DeLorean, 1981, DMC-12 - Museo Nicolis

DeLorean "DMC-12", 1981

John Z. DeLorean has been one of the most controversial protagonists of the automobile world between the ‘60s and the ‘80s. Young top manager at General Motors in Detroit, he always wished to make a car that would bear his name and his dream later became true. After founding the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) in 1975 in the United States, in 1981 in Ireland he built, thanks to large loans from the English government, the plants where the first DMC 12s were produced.
His dream vanished in 1982, when great difficulties and collected debts forced DeLorean to close the factory. He was even put in jail under the accuse of traffic of cocaine, although untrue.

The car he created, the DMC 12, left a mark among the Grand Touring cars of those years, even though it was powered by a Peugeot engine that did not gave it huge performance figures. The chassis, which was designed also with the cooperation of Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars, was fitted with a beautiful gullwing doors, and the body, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, was entirely made of brushed steel.

The DeLorean became famous thanks to the 1985 movie "Back to the Future", directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.