The Greatest Automotive Scandal - Delorean DMC-12
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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While more notable for its central role in the Back to the Future movies, the DeLorean DMC-12, even before its flirtation with the Hollywood limelight, was a distinctive machine for all the wrong reasons, the car being the product of an independent car-making initiative that was a decade in the making, as engendered by its eponymous progenitor, John DeLorean.
However, by the end of the DMC-12's brief production run, the outcomes would be the collapse of the company, unemployment in one of the most deprived parts of Europe, litigation that would linger for decades, millions of pounds of taxpayer money having gone missing and the legacy of some of the motoring industry's most prominent figures being tarnished for good.
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References:
AROnline (and their respective sources)
Wikipedia (and its respective sources)
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I worked on the DMC-12 at Lotus as a design engineer and I can assure Mr MacVeigh that no ''corners were cut'' from an engineering standpoint.
Please tell us more about your experience working on the project. These are the types of stories that tend to get lost with time, but I think are important to document.
@@ragingbull94mtx At that time I was working as a contract designer and got a call from an agent asking if I was interested in working at Lotus at Hethel. I agreed and arranged accommodation in nearby Wymondham for four nights a week as I was able to travel home weekends. The design office was surprisingly large and my first job was to check wheel arch clearance at full bump, droop and lock at full load. This was done in ink, full scale, on a large drawing board. (CAD wasn't around then).
Contract staff greatly outnumbered the 'permy's' and I remember a good sense of camaraderie despite the permanent staff being a bit aloof (not an unusual thing). I was asked to go to Northern Ireland for a couple of months , but declined.
After about a year all of the contractors were called to a meeting and told to pack up and leave immediately. The writing was on the wall !
No stone left unturned except for checking who your dealing with, a drug baron being investigated by the fbi paying your dodgey accountant via Panama and Switzerland.... all for what is essentially a re-badged Lotus I am sure there where no other corners cut lol
Rubbish the front suspension was not the same
Poor choice of words perhaps. Using the Esprit chassis for example saved a lot of time and money. It wasn't "cutting corners" from an engineering point of view. I have read that Chapman told Delorean to move the engine to the middle to improve handling, and use a better engine, but JZD insisted the engine was at the back so the owner could fit a set of golf clubs behind the seat.
the Delorean was criticised for things that were no worse than anything else. They said it was heavy and slow, 1233kg and 130bhp, at a time when a Mustang 5.0 was 1325kg and 139bhp.
Poorly built and unreliable? what wasn't in the late 70s and early 80s?
To get this from concept to production in around 18 months is a remarkable achievment even with modern design technology.
i need to explain this Fact to Spectators on every Car Show again and again.... asking what their Daddy drove in 1981 .... and explaining the DMC was NEV ER meant to be a Racecar or a Dragster.
DeLorean's wife, ironically named Christina Ferrari, divorced him as soon as the trial concluded
Close, her surname was Ferrare.
One that impresses me is the one that's had an LS thrown into it and the suspension readjusted. 88 miles an hour? No problem.
While I thought I well “remembered” the DeLorean there’s obviously WAY more to the story then I’d realised. Thank you for the heads up, I can feel a round of book buying coming on.. 😂❤
I had no idea there was so much to the story, and a brilliant account of it
Now you wonder what would the DMC-12 be like if a proper drivetrain was installed on this vehicle. Can you imagine something like the 240 bhp BMW N20B20 engine in this car--it would have been a fabulous touring model.
the other car companies didn't want to deliver. JZD asked Porsche for a Engine and they were whining and asking for a Delivery time of 10 Years. BMW wouldn't have deliverd an Engine to a other Brand.
Or something good, like the GTR VR38 😍
@ you know that tis Engine wasn't yet built back in 1981? Maybe the Engineer wasn't even born ;-)
@@FRITZI999 I'm talking about now.
Honestly, anything else other than the horrible PSA group engine it got would have been better.
@ sure, I agree with that point - the PSA Engine itself was NOT bad at all... built more than 1.5 Million times in more than 40 cars.... you would wonder where.
Just google VENTURI .... and the most Powerful Version available. I was able to drive one from a Collector. AMAZING.
Also DMC was just developing a TURBO Version ... a few Prototypes have survived. Google LEGEND TURBO and learn.
I also recommend to learn / read / view Movies about the History of the DMC and the Downfall and WHY it happened. The Context of time is IMPORTANT.
The time of clunky old V8s with Carburetor were gone then.... Fuel efficiency and MOST IMPORTANT Emissions had new regulations.
Nowadays there are options for Modifications. No need to throw a V8 Boa tanker in the car.... Turbo it... or mod the Engine.
