Who was Elon Musk of the ‘80s
By: Sayan Manik
Tags: Delorean, Automotive, 80s

I ntroduction:

John wanted to become next Enzo Ferrari or Ferdinand Porsche and he would do everything to make it happen even if at the cost of his family. In the 1960s in General Motors, he demonstrated his engineering talents and quickly rose to the Pontiac division at just age 40. He turned Pontiac from a brand of the old-aged buyers to a massive car by leading the legendary Pontiac GTO project. It was a risky task but his risk paid off. The Pontiac GTO went on to influence the American muscle car movement. His next project Pontiac Firebird was a masterpiece.

Photo by Kai Oberhäuser on Unsplash

Less than a decade later he became the youngest ever vice president of General Motors the largest corporation at the time. He was a multi-millionaire, charming, charismatic, and easily capable of influencing people. Later on, he would make his own high profile appearances in magazines.

Clash with General Motors

His jet-black hair paired with unbuttoned shirts often violated the company’s dress code. General Motors didn’t like press attention as this didn’t suit their image but they were unable to do anything. John was making them a ton of money. In the press meeting, John chose to give a press speech highlighting the flaws of the company and publicly ridiculing its executives. General Motors didn’t take it in a casual way and they forced him to quit the company.

Building the DMC (DeLorean Motor Company)

Forced out of General Motors, he didn’t become upset rather he went on building his own car company. This was really a decision which was impossible to think at that time. In fact, there was no new car company after Chrysler in the 1920s. He was a risk-taker indeed.

By 1973, he left GM with a couple of envelopes containing some drawings of his new cars. His goal was to make an eco-friendly, long-lasting sportscar available to the masses. Famous designers from Ferraris, Ford Mustang designed the stainless steel body and hard lines of the famous DMC-12 car. It looks as stunning today as it looked back in those days.

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

In order to implement his vision, John needed money. He made 17 million USD through his connections in automotive industries but he needed more.

The UK Government’s Fund

In order to raise funds, John devised a brilliant idea. He avoided the traditional ways to raise money and went straight to Governments of regions with poverty and high unemployment. Northern Ireland was the perfect place for that opportunity.

During the late 1970s, Belfast was going through conflicts for gaining independence from the British. Street bombings, vandalism, assassinations were the norm in Belfast. Unemployment was high and investors were scared. While others saw this as a dissuasion, John saw this as an opportunity.

In 1978, John set up a factory at Belfast in the midst of bombing with the help of the UK government’s funding. The government was happy as new jobs were created as well as the people at Belfast.

Success

Delorean’s factory at Belfast was a state of the art with the new production processes that had never been tried before. People who were throwing bombs at each other soon started to work side by side. Orders of the DeLorean cars came rolling in about 30,000 before production had even started. John’s experience propelled the success of the company very soon. The marketing campaign was led by John himself. He raised a lot of hype much like Elon Musk is doing now.

Problems

Despite the glamour and success of the company, the factory was situated in the middle of a literal warzone. There were fire bombings, bullet holes through windows, and once a manager’s house was burnt down. But this was not the only problem John was facing.

As DMC-12 began mass production many engineering issues still remained. Inexperienced workforces, pressure for money often caused faults in the cars. A new car model would take 5 years to design but they wanted to do all in 18 months to earn enough money to stay afloat. The car ended up being slow with 0 to 60 time of 10 seconds. The car was supposed to cost 30000 USD but now it cost double the amount. Despite all of these, the first car was brought to the market in 1981. The company was hemorrhaging money but managed to produce 80 cars per day and actually become profitable. It looked like the company was going to make it despite all the critics. But then disaster happened.

The Disaster

The 1981–82 recession was a severe global economic recession that affected much of the world. It is widely considered to have been the deepest recession since World War II. Canda, the USA, the UK were heavily affected by this which meant that people could not afford to buy a new car like the DeLorean DMC-12. Demand dropped overnight and the company which just has become profitable was not in a situation to hold this storm. There were talks around the workers at the factory that the company was not able to pay salaries to them. Only 3000 cars were ever sold. Soon reality came out and John DeLorean did what he always did. He tried to charm people to raise funds and told that he would do everything to save his company until his last breath.

The Search for Funding

John DeLorean was on a hunt to collect funding. Meanwhile, the UK government has changed its leadership. New Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was not a fan of government subsidies to large companies. John was given a few months to find an investor or declare bankruptcy. Rumors circulated that John DeLorean was traveling to billionaires in the US and oil sheiks in the middle east to find anyone willing to invest without any use.

The factory was closed in 1982. 1300 workers were laid off and only 9000 cars were ever made. Workers stormed into factory gates and started protesting. But no investor means no result. The 13 weeks long protest went in vain.

The End of the DeLorean Motor Company

Having been rejected by all investors, John DeLorean was desperate. He stepped into a hotel new Los Angles airport to meet with Associates of his neighbor. He thanked them with the hope of the opportunity which to him was godsent. As John gleamed with hope in his chair 27 kgs of cocaine dropped in front of him. He had just agreed to finance a cocaine deal for another hundred kilos. This would be worth a whopping amount of 67 million USD. He thought he had outsmarted them by giving them useless stocks of the bankrupt company that had no assets. Several minutes later two FBI agents let themselves in. It was a sting operation. He was arrested for conspiracy to obtain and distribute 67 million dollars worth of cocaine. The footage of John in handcuffs destroyed the DeLorean dream forever. Within 12 months, John DeLorean had gone from the top of the world to hard times in prison.

Conclusion

In 1984, after a 22-week trial, the jury found him as not guilty miraculously. The jury saw it as a desperate attempt of a man who was willing to do anything to save his company and the government took advantage of him because of President Reagan’s war on drugs. The prosecution of DeLorean would have been a great PR stunt. John came out of the court as a free man but his company is bankrupt. Just after the trial had started, his wife left him, and undoubtedly he had ruined his children’s life.

The rest of John’s life was a mere shadow of his past ambition. He would pass away in his tiny one-bedroom apartment in 2005. It is said he was making some drawings on cars at the time of the heart attack.

The DeLorean cars never saw the light of day. But the cultural relevance still lives on today. Below is a clip of the movie Back To The Future’(1985).