Delorean · 1981–1982

DeLorean DMC-12

The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine, two-seat sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling company. The DeLorean is sometimes referred to by its internal pre-production designation, DMC-12, although this was not used in sales or marketing materials for the production model. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the DeLorean is noted for its gull-wing doors and brushed stainless-steel outer body panels, as well as its relatively modest performance. It uses the V6 PRV engine used in Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo Cars. With the first production car announced on January 21, 1981, the design incorporated numerous minor revisions to the hood, wheels and interior before production ended in late December 1982, shortly after DMC filed for bankruptcy. Total production reached an estimated 9,000 units. Though its production was short-lived, the DeLorean became widely known after it was featured as the time machine in the Back to the Future films. Despite acquiring a reputation for poor build quality and an unsatisfactory driving experience, the DeLorean continues to have a strong following. 6,500 DeLoreans were estimated to still be on the road as of 2015.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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History

In 1973, John DeLorean left General Motors and formed his own car company, the DeLorean Motor Company. Its first vehicle was to be a 2-seat coupe-body sports car. When details surrounding the DeLorean were first announced in the mid-1970s, there were rumors that the DeLorean would incorporate advanced features, such as a plastic unibody chassis produced using Elastic Reservoir Molding (ERM),, a mid-engine layout, a driver-side airbag, 10-mph bumpers, and ultrawide (195/50VR-15 front and 265/50VR-16 rear) Pirelli P7 tires that enabled the car to achieve 0.9g of lateral acceleration; none of these would materialize in the production vehicle. Stainless steel was chosen for the outer surfaces primarily due to a paint-finish problem with ERM. Rather than trying to solve the painting, John DeLorean chose to use stainless skin. The increased cost of using stainless steel was offset by deducting the normal cost of painting a vehicle. Allegheny Ludlum built promotional vehicles for Ford in the 1970s using stainless steel and based on those cars, John DeLorean and chief engineer Bill Collins chose to use stainless steel instead of aluminum. 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 Ford V6 engine would soon be abandoned in favor of the complete drivetrain from the Citroën CX 2000—deemed a more reliable choice. The 1,985 cc (121 cu in) inline-four engine from Citroën was ultimately deemed underpowered for the DeLorean. When Citroën learned of DMC plans to turbocharge the engine, Citroën suggested that DMC find another engine. Eventually the fuel-injected V6 PRV engine was selected. As a result, the engine locatio

Sales and production

=== Sales === Prior to the release of the DeLorean, there was a waiting list of eager buyers, many of whom paid over manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP). However, that exuberance subsided very quickly and production output soon far exceeded sales volume. October 1981 was the highest month of sales for DMC with 720 vehicles sold but by December, the US was falling into recession and interest rates were rising which further negatively impacted sales. Despite this, instead of reducing production, John DeLorean doubled production output, further adding to the inventory of unsold cars. By the end of 1981, DMC had produced 7,500 cars but had sold only 3,000. By this point, DMC was in a financial hardship having sold only 350 units in January 1982 and in February of that year, DMC was placed into receivership. In February 1982, unsold 1981 model year cars were "priced for immediate clearance" in hopes to make room for the more expensive 1982 model year cars. In March, telegrams were sent to all 343 dealerships requesting each buy six cars to help save the company; none of the dealers responded with a sales order. By this point, dealerships and the quality assurance centers were sitting on unsold inventory and hundreds more were sitting on the docks in Long Beach, California. By the end of May 1982, production at the factory was shut down. Another attempt in July 1982 was made to revive sales by offering discounts to dealerships and offering a 5-year/50,000-mile (80,000 km) warranty with the first year or 12,000-mile (19,000 km) portion secured by a major insurance carrier, but this was not successful. After resigning his position, Bruce McWilliams, VP of Marketing for DMC and later acting President for DMC America, said, "The car could never be sold in the numbers Joh

