the story of the “father of the Muscle Car” and the car from “Back to the Future”

He was nicknamed “The Car King” by People magazine, John Delorean is the guy who was almost single-handedly responsible for bringing power to the people in 1964, to be instrumental in the launch of the first true muscle car, the Pontiac GTO. He is also a person who the most famous creation, DMC-12, remained in the dreams of almost all the youth of the 80s.. The addition of the car as a time travel assistant in the “Back to the Future” trilogy should have helped sales. Unfortunately this did not happen for several reasons that will be revealed shortly. Delorean was more than just a car enthusiast.

John DeLorean: the original

John Delorean He was the eldest of four children Zachary Sr. e Kathryn Pribak Delorean, a Romanian-Hungarian couple. He was born on January 6, 1925 in Detroit, the center of the American automobile industry. His father worked as a carpenter at the Ford Motor Company factorytherefore it is safe to assume that John had a passion for cars from a young age.

Unfortunately that was not to be, as his parents divorced due to his father’s drinking and violent behavior when he was 17. Growing up in Detroit during the Great Depression led the young man to accomplish extraordinary things. Although he initially attended Detroit public schools, he was eventually accepted Cass Technical High Schoolwhich welcomes only honor students.

Delorean was so successful in his studies – he enrolled in an electrical curriculum – that he received a scholarship. Lawrence Technological University, where Detroit’s best designers and engineers had studied. At the top of his class in industrial engineering, he was selected to be Honor Society of school. From 1943 to 1946, Delorean involuntarily interrupted his studies to serve in the United States Army.but finally he was released with honor and returned to beautiful Detroit and found his family in financial trouble because all his siblings were living on his mother’s income.

He resumed his studies Lawrence Technological Universitybut he also took a job for more than a year there Public Lighting Commission to support his family’s economy. After graduating in 1948, he took a few odd jobs, such as selling insurance and working for Industrial Equipment Corporationjust to make ends meet.

Success in the automotive world

Interestingly, although Delorean did not immediately start working in the field in which he was trained, he attended Chrysler Institute of Engineering – post-education center – on uncle’s advice. In this way, he was able to further his education while gaining a practical approach to automotive engineering.

After earning a master’s degree in automotive engineering from the Chrysler plant, he joined the company’s engineering team, also taking evening classes to earn credit for his master’s degree in business administration from. Ross School of Business from the University of Michigan. After only a year at Chrysler, Delorean left the company after being offered a job at a now-defunct company. Packard Motor Company. There, his most notable work was the improvement of the automatic transmission Ultramaticso change it to Gemini-Ultramatic.

After four years he was already the head of the research and development department, when he received a call from someone he respected. Oliver K. Kelley. The latter was the vice president of engineering at General Motors and released to Delorean work at Pontiac, a branch of America’s largest automobile group. It was at Pontiac that he became known as the “father of the muscle car,” be instrumental in the launch of the GTO. Approximately 250,000 Pontiac GTOs were sold in the first five years of production and overall brand sales tripled thanks to Delorean’s vision.

Over the years at GM, the Delorean was upgraded every two years. By 1969 he was head of the Chevrolet division, gaining more media coverage as an auto industry rebel. He was also starting to advertise himself in the media as a playboy and swinger, after being linked to more than one female celebrity over the years.

After eventually being promoted to vice president for GM auto and truck manufacturing, he seemed close to landing the top job as CEO. Ironically, Delorean unexpectedly left what seemed to be his dream job in 1973, at the age of 48. His dreams went far beyond the workplace.

Delorean DMC 12: the car from “Back to the Future”

A love story of John Delorean With the car he immediately caught everyone’s attention when he announced that he intended to build his own car. The vehicle in question would later be known as the DMC-12best known for the “Back to the Future” trilogy and Steven Spielbergwhere he played the primary role.

Unfortunately, the car that made him an icon in the eyes of every 80s teenager was also responsible for the beginning of his decline. After nearly ten years of finding the necessary sponsors to finance the development and production of the DMC-12, Delorean finally began building a pool house in Northern Ireland. After just 21 months of production, what looked like a bright road for the company to the future turned out to be a bad end and the Irish factory went into administration.

Driven by the need to earn more money to pay off his debt and resume production of the DMC-12, Delorean was involved in a dubious deal with a former drug dealer to collect the necessary funds. What John didn’t know at the time was that the drug dealer was an FBI informant, and thus was involved in one of the most famous trials of the 1980s. Thanks to the defense of the system, Delorean got away clean, but the damage to its image had its consequences. Going into debt, everything got worse and never returned to its former glory. In almost two years of production, more than 8 thousand DMC-12s were built, of which about 6000 are believed to still exist, allowing the legacy of the great automotive engineer to this day.

My name is Francesco, born in 1996. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s student in Mechanical Engineering for Energy and Environment at Federico II in Naples. An irrepressible passion for everything that has an engine and goes fast. For details and cooperation email framenna96@gmail.com