they got an automobile into production and on the market means that there are plenty of enthusiasts looking for any remaining vestiges of the company. The nature of launching an automotive enterprise also means that there's a ton of material to be strip-mined on eBay. If you find this little footnote in DeLorean's history as fascinating as we do, you can pony up bids and get your hands on a small trove of goodies like blueprints to the non-starter bus plant, a brochure for the DMC 80, and a random DeLorean certificate of achievement. Our favorite item, though, is the memo from John DeLorean to Bill Haddad, essentially saying "call this guy, he can help us, oh yeah, he was also convicted of fraud."

[Source: eBay via Winding Road]

There's still a Delorean Motor Company, but it's not in the business of building new vehicles. At least not yet. The Texas-based firm purchased a lot of the assets of John DeLorean's original entity when it went belly-up, and it, along with its regional affiliates, does a brisk business keeping the dream alive. There are about 6,500 of the 9,000 DeLoreans produced still out there, but stocks of viable restoration candidates are petering out. Every time some child of the 1980s builds a replica of the Back To The Future time machine, we lose another candidate to stupidity. The recreations do serve to keep the popularity of the gullwing GTs up, we suppose, but the modifications required end up making a car that is more conspicuous than a bright red Maybach in Amish country.

My overbearing opinion out of the way, the crux of the biscuit is that DeLorean Motor Company may soon start building new DeLoreans. They'll be produced as kit cars, side-stepping the tighter restrictions placed on truly serial-produced cars. Once DeLorean Motor Company has cleared its plate of restoration work, likely by March or April 2008, it'll start on the new cars. We'll be keeping our eye on what materializes on the DMC front – being old enough to have seen BTF in the theatres, of course we've got a lust to have a DMC-12 sitting in our driveway, whether or not we have the optional Mr. Fusion installed.

Thanks to tipster Doug.

[Source: LA Times]

Say what you will of the late John DeLorean, but when push came to shove, he never tired of searching for creative ways to promote his business interests.

One of the last initiatives he undertook was a time machine of sorts. Not quite like the one that immortalized his creation -- the stainless-steel, gull-winged DMC12 in the Back to the Future trilogy -- DeLorean Time was an initiative to sell a unique wristwatch. While you could certainly argue that any merchandising initiative – be it a timepiece or anything else – is simply another way for an automaker to raise income through alternative means, DeLorean was a little more direct about it. With the purchase of the DeLorean watch, the buyer would be entered into an unofficial contract to get first crack at the DMC2, the ill-fated sportscar which DeLorean had hoped to build before passing in 2005. By selling enough watches, DeLorean hoped, he could raise enough money to get the DMC2 into production.

Follow the jump to view a video of John DeLorean promoting the watch, or follow the link to view more photos.

[Source: Watchismo]

A few months back we told you about 10 pages of sketches done by John Delorean in 1980 that wound up on eBay. Well, this time 24 more pages of Delorean notes are up for auction dating all the way back to 1976. The sketches show details of a still-born DMC super luxury sedan that could easily be on the market today. Delorean's scribbles suggest air bags, a $49,999 price tag, front-wheel drive, carbon fiber door reinforcements, and a turbocharged rotary engine, among other ideas. Some of the notations like "special tires" are kind of funny, but how cool is it to have the doodles of what some consider to be an automotive visionary on a couple dozen pages of college ruled? The sedan would have used a Citroen CX chassis and could have been assembled with Bricklin or Jensen.

The sketches in the notes do expose Delorean as a lousy drawer, but the ideas are very fresh. A Gucci interior or promotional deals with famous athletes are thoughts that pop up today. Since the vehicle never saw the light of day, we can only speculate on where the Flux Capacitor would have been located. The trunk seems logical.

[Source: Winding Road]

John Z. DeLorean began his automotive career in 1947 when he worked part time at Chrysler while in college. From there, he rose fairly quickly in Detroit and after securing the vice president position of car and truck production for GM, DeLorean quit and formed DeLorean Motor Company.

Before DMC went belly-up in 1982, it had produced 9,000 copies of its iconic stainless-steel exotic.

But sometime before that, DeLorean, ever the dreamer, penned plans for the next DMC product: the Sedan. His 1980 notes and drawings about that future product, as well as several magazine clippings from that era could be yours if you're the winning bidder of this eBay listing.

From the description, there is even a Telex from Giorgetto Giugiaro (designer of the original DMC two-door exotic) to DeLorean.

Auction ends Tuesday. Let us know if you win.

[Source: eBay via Winding Road]