DeLorean Motor Company

This article is about the original company. For the unrelated successor, see DeLorean Motor Company (Texas).

DeLorean Motor Company
IndustryAutomotive
FoundedOctober 24, 1975; 49 years ago (1975-10-24)[1]
FounderJohn DeLorean
DefunctOctober 26, 1982; 42 years ago (1982-10-26)[2]
Headquarters
Detroit, Michigan[3]
,
U.S.
ProductsDMC DeLorean
Production output
9000 (estimated)

The DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) was an American automobile manufacturer formed by automobile industry executive John DeLorean in 1975.[1] It produced just one model, from early 1981 to late 1982—the stainless steel DeLorean sports car featuring gull-wing doors. Its history was brief and turbulent, ending in receivership and bankruptcy in 1982. In October 1982, John DeLorean was videotaped in a sting operation agreeing to bankroll drug trafficking, but was acquitted at the subsequent trial on the basis of entrapment.[4]

The DeLorean was featured in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985, 1989, and 1990) as the car made into a time machine by eccentric scientist Doc Brown, although the company had closed before the first film was made.

In 1995, Liverpool-born mechanic Stephen Wynne founded the DeLorean Motor Company (Texas),[5] an entirely new company not related to the original, located in Humble, Texas, and shortly thereafter acquired the remaining parts inventory,[6][7] and registered his own stylized version of the "DMC" logo trademark of DeLorean Motor Company (Texas).[8]

  1. ^ a b Suddath, Claire (19 April 2012). "The DeLorean's Time Leap". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  2. ^ "DeLorean Motor Files Bankruptcy". The New York Times. 26 October 1982. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  3. ^ "John DeLorean Heritage Tour". DeLorean Motor City. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. DMC offices in Detroit were located in this office complex at 100 West Long Lake Rd in Bloomfield Hills, MI
  4. ^ "DeLorean Acquitted of All Criminal Finance Charges". Los Angeles Times. 17 December 1986. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020.
  5. ^ "Back to the future as DeLorean goes electric". BBC News. 1 April 2012.
  6. ^ Noordeloos, Marc (23 November 2008). "Stephen Wynne, CEO of The De Lorean Motor Company". Automobile. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  7. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and registered his own Wayback Machine : You can still buy a brand new DeLorean, straight from the factory. CNET. 16 April 2015 – via YouTube.
  8. ^ "DeLorean Motor Company".