The Delorean; Not as bad as it should have been

The DMC-12

"Live the Nightmare"
or
"On a clear day I can see finger prints... on my Delorean"
or
"The most anticipated motoring blunder, of all time"

This is what the ultra-conservative motoring pundits want people to associate with the ill-fated DMC-12. As Col. Sherman Potter said, "bull cookies".


The 1981-1983 Delorean was not only one of the most successful failures of its era, but remains today to be a text book example of where brilliance, determination and know-how are not nearly enough.

The litany of difficulties;
Reality is a tough beast; not only was the Delorean designed with built-in-contradictions, that is; a safe, reliable, affordable, supercar. It was also; built by a company with no prior operating experience & no pedigree, engineered by a company with limited mass-production experience (Lotus), based on a hand built & expensive sports car (Lotus Esprit), assembled in a new country (N. Ireland) by an inexperienced workforce, and financed with public money (UK).

Conclusion;
The Delorean may well in fact be the worlds first

reliable Lotus.. maybe? It is certainly fun to drive (RWD, rear mounted V6), easily to maintain (even 25years later), has fantastic styling, stainless steel body and of course the Gullwing doors (which are as practical as there are novel).

In the end, the company sank like a rock, the car was not affordable, and certainly did not come with the supercar-prerequisite ‘performance package’. However it is a historic accomplishment in that the DMC-12 back-to-the-future mobile isn’t nearly as bad as it should have been…