Construction

The DeLorean features a number of unusual construction details, including gull-wing doors, unpainted stainless-steel body panels, and a rear-mounted engine. Body. The body design of the DeLorean was a product of Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign. To create the car, Giugiaro drew on one of his previous works, the Porsche Tapiro, a concept car from 1970. The body is paneled in brushed austenitic SAE 304 stainless steel, and except for three cars plated in 24-karat gold, all DeLoreans left the factory uncovered by paint or clearcoat. Painted DeLoreans do exist, although these were all painted after the cars were purchased from the factory. The stainless-steel panels are fixed to a fiberglass underbody. The underbody is affixed to an epoxy-coated steel backbone chassis with Y-frames at either end, derived from the Lotus Esprit platform. Another distinctive feature of the DeLorean is its gull-wing doors. The DeLorean features heavy doors supported by cryogenically-preset torsion bars and nitrogen-charged struts that were developed by Grumman Aerospace. The doors featured red and amber lights to mark their edges at night and small cutout windows, because full-sized windows would not be fully retractable within the short door panels. Although early-production cars had fitment problems due to faulty striker plates and issues with weather seals, these were mostly tolerated because the attention-getting doors allowed occupants to enter and exit the car in tight parking places. Engine and drivetrain. The DeLorean's engine is a 2.85 L (2,849 cc; 173.86 cu in) single overhead camshaft (PRV) V6 engine. The catalyst-equipped PRV engine in the DeLorean engine is derated to 130 hp (132 PS; 97 kW) at 5,500 rpm and torque of 153 lb⋅ft (207 N⋅m) at 2,750 rpm. A handful of DeLoreans that sta

Technical data

== Production changes == Although there were no typical yearly updates to the DeLorean, several changes were made to the DeLorean during production. Instead of making changes at the end of the model year, DMC implemented changes mid-production. This resulted in no clear distinction between the 1981, 1982, and 1983 model years, but with subtle changes taking place almost continuously throughout the production run. Hood styles. The original hood of the DeLorean had grooves running down both sides. It included a fuel filler flap to simplify fuel filling. These cars typically had a locking fuel cap to prevent fuel tampering or theft by siphoning. In August 1981, the fuel flap was removed from the hood (although the hood creases remained). After the supply of locking caps was exhausted, the company switched to a non-locking fuel cap (resulting in at least 500 cars with no hood flap, but with locking fuel caps). The final styling for the hood included the addition of a cast-metal DeLorean emblem in the lower right corner and the removal of the grooves, resulting in a completely flat hood. This final version was on all 1982–1983 model year vehicles. Other changes. Although the styling of the DeLorean's wheels remained unchanged, the wheels of early 1981 models were painted grey. These wheels sported matching grey center caps with an embossed DMC logo. Early into the 1981 production run, these were changed to a polished silver look, with a contrasting black center cap. The embossed logo on the center caps was painted silver to add contrast. Closing the door from the inside can be achieved by using a grab handle. For people with shorter arms, DMC installed leather pull straps attached to the grab handle. Beginning with late-model 1981 cars, DMC revised the location of the leathe

Performance

DMC's comparison literature stated that the DeLorean could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) in 8.8 seconds when equipped with a manual transmission, but Road & Track magazine measured the time at 10.5 seconds. Top speed was claimed to be 130 mph (209 km/h), but was tested to be 110 mph (177 km/h); the magazine described the car as "not quick for a sports/GT car in this price category".

Quality problems

DeLoreans, early-production models in particular, suffered from poor build quality and mechanical issues. Early-production cars needed as much as 200 hours of work at DMC Quality Assurance Centers prior to being shipped to dealerships for delivery. DMC eventually sent 30 factory workers to the quality centers in the US to learn about the problems and how to fix them. Quality did improve over time, and by 1982 many of the quality issues had been resolved. Four recalls were issued by the factory to correct problems such as a sticking throttle, front-suspension issues and an inertia switch. Other quality issues included additional problems surrounding the front suspension, clutch pedal adjustment (or lack thereof), brake rotors, instruments, in particular the speedometer, power door locks and weak alternators. Many early DeLoreans were delivered poorly aligned, with the toe-in incorrectly set, leading to premature tire wear. In addition, many dealers were reluctant to perform warranty work on DeLoreans, since DMC owed them money for past warranty claims. Some dealerships were not able to perform repair work properly, as DMC never issued a proper service manual. The lack of quality service at dealerships was a point of frustration for many DeLorean owners at the time, particularly those who paid over MSRP to purchase one of the first cars.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: DMC DeLorean
Manufacturer: DeLorean Motor Company (DMC)
Production: January 21, 1981 – December 24, 1982
Model years: 1981–1983
Assembly: Northern Ireland: Dunmurry (DeLorean Motor Cars, Ltd.)
Designer: Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door coupé
Layout: Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Engine: 2849 cc PRV ZMJ-159 V6
Transmission: 5-speed manual , 3-speed automatic
Wheelbase: 2413 mm
Length: 4267 mm
Width: 1988 mm
Height: 1140 mm doors closed , 1962 mm doors open
Kerb weight: 1233 kg
sp: us

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q370524CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMC_DeLoreanCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1377700388 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delorean_DMC-12_side.jpgCC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Kevin Abato, www.grenexmedia.com · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.