DeLorean is Back in the Future

The DeLorean is back, but it isn’t what you are thinking. The original DeLorean was the DMC-12, and it was never expected to be the entire brand. DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) was an American automobile manufacturer formed by automobile industry executive John DeLorean in 1975. Their first production car was the gull-winged Back to the Future star, DMC-12. But the DMC-12 wasn’t intended to be the entire brand. In fact, DeLorean made several concept cars including the DMC-24, DMC-44, and DMC-80.

But, in the early ’80s, lack of demand, cost overruns, and a poor economy, really started to hurt the company. John DeLorean was arrested in October 1982, as part of a drug sting. And by late 1982, DMC was bankrupt and closed its doors.

Before it closed up operations, DMC had manufactured approximately 9,200 DMC-12’s in its Dunmurry, Northern Ireland facility between January 1981 and December 1982. Believe it or not, Big Lots then known as Consolidated International headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, had purchased the remaining unsold cars (1,400 DMC-12s) and inventory of unused parts. How funny would that be, walking into your local Big Lots and buying a DMC-12?

That was it for DeLorean, the store is done, or is it? In the mid-1990s former DeLorean Motor Company CEO Stephen Wynne started to acquire the trademarks and IP around the name “DeLorean Motor Company”. In 1997, he purchased all the stock of parts from Big Lots and moved them from Ohio to Humble Texas. There are 2,650 parts that make up a DeLorean DMC-12 and Stephen Wynne had them all, including complete engines. The new company was DeLorean Motors Reimagined LLC (doing business as DeLorean Motor Company or DMC)

DMC-24

The DMC-24 was a four-door sedan version of the DMC-12. It was never manufactured or sold.

DMC-44 (Off-Road Utility Vehicle)