My Personal DMC is souped up to be able to beat my Buddy MUSTANG V8, when shift to second Gear his Nose is behind my Drivers door.... also Top Speed is much higher (Which is nor important for America *lol*). This combines with Fuel efficiency is more fun than a shaking old V8 or a nervous JDM Engine with a stupid whistling Turbo.
in my Opinion most People don't get the time context cause of the still "modern Design" of the car. I got once nearly rejected from a Classic Car Meeting, cause my Car doesn't look more than 40 Years old.... even as it carries "Classic Car" Plates.
16:19 That ''Switzerland-based Panamanian DeLorean distributor'' was the ex-Porsche works driver Jerry Juhan, who along with his wife Marie Denise had extensive knowledge of the Swiss & Panamanian banking systems & was well-known amongst the European super rich classic car collectors to be a financial fixer & bag man into these secretive & untraceable banking systems via his GPD SA company.
It should also be remembered that hours before he died, Colin Chapman had just returned from Paris after meeting with Juhan, & subsequently Chapman's cut of the DeLorean money was never located, with his estate agreeing to pay the UK government a sum of approx. 25% of the DeLorean money paid into Juhan's GPD company.
I will forever maintain the view that the DeLorean was no more problematic of a car than any other malaise era vehicle, and if kept in good condition will be as trouble-free as any other well-maintained classic car. Truly its shortcomings came from promising too much while delivering too little, and it's sad how its reputation suffered so much from the external conflicts surrounding it, primarily John DeLorean's poor management skills.
Similar to how the Ford Edsel wasn't mechanically worse than any other car of its time.
absolutely agree.... as a Owner I can confirm your view. The Engine was a child of it's time - and the car was NEVER meant to be a Dragstrip / Racecar.... so I don´t get what People expect from it.
And lack of financing.
Interesting video, although some of the narration appears to have been text copied directly from the AR Online website article entitled "The cars : DeLorean DMC-12 development story" published 21 May 2023. It would have been good just to have tweaked the wording or at least have given Keith Adams and AR Online a credit.
As a Lotus enthusiast & owner I see the DMC-12 as the Esprit's American cousin. Despite the scandal that surrounds the vehicle, it is an iconic car. There's a chap round the corner from me who owns one and it is a head turner.
As an aerospace engineer, I'm not surprised that original chassis concept was re-engineered around the Esprit given the timescales and that the Esprit backbone chassis was proven technology, and added to that Lotus' previous experience with the all composite monocoque construction of the original Elite.
Enjoyed the video but disappointed with sections directly plagiarised from website sources.
Arguably, it is now the 2nd greatest scandal, and oddly, both involve stainless steel cars.
And both companies making cars based on Lotus cars…
I am reminded of Homer Simpson's car design for Powell Motors in the episode Long Lost Brother.
All it needs is that horn
I. Have. No. Brother.
G.M. dodged a big bullet by not making him their chairman.
I saw one of these cars on display at the Paseo in California during a car show. And I’ve also loved the Back to the Future trilogy as well
I remember the "NO JOBS FOR TAIGS!" banners just like the old ones at the Shipyard..smh
Nice to see your own work included in the video, even if the car was an unoriginal red.
ok hit the like, now how can I really hit that like...
I just LOVE the DMC story!!!!
well done! Thanks for another must watch from your fantastic collection!
cheers mate!
It didn't even come with a flux capicitor and digital time clock....blatant false advertising,🤣🤣🤣..
All this reminds me of what the late American comedienne Joan Rivers said about this car, which she described as the car "equipped with snow tires as standard equipment!"
Love your work.
I see the car only went up to 85mph on the speedometer to prevent people slipping through a time vortex.
Also.... rather more mundanely.... I believe that at the time, there was an extra tax to pay on vehicles capable of 90mph (IIRC) or more in the USA... The simplest way of making it "not capable" being stopping the speedo at 85. Don't forget, at the time there was an (almost?) universal maximum speed limit of 55mph in the US.
After the late 70s fuel crisis the national speed limit was lowered from 65 MPH (70 on interstates in open areas) to 55 MPH maximum. At the time speedometers typically went to 120 MPH, regardless of what the car or truck could do. Some wiseass congresscritter complained that having speedometers go this high tempted people into violating the now-Godly 55 MPH limit, so a law was passed limiting speedometers to 85 MPH max, and requiring them to have a large line at 55 MPH.
It wasn't until many decades later that these idiotic laws were reversed.
Thank you for being balanced with your coverage of DeLorean's personal legal battles regarding the drug deal entrapment. So many go for the exploitative, clickbait narratives regarding that incident.
thank you
Tiis and the bricklin makes me feel gull wing doors are the auto equivalent of Monorail 😂
Rudy dropping another banger.
with his amazing business acumen, DeLorean would make an ideal presidential candidate
He's been largely out of the public eye since his death in 2005. His public relations team would really need to be on top of their game.
