The ultimate engineer bad-boy. Getting rid of guys like him has made GM what it is today.... Smokey Yunick, a pretty critical fella, even had great things to say about Mr. DeLorean.
RIP... He was credited with essentially starting the muscle car era of the 60's. It really takes someone special to say the hell with it and start up a car company.
Great guy and rightfully got a lot of the credit, but when the 413/426 wedge showed in the Exner short body Plymouths and Dodges in 62 and the 421 in the Catalinas the same year they were the kings of muscle cars. They put a whopping on the 389s and the 400 Ponchos whenever they dared to show up 64 through 67.
I think John had a little bit to do with the 421 cars as well. I actually have a Hot Rod (somewhere) with a roots blown 421 Catalina that DeLorean had built as a prototype. Somewhere around a 64-65
Guys like him leave a permanent mark on the automotive industry. He had the vision and the knowledge. He also had the guts to get things done and created one of the most popular of the musclecars-the GTO. He will be missed.
JZD really kicked off a lot of this this musclecar stuff. 1964 Pontiac Tempest smallbody with a large-body engine. He was supposed to be fired over that little move, until they sold in droves. Despite the crap that lesser men accused him of he was a great car guy, knew his products. He'll be missed.
I never forget seeing all his Delorean's in one lot back in the 80's. There must have been over one hundred of those cars. I don't remember if that was his dealership or just a storage lot. It was on route 206 in Bridgewater, NJ. Bob
How many of these Deloreans did they make? I keep seeing them quite often. A week ago I saw the "back to the future" car trailered here in Hollyweird.
He changed the world of cars as we know it. Not many people can say that. And we're all car people here. So he's somebody to remember.
EEE- they made about 8900 cars from 81-83. I remember seeing a picture recently of a lot (I think it was in TX where there's a DMC parts depot) with a bunch of DMC-12's sitting out front and all for sale. They're still pretty affordable however with John's death they may suddenly pic up in price some. Sold new back then for $33k but you can still find them now for $18-25k and up. I'd love to pick one up to see how it drives!
The saga continues in TX I have seen this place prersonally in Houston. http://www.delorean.com/index2.asp
He did alot of good things for the auto industry. I saw a delorean parked in the airport parking lot a few months ago and had to stop to check it out.
First Hunter S. Thompson and now John Z. DeLorean? Man this year has started really badly. Things seem to go in threes, first a heavily influencial writer dies, then a heavily influencial bonafided car guy dies. I really don't wanna see whats next. Patrick
