but it's such a crazy story
that we have to tell it, so buckle up baby,
'cause where we're going. - We don't need roads. - Most of America was introduced to it in 1985's Back to the Future. It was a car unlike
anything else on the road and for generations
car fans and film buffs looked for Doc's flying
car to leave flames instead of skid marks. It's perhaps the most
recognizable car ever made, though it was only in
production for barely two years. It had gullwing doors, tiny windows, and was built out of
stainless (bleep) steel. But its fame and desirability
came three years too late to save the company that made it, created a name for a man
who was perhaps too close to the rock star that
Marty McFly wanted to be, but how many know the tale
behind the stainless steel wedge, about the maverick auto engineer who built a car company,
stamped his name on it, and lost it in a whirlwind
of jet setting excess that culminated in a $6
million cocaine bust? It's a story that so
perfectly sums up the '80s. You think Scorsese made
it up, but he didn't. This all happened. This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the DeLorean DMC-12. (retro video game music) John Z. DeLorean was an
automotive success story. He began working for Chrysler
will still in college, learned his commitment to
quality at Packard Motors, and worked as an engineer
at American Motor Company. He then moved to General Motors, where he rose through the
ranks as a young designer. DeLorean is credited for the birth of the historic Pontiac
GTO and the Firebird. As the youngest head of Chevrolet, he was tasked with rolling out the much less iconic Chevy Vega. To distract from its shortcomings, DeLorean harnessed his reputation as a jet setting auto exec hot shot and stepped into the spotlight
doing magazine interviews and TV spots touting
that the Vega could beat any European car in
handling an acceleration. It couldn't. But his claims drove the car's success and helped garner Motor Trend's
Car of the Year in 1971. By 1972, John DeLorean's work ethic, commitment to quality, braggadocio, and, "Hey, (bleep) you, I know
what I'm doin'," attitude, made him the youngest vice
president in GM history. The public saw him as a six
foot four American dreamboat. He had cultivated a reputation as the automotive industry's golden boy. After a decade at GM, he had grown tired of the politics between execs and designs and emboldened by his new public image, he left GM to build his dream car. - (bleep) you, (bleep) you. You're cool, and (bleep) you, I'm out. - In 1973, he formed the
DeLorean Motor Company, and by 1976, DMC had
his mitage and prototype making the rounds to garner investment. The private capital came from DMC Inc. DeLorean himself put in
no cash but owned over 80% of the common stock in return
for car development work that he valued at $3.5 million. Smart guy. DeLorean went all Nick Fury and put an all-star team
together to build his car. He tasked chassis design to Colin Chapman, founder and owner of Lotus,
and he designed the body with Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign. They settled on a stainless steel car with gullwing doors that
was under 45 inches high with about five inches
of ground clearance. To further the upfront cash flow, DeLorean promised four gold-plated
DMC-12s for $80,000 each. Those all exist. Also, I just wanna point
out how badass this dude is for making a gold car named after himself. That's like me making a car
and naming it the Pumphre 502. 502, shout out, Louisville area code. That's where I was raised, baby. For his legacy, DeLorean
had to find new technology to accommodate the groundbreaking design. To make the doors lighter, only
half the window rolled down and they needed special struts
designed by German aerospace. For weight, the body had to be fiberglass with stainless steel panels, and they couldn't find an engine suitable for the design, so they commissioned one. This flying wedge would be powered by the Peugeot-Renault-Volvo,
PRV, 2.85 liter V6, which produced around 130 horsepower. - That sucks. - Now we have an American company in charge of an Italian designed car in an Irish factory powered
by a Franco-Swiss engine. What could go wrong? Turns out, everything. John DeLorean was a risk
taker who gambled on himself. He toed the line between
success and disaster and he was about to find himself in a perfect storm of
bad luck and bad timing. For starters, DeLorean was facing allegations of drug trafficking. Drug trafficking. - I don't know what even that is. - DMC's PR was doing a good job dismissing the allegations,
which we now know looked more like rich
guy buying coke in 1980. Investment was still solid and the cars began rolling off the line. Unfortunately, the DeLorean
DMC-12 was introduced at the start of the largest slump in the American auto industry since 1930, and while the prototype was
estimated to cost $10,000, the production cars had
to sell at $25,000 each. That's in 1980s money. That's $58,000 today. Here's what he did right. Design, handling, marketing, cutting edge digital technology. Here's what he did wrong. Literally everything else. First, to recoup debt,
he rolled it out too soon and it was plagued with bugs that probably would've been worked out
at a larger car company. The innovative windshield
embedded antenna didn't work, so the high tech digital radio would scan for stations continuously. Also, the alternator didn't generate enough current for the car's new tech. The battery would discharge
and strand drivers wherever it died, and the
engine produced 130 horsepower, all for just 7,000 more dollars than a fully loaded Corvette, which hit 60 miles an hour
almost two seconds faster. I wanna remind you guys
that we're talking about probably the worst Corvette in history. In 1982, teetering between
bankruptcy and breakout success, DeLorean outsourced development