If only he'd experience in the narcotics market he'd be perfect but fortunately they have the finest individual in place right now and he seems like a more balanced person than the last president too, we'll be finding out soon.best wishes from Liverpool ☘️🧣🇺🇸
@@kevfrombutterley haha I'm not sure he meant that literally, also I wasn't aware that he was dead, respects for his best efforts in helping our brothers in their hour of desperation and need to have some kind of future. #OneEire
@@DaveSCameron balanced is an amazing word
@@popefang You're someone after my own heart and best wishes my wordsmith cousin from here in Liverpool 🧣☘️📚
Of all the engines they could have used 😢
When Michael j. Fox in the first movie mentions to Doc: 'You made a time machine out of a ....Delorean'. Those dots there mean basically 'are you effing kidding me'.
Perhaps it was the first time in American history they consciously used irony in a Hollywood movie but I have my doubts frankly...
well spotted Sherlock
Good video, thank you. What happened to all the unused stock, scrapped or sold to get some money back?
British government scrapped all tooling. As it says in video parts sold off. Thers is an excellent book by Ivan Fallon an d Sean Srodes, long out of print, that explains all the shenanigans that went on.
Often nickname it as the Irish AE86 Levin because of its likeness
What a wild ride!
Such a pity it had such promise .....but you can still buy one ..if you have deep pockets..
Ruairidh, i love you and your fantastic documentaries.
Please dont talk about the troubles in Northern Ireland without mentioning that it began with huge state run discrimination against Catholic poeple, catholic people were not offered jobs (as an example, H&W did NOT employ catholic people), the police in northern Ireland (the RUC) did not employ catholic people. And Catholic people were not even allowed to vote.
From the outside, from my point of view, it was Apartheid.
Hello Conor - It was the same here in the Republic but it was the other way around. When the Irish Free State was formed the then Irish government listed a number of Protestant people who were not to be employed in any official or managerial positions. Also Roman Catholic business would only employ Catholics.
In the late 50's/early 60's a very bitter situation arose in Fethard-On-Sea when a Catholic farmer Married a Protestant woman. It was later made into a film called - A Love Divided. Also look up The Fethard-on-Sea boycott.
As is always the case in Ireland, there are three sides to history and every event throughout the troubles.
The Back to the Future trilogy made me love the look of this car, but I’m getting the feeling that I would be rather disappointed with the Delorean if I actually owned an off the shelf model.
This car has flaws but it did become popular because of the movies Back to the Future.
Really?
I wonder how the story would have ended without the snowstorm and with the Legend turbo spec in production...
LOL wow I didn't see the hotel part coming ... desperate times call for desperate measures I guess!
You know it's the 80s when you're making cocaine deals to finance your startup car company.
The only car that came with a free bag of cocaine. 🤣🤣🤣
Up to 88mph, no less. Doc did you set the flux capacitor?
No need, Marty it looks after itself.
Ruairidh accually uploaded this episode next week.
They were riddled with faults and if it wasnt for that film it would have been long forgotten.
I was playing Gran Turismo the other day and noticed the Delorian featured in the game is called the DMC-12 S2 with a 2004 model year.
Would that be a remake or just a restored model?
It's a "continuation" model - made from old stock parts, but basically brand new. I've no idea how many there are, but not many I would expect.
i wonder if DMC12 was bulletproof being stainless steel (like the cybertruck)
Wow, I had no idea that John DeLorean was arrested for dealing drugs.
I wonder if that's why the car failed, eh?
It's why he ended up out of the car business. It was a pretty clear case of targeted entrapment, which is why he managed to get off free. There are persistent rumors that execs at the Big Three auto makers got some "friends" at the FBI to arrange the entrapment to kill off a potential competitor. IMHO these rumors are pretty likely true, but of course unprovable. The FBI and CIA commonly worked like that in those days.
So, the con started when the advanced underbody was substituted 🏴
It’s a bit like the story of Fisker… now, there’s a story for you to cover ( his first and second car ‘crash’).
You showed it but didn't talk about it: the infamous gold one.
The Delorian could suck the lines off the road
Every single one of them!
Underpowered engine, produced only a 130hp from a V6. Meanwhile the American 1981 Mustang with its 5 liter V8 was only producing 120hp.
how else could a Renault 30, Lotus Esprit, Triumph TR7 and Toyota MR2 ever be connected?
It sounds like a completely crazy project but the fact that it became a pop culture icon seems to vindicate it.
Don't know much about John Delorean but after seeing him in an advertisement of the era I wonder if he was an egomaniac.
But maybe he just wanted to create a unique car and found that it was tough to start a new brand.
It became a pop culture icon BECAUSE it was a joke!
