Few days late, but RIP Mr. DeLorean
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NEW YORK (AFP) - The flamboyant auto innovator John DeLorean, best known for the futuristic gull-winged sports car that carried his name, has died in hospital in New Jersey. He was 80.
AFP/File Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Auto Innovator John DeLorean Dies at 80
The larger-than-life Detroit native, who was once tipped as a future chief executive of General Motors but who left the auto giant to pursue his own dreams, died from complications following a recent stroke, his family said.
Married four times and known for his colourful fashion sense and celebrity lifestyle, DeLorean's career in the auto industry was covered in glory but ended in bankruptcy and controversy, amid charges of drug dealing.
Though a marginal figure over the past few decades, DeLorean's legacy remained in the public eye, largely as a result of the "Back to the Future" series of movies that featured his eponymous sports car.
Born in Detroit in 1925, DeLorean began his career as an engineer with the Packard Motor Car Co. before joining General Motors, where, at the age of just 40, he became the youngest general manager of the company's Pontiac division.
By 1972, he had become a GM vice president and was widely seen as the next CEO, but he abruptly left the auto giant a year later, citing frustration with the company's conservative style.
GM insiders suggested he was ousted.
He then set out to create his own car, the DeLorean, a gull-winged, two-seat sports car with a stainless-steel body.
It took eight years for DeLorean to obtain the financing and a site, but eventually the British government came up with an estimated 90 million dollars in financing for a plant in West Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The plant started production in 1981, but financing was a continual problem, and only around 9,000 DeLoreans were built before the company collapsed in 1983.
A year earlier, DeLorean had been arrested in Los Angeles, accused in a sting of conspiring to sell 24 million dollars' worth of cocaine to keep his company afloat.
Relying on an entrapment defense, he won acquittal on the drug charges in 1984, despite a videotape splashed all over TV in which he called a suitcase full of cocaine "better than gold."
He also was later cleared of charges that he defrauded inventors, but a series of lawsuits followed and in 1999 he filed for bankruptcy.
"John DeLorean was one of Detroit's larger-than-life figures who secured a noteworthy place in our industry's history," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement.
"He made a name for himself through his talent, creativity, innovation and daring," Wagoner said.
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NEW YORK (AFP) - The flamboyant auto innovator John DeLorean, best known for the futuristic gull-winged sports car that carried his name, has died in hospital in New Jersey. He was 80.
AFP/File Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Auto Innovator John DeLorean Dies at 80
The larger-than-life Detroit native, who was once tipped as a future chief executive of General Motors but who left the auto giant to pursue his own dreams, died from complications following a recent stroke, his family said.
Married four times and known for his colourful fashion sense and celebrity lifestyle, DeLorean's career in the auto industry was covered in glory but ended in bankruptcy and controversy, amid charges of drug dealing.
Though a marginal figure over the past few decades, DeLorean's legacy remained in the public eye, largely as a result of the "Back to the Future" series of movies that featured his eponymous sports car.
Born in Detroit in 1925, DeLorean began his career as an engineer with the Packard Motor Car Co. before joining General Motors, where, at the age of just 40, he became the youngest general manager of the company's Pontiac division.
By 1972, he had become a GM vice president and was widely seen as the next CEO, but he abruptly left the auto giant a year later, citing frustration with the company's conservative style.
GM insiders suggested he was ousted.
He then set out to create his own car, the DeLorean, a gull-winged, two-seat sports car with a stainless-steel body.
It took eight years for DeLorean to obtain the financing and a site, but eventually the British government came up with an estimated 90 million dollars in financing for a plant in West Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The plant started production in 1981, but financing was a continual problem, and only around 9,000 DeLoreans were built before the company collapsed in 1983.
A year earlier, DeLorean had been arrested in Los Angeles, accused in a sting of conspiring to sell 24 million dollars' worth of cocaine to keep his company afloat.
Relying on an entrapment defense, he won acquittal on the drug charges in 1984, despite a videotape splashed all over TV in which he called a suitcase full of cocaine "better than gold."
He also was later cleared of charges that he defrauded inventors, but a series of lawsuits followed and in 1999 he filed for bankruptcy.
"John DeLorean was one of Detroit's larger-than-life figures who secured a noteworthy place in our industry's history," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement.
"He made a name for himself through his talent, creativity, innovation and daring," Wagoner said.