Who Made the Delorean Sports Car?

Many people may wonder: Where did the Delorean DMC-12 come from? Was it made by Universal Studios for the movie Back to the Future?

No, it was made by the Delorean Motor Company in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for export mainly to the US market. Delorean Motor Company (DMC) was founded in 1975 by John Delorean (1925-2005), an American car executive.

Over the next several blogs, I will briefly discuss the man, John Delorean; the company, Delorean Motor Company; and the car, the Delorean.

John Delorean was born in Detroit in 1925. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood. His father was a foundry worker at Ford Motor Company. John was very interested in engineering and he graduated from the Lawrence Institute of Technology and went on to earn master's degrees in engineering (Chrysler Institute) and business (Univ. of Michigan).

He worked briefly at Chrysler but he began his automotive career in earnest when he was hired by the Packard Motor Car Company as an engineer in 1952. He moved to General Motors (GM) in 1956. He moved up the ranks at GM quickly and became General Manager of the Pontiac Division in 1965. In 1969 he became manager at Chevrolet and by 1972 he was a Vice President of General Motors Corp. He suddenly quit his career at General Motors in 1973.

John Delorean is generally credited with "inventing" (with others) the first muscle car, the Pontiac GTO, in 1963. He was also instrumental in starting the Pontiac Firebird, based on the Chevrolet Camaro.

During his rise at GM, John became well known throughout the country for his flamboyant jet-setting lifestyle. This notoriety would eventually help him raise the money he needed to start the Delorean Motor Company in 1975.

In the next blog entry I will discuss the company and the car.
Until then, go ahead and look at my beautiful 1981 Delorean, now for sale.

Mike Mulkern
Houston, Texas