The DeLorean Motor Company was founded by John DeLorean who built his reputation at General Motors, running Pontiac and then Chevrolet, then briefly as GM’s vice president. When he left GM, he founded the DeLorean Motor Company in 1975 with the intention to build the car that became the DeLorean. The car drew heavily upon European influences, with a body designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, an engine jointly designed buy Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo, and much of the chassis design by Lotus Cars. In addition, in exchange for a large investment by the British government in an attempt to boost jobs in impoverished areas, DMC built their factory just outside of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Over the course of the design phase the car changed multiple times, with changes in drivetrain, materials, construction methods, all of which added to the already long delays to reach production, which finally commenced in 1981. Once in production, however there were numerous quality control issues requiring hours of additional labor to sort out all of which cost the company more money. Initially intended to cost around $12,000 (hence the “12” in DMC-12), when it was released the cost was closer to $25,000, making it expensive in comparison to better performing competitor’s cars. The stainless exterior meant all the cars looked the same and showed fingerprints and aside from a grey interior or automatic transmission, there was little to set an individual car apart. All this lead to the inevitable bankruptcy ending production in 1982, coupled with a sting operation that ended with a desperate John Delorean being charged with drug trafficking, though he was later acquitted. This DeLorean is a very original low mileage example, acquired from the collection of the LeMay Museum in Tacoma, Washington who owned two of them. We purchased this car at a benefit auction for the museum and at the time it had been off the road since the mid 1990s and had covered around 15,000 miles in total. As the car had been sitting, the museum had the car initially serviced and made to run again in preparation for the auction. After I received the car, we had to do additional brake work, replace the still original tires, which had been on the car since its production in 1981, as well as sort out a range of small issues, mostly due to the car not being driven. At this point the car runs and drives reliably, We lowered the car to a European ride height, as it was raised for US bumper regulations of the time, and have driven it long enough to make sure everything is now working as it should. The car does drive and handle pretty well and works reasonably well as a touring car, though it is certainly not quick in comparison to even some of of the cars in the collection that pre-date it. It essentially requires working air conditioning as the small roll down section of the side windows let in very little air, but it never fails to draw attention from everyone who sees it, especially due to its fame from the Back to the Future movie franchise.