DELOREAN

DMC-12

The DeLorean DMC-12 was the dream of John Z. DeLorean, the charismatic former General Motors executive who founded the DeLorean Motor Company to build a futuristic, durable sports car. The first prototype appeared in 1976, and the car took its DMC-12 name from a targeted US$12,000 price. Styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign and engineered with input from Lotus, the DeLorean DMC-12 was instantly defined by its unpainted brushed stainless-steel body panels and dramatic gull-wing doors. Production took place in a purpose-built factory in Dunmurry, near Belfast in Northern Ireland, with the first car completed in January 1981. A rear-mounted 2.85-litre PRV V6, shared with Peugeot, Renault and Volvo, gave modest performance, and by launch the price had climbed to around US$25,000. Roughly 9,000 examples of the DeLorean DMC-12 were built before the company collapsed into bankruptcy in late 1982 following John DeLorean's arrest. The car might have faded into obscurity, but its starring role as the time machine in the 1985 hit Back to the Future turned the DeLorean DMC-12 into a pop-culture legend, and an estimated 6,500 cars survive today.