John Zachary DeLorean was born January 6, 1925 in Detroit, MI, and passed away on March 19, 2005 in Summit, NJ. He was born to immigrant parents, and served in the United States Army.
JZD had a long career in the automotive industry, starting with Packard. He later joined Pontiac and rose in the ranks to become head of General Motors‘ North American Car & Truck Division. He brought with him many accomplishments in both vehicle engineering, as well as marketing, and even influencing car culture as it influenced himself and his work. After leaving General Motors, he went on to found DeLorean Motor Company to produce the DeLorean sports car.
What happened to the DeLorean?
In the autumn of 1982, DMC went out of business. While John DeLorean was arrested, and soon acquitted of all drug trafficking charges, the company still folded. This included DMC, and its corporate subsidies, such as DeLorean Motorcars of America (DMCA) which was responsible for the distribution of the DeLorean automobile, and DeLorean Motor Cars, Ltd. (DMCL) of Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, which manufactured them. A push to increase production in the summer of 1981 exhausted credit lines with parts suppliers and resulted in large debts, but also created the massive stockpile of original parts which the community uses to this day.