of a twin turbo version of the PRV engine that proved quicker than both a Ferrari 308 and a Porsche 928. All they needed was a little more money to get over the hump. Talk of a public offering at $12 a share would've brought 120
million into the company, but it kept getting
pushed as John DeLorean, who, you know, knows best, sought instead a partnership with a
larger automotive company. By January of '82,
production was curtailed to three days a week
because of capital concern. DeLorean is still riding on
the reputation of his name, and though he was just a phone call away from a lucrative payday by going public, he was searching for a way to get an influx of private capital. Had he made the call, who knows? Maybe we'd all be driving
DeLoreans now, but he waited, and this is where the
story of a stainless steel, time traveling gullwing gets
really, really (bleep) weird. - You're gonna see some serious shit. - Undaunted by reason, the
feds put a plan in place. In October of 1982,
John DeLorean got a call about an investment opportunity, an offer that could save his business, so naturally he hopped on
a plane from New York to LA and went to a meeting in an LAX hotel, but it was a (bleep) sting. The FBI set him up with
more than 59 pounds of coke with about $6.5 million in 1982 money, and nabbed him leaving the hotel. They allege that he tried to finance a drug trafficking ring to
turn 220 pounds of cocaine into financing to save his company. DeLorean wanted desperately
to get back to his plant in Ireland, but while he was on the plane, the British government suddenly concerned over his debt closed his Ireland plant. What followed was a media
firestorm, and two days later, the FBI broadened its
charges against Mr. DeLorean to claim that he tried to
import heroin from Thailand. I mean, who hasn't? Almost immediately after his arrest, DeLorean Motor Company
declared bankruptcy, not making it through the month. (bleep). In 1984, a jury found John
DeLorean innocent of all charges and asserted that it was a
clear cut case of entrapment, but the damage was already done. After his acquittal, DeLorean
was asked when he planned to return to the automotive industry. His response? "Would you buy a used car from me?" - Step right up and get yourself a brand new DeLorean, just $60,000. - So how did a generation of car lovers fall in love with what could've been just a never rusty footnote
in automotive history? Everyone knows that time travel
happens at 88 miles an hour and if we're fact checking
in the DeLorean DMC-12, it would've taken a lot more
than the Twin Pines parking lot to get there, but Hollywood
doesn't care about facts, and neither did kids
watching the silver screen. But seeing it on the screen
somehow made it even more real than seeing it on the street ever could. A DeLorean was never featured
on Trapper Keeper folders like the Contosh or Ferrari Testarossa. It was on lunchboxes
with flaming skid marks and Michael J. Fox lifting his
glasses to check his watch. The company had folded, so
for all intents and purposes, the car didn't exist. The DeLorean became whatever
fiction we wanted it to be. A blazing fast anomaly that
left flames in its wake, a purebred American
motor car if we decided. Seldom sought but sometimes spotted, like a unicorn or automotive artistry. DMC has long since folded but a generation of car loving film fans
kept their eyes peeled on road trips for the
time traveling DeLorean. Everyone remembers the excitement
of seeing one on the road. I've seen five, and I remember all of 'em. After summer break
you'd get back to school and tell everyone you saw
the Back to the Future car and they'd be all like, "You're a liar," and I'd be all like,
"(bleep) you Mark, I saw it. "You're the liar." Now, let's get back to the future. In July 2007, DMC Texas announced that the car would be returning in a very limited production,
about 20 cars a year. Taking old chassis, they rebuilt
new stainless steel panels to churn out mint
refurbished time machines. The new cars are made
with 80% original parts, so the term return to production, while welcome, is a bit of a stretch. In 2009, the price of
a refurbished DeLorean from DMC Texas started at like, 57 grand. That's not bad. In 2015, the Low Volume
Vehicle Manufacturing Act was signed into law
and DMC Texas announced they would be producing replica DeLoreans with an expected release date of 2017. Clock's tickin', fellas. According to their web site, the company's official statement is, "A number of hurdles exist
before production can begin," something their founder, John
DeLorean learned the hard way. This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the DMC DeLorean 12. If you had $60,000, would
you spend it on a DeLorean? How many times have you
seen Back to the Future? What's your favorite Back to the Future? Mine is two. Is it totally creepy that I'm not bothered that Marty kissed his mom? (bleep) you, Dad, I kiss
my mom all the time. What other cars do you wanna see us cover? What did we miss in this video? What did you like about this video? Comment down below and
subscribe right here.
"caught by the FBI trafficking over $6m worth of cocaine" .. was more like "was asked by FBI would he like to prevent his company going bankrupt by financing a huge cocaine deal and after accepting such deal FBI set him up with 60 pounds of coke and then arrested him right after".
Well, there's always this. It's in the snow. Get it? SNOW.
The movie made the car popular, ruining the joke for later generations.
Not very knowledgeable about cars but I've heard from some reliable sources it was a pretty shitty car as well.
I've had a subscription to DMC-Texas since 2007. They send me their magazines from all the way in Texas to the UK. I have followed the company religiously. It has become a depressing read.
But one day, I'm going to have a DMC-12.