The DeLorean DMC-12 is a sports car which was manufactured by the DeLorean Motor Company from 1981 through 1983. It is most commonly known as the DeLorean, as it was the only model ever produced by the company. The DMC-12 featured gull-wing doors with a brushed stainless steel body. It was famously featured in the Back to the Future trilogy.

The first prototype appeared in March 1977, and production officially began in 1981 (with the first DMC-12 rolling off the production line on January 21st) at the DMC factory in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. During its production, several aspects of the car were changed, such as the hood (bonnet) style, wheels and interior. Around 8,583 DMC-12s were made before production fizzled in late 1982, with final production taking place in early 1983. Today, only about six thousand DeLorean Motor Cars are believed to still exist.

Despite being produced in Northern Ireland, DMC-12s were primarily intended for the American market. Therefore, all of the production models were left-hand drive (designed to be driven on the right side of the road), limiting its popularity in the United Kingdom, where traffic travels on the left. Only four right-hand drive De Loreans were ever produced, converted by specialized mechanics for use in the UK.

In October 1976, the first prototype DeLorean DMC-12 was completed by William T. Collins, chief engineer and designer (formerly chief engineer at Pontiac). Originally, the car's rear-mounted power plant was to be a Citroën Wankel rotary engine, but was replaced with a French-designed and produced PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) fuel injected V-6 because of the poor fuel economy of the rotary engine, an important issue at a time of world-wide fuel shortages. Collins and De Lorean envisioned a chassis produced from a new and untested manufacturing technology known as Elastic Reservoir Moulding (ERM), which would contribute to the light-weight characteristics of the car while presumably lowering its production costs. This new technology, for which DeLorean had purchased patent rights, would eventually be found to be unsuitable for mass production.

These and other changes to the original concept led to considerable schedule pressures. The entire car was deemed to require almost complete re-engineering, which was turned over to engineer Colin Chapman, founder and owner of Lotus. Chapman replaced most of the dubious material and manufacturing techniques with those currently being employed by Lotus. The original Giorgetto Giugiaro body design was left mostly intact, as were the distinctive stainless steel outer skin and gull-wing doors. (Giugiaro had also designed the Lotus Esprit.)

The DMC-12 would eventually be built in a factory in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, a neighborhood only a few miles from Belfast City Centre. Construction on the factory began in October 1978, and although production of the DMC-12 was scheduled to start in 1979, engineering issues and budget overruns delayed production until early 1981. By that time, the unemployment rate was high in Northern Ireland and local residents lined up to apply for jobs at the factory. The workforce comprised both Protestants and Catholics who were happy to put religious differences aside and work together as a team. The production personnel were largely inexperienced, but were paid premium wages and supplied with the best equipment available. Most quality issues were solved by 1982 and the cars were available with a five-year, 50,000-mile (80 000 km) warranty program.

Although the De Lorean Motor Company went bankrupt in late 1982 following John De Lorean's arrest in October of that year, about 100 partially assembled DMC-12s on the production line were completed by Consolidated Industries (now known as Big Lots). A total of about 9,200 DMC-12s were produced between January 1981 and December 1982., no confirmed records of the total production has surfaced, though it's believed that about 9,000 cars were built. Almost a fifth of these were produced in October 1981. Very few cars were produced between February and May 1982, with the last DMC-12 was assembled 24 December 1982, and the final model year was 1983.

The DMC-12 features a number of unusual construction details, including gull-wing doors, unpainted stainless-steel body panels, and a rear-mounted engine.

The body of the DMC-12 was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and clad entirely in brushed SS304 stainless steel. Except for three cars plated in 24-karat gold, all DMC-12s left the factory uncovered by paint or clearcoat. Painted De Loreans do exist, although these were all painted after the cars were purchased from the factory. Several hundred fiberglass-bodied "black car" DMC-12s were produced to train workers, although these were never marketed. Small scratches in the stainless steel body panels can reportedly be removed with a scouring pad. The stainless steel panels are fixed to a glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, fiberglass) monocoque underbody. The underbody is affixed to a double-Y frame chassis, derived from the Lotus Esprit platform.

