page_title: DMC DeLorean
section_title: Body
hierarchical_section_title: DMC DeLorean / Construction / Body
caption_attribution_description: Taken at Wollaton Park.
context_page_description: The DMC DeLorean is a sports car and the only automobile manufactured by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company for the American market from 1981 to 1983. The car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and stood out for its gull-wing doors and brushed stainless-steel outer body panels. It became widely known for its disappointing lack of power and performance, which did not match the expectations created by its looks and price tag, but it is memorable for its appearances as the time machine in the Back to the Future media franchise after 1985.
  Throughout production, the car was generally unchanged, although minor revisions were made to such parts as the hood and wheels. The first production car was completed on January 21, 1981. About 9,000 DeLoreans were made before production halted in late December 1982 shortly after DMC had filed for bankruptcy.
context_section_description: The body design of the DeLorean was a product of Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign and is paneled in brushed SS304 austenitic stainless steel. 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. In order to train the workforce, a small number of pre-production DeLoreans were produced with fiberglass bodies and are referred to as "black cars" or mules.
  Small scratches in the stainless-steel body panels can be removed with a non-metallic scouring pad (since metal pads can leave iron particles embedded in the stainless steel, which can give the appearance of the stainless "rusting"), or even sandpaper. The stainless-steel panels are fixed to a fiberglass underbody. The underbody is affixed to a steel double-Y frame chassis, inspired by 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. The doors featured 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 tolerable because gull-wing doors allowed occupants to get in and out of the car in tight parking places as well as attracting attention from people nearby.
caption: The gull-wing doors on the DeLorean were a distinctive feature.
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