Forty-five Years Since DeLorean’s Deadly Downfall
This page is translated from the original post "Il y a 45 ans, la chute fatale de DeLorean" in French.
- 19/10/2025 9:19
On October 19, 1980, American automotive history shifted into an incredible mix of shattered dreams and scandal.
John Zachary DeLorean, a brilliant engineer and founder of the eponymous brand, was arrested by the FBI in Los Angeles. In a suitcase: 24 million dollars worth of cocaine. The scene, filmed and orchestrated by authorities, would symbolize the sudden downfall of a man who embodied audacity and success.
By the late 1970s, DeLorean had left General Motors to establish his own brand. He aimed to create a different, safe, and futuristic car: the DMC-12. With a brushed stainless steel body, gull-wing doors, and a design by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the car seemed straight out of a science fiction film. Ironically, it was precisely Back to the Future that would make it an icon… several years after the company’s demise.
The broken dream of DeLorean
But at the moment of the arrest, the dream had already cracked. Production, based in Northern Ireland, was experiencing delays and losses. Sales were not taking off, and the company, dependent on public subsidies, was dangerously wavering. Cornered, DeLorean was desperately seeking funds. It was then that a former partner, turned FBI informant, set him up. The drug transaction, supposed to fund his automotive empire, proved to be a staged operation.
Acquitted in 1984 for procedural errors — the court ruling he had been manipulated by federal agents — DeLorean would never really recover. His company was declared bankrupt in 1982, leaving behind some 9,000 units of a car as fascinating as it was cursed.
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Forty-five years later, the DeLorean remains a rolling myth: the emblem of a visionary genius fallen for trying to go too fast… and too high.
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