It must be noted that the unpainted stainless body creates challenges during restoration of the cars. In traditional automotive body repair, the panel is repaired to be as original ("straight") as possible and imperfections are sculpted back to form with body filler like Bondo or lead (body solder). This poses no problem (aside from originality) with most cars, as the filler will be hidden by the car's paint (for example, most new cars have filler hiding the seam where the roof meets the quarter panel). With an unpainted stainless body, the stainless steel must be reworked to exactly the original shape, contour and grain - which is a tremendously difficult job on regular steel (a dented or bent panel is stretched and a shrinking hammer or other techniques must be used to unstretch the metal), let alone stainless. Furthermore, it is exceedingly difficult to paint stainless steel due to adherence issues. De Lorean envisioned that damaged panels would simply be replaced rather than repaired; a prospect which ceased to be practical with the failure of the company.

Another novel feature of the DMC-12 is its gull-wing doors. The common problem of supporting the weight of gull-wing doors was solved by other manufacturers with lightweight doors in the Mercedes-Benz 300SL and an air pump in the Bricklin SV-1, although these designs had structural or convenience issues. The DMC-12 features heavy doors supported by cryogenically preset torsion bars and gas-charged struts. These torsion bars were manufactured by Grumman Aerospace to withstand the stresses of supporting the doors. These doors only extend 11 inches (264 mm) outside the line of the car, making opening and closing the doors in crowded parking lots relatively easy. Much like the doors fitted to the Lamborghini Countach, the DMC-12 doors featured small cutout windows, because full-sized windows would not be fully retractable within the short door panels.

John DeLorean had originally envisioned that the car would produce somewhere around 200 horsepower, but eventually settled on a 170 horsepower output for the engine. However, stringent US emissions regulations required that parts such as catalytic converters be added to the vehicle before it could be sold in that country. Although the new parts qualified the vehicle for sale in the US, they caused serious reductions to power output, to 130 horsepower. The 40-horsepower loss seriously impeded the DMC-12's performance, and when combined with the forced changes to the vehicle's suspension system, the US versions were regarded as disappointing. De Lorean's comparison literature noted that the DMC-12 could achieve 0–60 mph (0–96 km/h) in 8.8 s, which would have been good for the time, but Road & Track magazine clocked the car at 10.5 s. However, it's possible that the factory performance numbers were achieved using a European spec car with the 170 horsepower engine.

New DMC-12s had a suggested retail price of $25,000 ($650 more when equipped with an automatic transmission); this is equivalent to approximately $56,000 in 2005 dollars. There were extensive waiting lists of people willing to pay up to $10,000 above the list price; however, after the collapse of the DeLorean Motor Company, unsold cars could be purchased for under the retail price.

The DMC-12 was only available with eight options including automatic transmission ($650); a car cover ($117); floor mats ($84); black textured accent stripes ($87); grey scotch-cal accent stripes ($55); a luggage rack ($269) and a ski-rack adapter. The standard feature list included stainless steel body panels; gull-wing doors with cryogenically-treated torsion bars; leather seats/trim; air conditioning; a high-output stereo system ($450); power windows, locks and mirrors; a steering wheel adjustable for both rake and reach; tinted glass; body side moldings; windshield wipers; and an electric rear window defogger.

Prices for DMC-12s vary widely and are dependent upon price and demand. As of early 2006, a DeLorean in good to excellent condition can be had for around $17,000 to $20,000. Mint-condition cars can fetch up to $30,000. There are an estimated 6,000 surviving DMC-12s today. A Texas-based company called the DeLorean Motor Company sells refurbished DMC-12s starting at $42,500, priced according to condition. The cars are available with modern amenities, such as performance engine upgrades, two-toned heated/cooled seats, satellite radio options, enhanced Eibach suspension, audio sound system upgrades, and high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights. The DeLorean Motor Company also sells a vast number of parts left over from the factory supply for cars that were never built. The myth that DeLorean parts are impossible to find and are incredibly expensive simply isn't well-founded. Some parts do command steep price tag and those that do are large items such as the fiberglass underbody. Most parts are reasonably priced and readily available. This company has no affiliation with the original DeLorean Motor Company.

Although there were no typical "yearly" updates to the DeLorean, several changes were made to the DeLorean during production. John DeLorean believed that model years were primarily a gimmick used by automobile companies to sell more cars. Instead of making massive changes at the end of the model year, he implemented changes mid-production. This resulted in no clear distinction between the 1981, 1982, and 1983 model years, but with subtle changes taking place almost continuously throughout the life of the De Lorean. The most visible of these changes related to the hood style.