And to think it was called an "ethical sports car"
if not for those movies, very few people would know anything about this car. The most unbelievable part in the movie was that this car could go 88 miles an hour
lmao
I had a 65 HP (on a good day) MGA that could easily do 90 MPH. 120 HP in a car not much larger or heavier than that shouldn't have had much trouble doing 120.
But what about Hover Boards?!
Never challenge the big 3... they will destroy any percieved competition ,in any way possable, as seen here ..coke anybody , oh anybody please anybody that threatens the big 3 and u.s. industry 😊😊.
Yep. Of course they later lost out completely to the Japanese, but those makers were outside their reach.
Except that they didn't really do much to stop the likes of Toyota, Nissan, Honda & Hyundai though.
I don't know what you are making a false claim about the US "Big Three" however, I do think that US auto makers would not have seen DMC as a significant threat. It's indispensable that the response to cheeper foreign cars was bungled, the Big Three just didn't see the threat.
You are real professionals! Your videos are always happy with quality and useful information. Thank you for your hard work.🌻🍻🦋
bot
Nevertheless...if I could, I would buy one in a heartbeat.
I had no idea that Colin Chapman had been such a naughty boy!
Did anyone ever NOT get screwed doing business with Colin Chapman? Ask Jensen-Healy about it.
Colin Chapman had worked VERY hard to establish the Group Lotus plc & Team Lotus companies to what they were, & to then see an American wide boy auto industry executive given £100 million to establish an entirely new sports car company in the UK must have made him absolutely seething...😡 It's understandable that as an established UK sports car builder Chapman pursued to get some of the DeLorean money for himself & Lotus...
@@_Ben4810 so he stole a bunch of money?
I'm very disappointed to hear you talk of "the British occupation of Northern Ireland"
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom by choice, the majority of the electorate support being part of the UK. There is no "occupation"
Ireland used to be occupied by the British. In the 1920s, the island was partitioned after it became clear the vast majority of the people of Ireland wanted self-rule. Ulster, in a bit of Machiavellian politicking by the British (something we are very good at), was allowed to exclude themselves from the new republic... and thus began the Troubles which basically rumbled on, occasionally turning extremely violent, until the IRA ran out of money in the early 2000s.
You'd never get away with partition these days - It'd be like splitting the UK down the middle and having half in the EU & half out, on the basis of the EU referendum.
@@theelectricmonk3909 I'm well aware of the history of Ireland. There was no justification for the murderous campaign of the IRA. As I have already highlighted, the people of Northern Ireland can leave the United Kingdom if the majority of the electorate choose to do so.
N Ireland was created through the threat of a civil war from a small minority . 83% of the population voted for home rule.
Now that is some "serious shit!"
👍👍
It’s funny how we’re watching this same event happen in real time again, except the car in question is actually WORSE than the DMC-12.
This car was dead on arrival! Nobody wanted it if it weren't for Back to the Future and it looked even uglier in the movie. Very square boxy front end and the plain aluminum body was to reduce colr painting costs! Ugly peice a shit!
Were you at the press release of the car ?
I can never understand how John DeLorean got away with selling cocaine on camera too the FBI
Ikr it's just not like your Federal Justice System to move the goalposts and the pages of your lawbooks often simply to increase an individual in their run up to career ladder....😉☘️
It would never ever happen these days
It was because the FBI selling their coke to themselves. John was just in the same room
@@bettyschnauber8238 but you would never say too the press "Its better than Gold"
@ thats why there is a druggy problem in the western world
Audio not great on this video again
Younger People forget that its inclusion in back to the future was supposed to be a joke.
remember being at an ice cream parlor in Pasadena and a a guy just casually pulls up in a Delorean.
Somehow looks like an Austin Princess, not a futuristic wonder vehicle
Wankel Rotary Engine... 😆😂
When this thing hits 88mph, you're gonna see some serious shit.
Why would you buy a second hand EV? I don't even buy a second hand phone.
WTF has that got to do with the video?
@@theelectricmonk3909 I am educating the electrosheep🐑
@JamesSmith-qs4hx no, you're not.
I just did🤨
#EVcockwomble
This bucket needs a 350 cui V8. Otherwise it is a footnote not a car. And give me colors. And give me normal doors. Then, maybe.
Cocaine - Eric Clapton.🎤
You've been doing this for nearly 20 years. Why is your audio so terrible? It's so bizarre and lazy.
British occupation of Northern Ireland? Northern Ireland was created by conscientious with the government of the the Free State. Dude you you need to read some history books. Jesus ffs. I am nearly unsubscribing just because it is incendiary to suggest that. If this is your view, I suggest you hide it or create a channel about British imperialism. If it isn't, be a big boy and make yourself better. I am not normally triggered this easily but you need to be more responsible with your output.
What have you done to your voice? It seems you've adopted the over long inflection at the end of each sentenncce....most annoying, I am now going to check one of your older videos to be sure that I'm not going mad😅