De Lorean Car PDF Workshop and Repair manuals

John DeLorean was a rising star at General Motors in the early '70s, but became disillusioned with the company's vision for car design of the era, so he left in 1973 to start his own company. He believed that "a car should light a fire in people's souls" and so in 1975 he founded the DeLorean Motor Company.

In 1976, with the help of former Pontiac engineer William T. Collins, DeLorean Motor Company produced the first prototype of what would become the DeLorean DMC-12. John DeLorean was determined that his new car should be an eye-catcher, so he chose famed Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and Ital Design to perfect the look of the DMC-12, later simply called the DeLorean.

The DeLorean stands out from the crowd for a number of reasons. In order to "light up people's eyes," the DeLorean is constructed of spaceship-like stainless steel panels. Instead of a conventional steel frame, the panels are attached to structural fiberglass, which in turn is mounted on a chassis. And, as if that wasn't enough already, the DeLorean was given gullwing doors, because every spaceship needs wings, right?

There is a common misconception that these doors make it difficult to get out of the car when parking next to another vehicle, but this is not true: the DeLorean only requires 28 centimeters of clearance for the doors to open.

In early design proposals, the "bottom" material consisted of urethane foam and fiberglass, a process called "Elastic Injection Molding." For some reason, DeLorean bought the rights to this process before it had been properly tested. In the end it didn't work, so the mixture was scrapped and fiberglass took its place.

In 1978, the decision was made to bring in Lotus, the legendary British sports car manufacturer, to participate in early projects. As a result, before the car went on sale in 1981, it underwent many design changes, including larger rear tires and a number of other innovations from Lotus.

When Lotus engineers realized that the original design would perform poorly in crash tests, significant changes were made to the car. Computer modeling predicted that without them, in a collision at speeds of even 50 km/h, the engine and transmission located in the rear would crash into the driver and passenger.

In 1995, British entrepreneur Stephen Wynne created a new company using the name DeLorean Motor Company. Soon after, he bought up existing parts and acquired the rights to the DMC logo. Since 2008, the new DeLorean Motor Company (currently located in Houston, Texas) has been assembling "new" DeLoreans from a mix of old unused parts from the original factory, some re-created parts, and modern upgrades such as GPS.

The company produces custom cars, and, despite not being affiliated with the original DeLorean Motor Company, offers parts to owners of genuine DeLoreans.

John DeLorean's widow later sued the new company for stealing the name and trademark. But in 2015, the modern version of DeLorean Motor Company reached a settlement with the widow and received the rights to use both the name and trademark in the future.

John DeLorean died in 2005 after suffering a stroke. Legal battles surrounding the initial bankruptcy of the DeLorean Motor Company worsened his health as early as 1990. He filed for bankruptcy in 1999 and was forced to sell his 434-acre estate in March 2000. The estate was purchased by Donald Trump, who turned it... into a golf course.