DMC DeLorean

When details surrounding the DeLorean first started to be revealed in the mid 70’s, there were numerous plans and rumors that the DeLorean would have a myriad of advanced features, such as elastic reservoir moulding (ERM), a unit construction plastic chassis, a mid-engine layout, airbags, 10-mph bumpers and Pirelli P7 tires; none of them would materialize in the production vehicle.

Originally, the car was intended to have a centrally-mounted Wankel rotary engine. The engine selection was reconsidered when Comotor production ended and the favored engine became the Ford Cologne V6 engine.

The first prototype appeared in October 1976. The prototype was completed by American automotive chief engineer William T. Collins, formerly chief engineer at Pontiac and the prototype was known as the DSV-1, or DeLorean Safety Vehicle. As development continued, the model was referred to as the DSV-12 and later the DMC-12 since DMC was targeting a list price of $12,000 upon release.

The Ford V6 engine would soon be abandoned in favor of the complete drivetrain from a Citroën CX 2000 as it was deemed as a more reliable engine choice. However, the 1,985 cc (121 cu in) engine from Citroën was deemed too underpowered for the DeLorean. When Citroën learned of DMC plans to turbocharge the engine, Citroën suggested to DMC to find another engine. Eventually the fuel-injected V6 PRV engine (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) was selected. As a result, the engine location had to be moved from the mid-engined location in Prototype 1 to a rear-engined location in Prototype 2; a configuration which would be retained in the production vehicle.

The chassis was initially planned to be produced from a new and untested manufacturing technology known as elastic reservoir moulding (ERM), which would lighten the car while presumably lowering its production costs. This new technology, for which DeLorean had purchased patent rights, was eventually found to be unsuitable.

The interior on Prototype 1 was significantly different than the production vehicle. Prototype 1 had a prominent full-width knee bar as it was intended to be a safety car. A medium brown leather covered the seats but were much flatter and didn’t have the comfort and support of the production seats. A black center steering wheel with a fat center was intended to hold an air bag and the driver had a full set of Stewart-Warner gauges. A central warning system would check various fluid levels and even warn of low brake pad thickness though even at this time it was suspected this feature wouldn’t show up on production cars.

These and other changes to the original concept led to considerable schedule pressures. The entire car was deemed to require almost complete re-engineering, which was turned over to engineer Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars. Chapman replaced most of the unproven material and manufacturing techniques with those then employed by Lotus, like the steel backbone chassis.

After several delays and cost overruns, production finally began in late 1980. Around this time DMC officially dropped the name DMC-12 on its now $25,000 car in favor of the model name DeLorean. The DeLorean sports car, as it was described in advertisements , began production in December 1980 with the first production car rolling off the assembly line on January 21, 1981.
The DeLorean Motor Company was placed into receivership in February 1982 and filed bankruptcy in October 1982. Consolidated International purchased the unsold DeLoreans and partially completed DeLoreans still on the assembly line and assembled approximately 100 DeLoreans to finish the remaining production on December 24, 1982.

Back to the Future

The DeLorean is most notably featured as the time machine in the Back to the Future film trilogy. Six DeLorean chassis were used during the production, along with one manufactured out of fiberglass for scenes where a full-size DeLorean was needed to fly on-screen; only three of the cars still exist, with one that was destroyed at the end of Back to the Future Part III, two additional cars were abandoned, and the fiberglass replica was scrapped. Universal Studios owns two of the remaining cars, occasionally putting them on display or using them for other productions. The official Back to the Future DeLorean can be viewed at the Petersen Automotive Museum.