John DeLorean was well over six feet (183 cm) tall, and he designed the car to comfortably fit someone of his stature. For shorter people, the addition of a pull strap made closing the doors much easier from the inside. Pull straps were manufactured as an add-on for earlier vehicles in November 1981. These attach to the existing door handle. Late-model 1981 cars, and all cars from 1982 and 1983, have doors with permanent pull straps attached.

The side bolstering in the DeLorean was originally separate from the main interior pieces. There is a tendency to place pressure on this piece when entering and exiting the car. This will eventually cause the bolstering to become separated from the trim panel. To help fix this problem; cars built in and after late 1981 have one solid trim piece with the bolster permanently attached.

As an addition to later cars, a foot rest — in the form of an unusable pedal — was added to the cars to help prevent fatigue while driving. This is one of the few changes that is directly tied to a model year. These were not built in to any 1981 vehicles, and were added to all cars starting with 1982 production.

Although the styling of the De Lorean's wheels remained unchanged, the wheels of early-model 1981 vehicles were painted grey. These wheels sported matching grey centre caps with an embossed DMC logo. Early into the 1981 production run, these were changed to a polished silver look, with a contrasting black centre cap. The embossed logo on the centre caps was painted white to add contrast.

In 1981, the DeLorean came stocked with a Craig radio; this was a standard 1980s tape radio with dual knob controls. Since the Craig did not have a built-in clock, one was installed in front of the gear shift. DeLorean switched to an ASI stereo in the middle of the 1982 production run. Since the ASI radio featured an on-board clock, the standard De Lorean clock was removed at the same time.

The first 2,200 cars produced used a windshield embedded antenna. This type of antenna proved to be inadequate for most motoring needs, so a standard whip antenna was added to the outside of the front right quarter panel. While improving radio reception, this resulted in a hole in the stainless steel, and an unsightly antenna. As a result, the antenna was again moved, this time to the rear of the car. Automatic antennas were installed under the grills behind the rear driver's-side window. While giving the reception quality of a whip antenna, these completely disappear from view when not in use.

The small sun visors on the DeLorean have vinyl on one side, and headline fabric on the other side. Originally these were installed such that the vinyl side would be on the bottom when not in use. Later on in 1981, they were reversed so that the fabric side would be on the bottom.

The original alternator supplied with the early production DMC-12s could not provide enough current to supply the car when all lights and electrical options were on; as a result, the battery would gradually discharge, leaving the driver stranded on the road. This happened to DeLorean owner Johnny Carson shortly after he was presented with the vehicle.

For Christmas 1981, A DeLorean/American Express promotion planned to sell one hundred 24k gold-plated DMC-12s for $85,000 each to its gold card members, but only two were sold. One of these was purchased by Roger Mize, president of Snyder National Bank in Snyder, Texas. VIN #4301 sat in the bank lobby for over 20 years before being loaned to the Petersen Automotive Museum of Los Angeles. It has a saddle brown interior rather than the stock black/grey interior, and an automatic transmission.

The second gold-plated American Express DMC-12 is located at the William F. Harrah Foundation/National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. This car, VIN #4300, is the only one of the three existing gold-plated examples to be equipped with a manual transmission. Like its golden siblings, it is a low-mileage vehicle with only 1,442 miles (2,307 km) on the odometer

A third gold-plated car exists with 636 miles (1,018 km) clocked up; it carries the VIN plate for the last production DeLorean, #20105.[22] This car was assembled with spare parts that were acquired by American Express. All necessary gold-plated parts were on hand, with the exception of one door. The car was assembled after another door was gold-plated, though the added door does not precisely match the rest of the car in color and grain. The car was first acquired by the winner of a department store raffle. Consolidated International, which owned the department store, had purchased 1,374 DMC-12s during the De Lorean Company's financial troubles, acquiring the remaining stock after the company went into receivership. Now held by a private owner in La Vale, Maryland, the third and last gold-plated De Lorean is currently for sale at the price of $250,000. Both this car and the example in Reno have saddle-brown leather interiors, a color scheme which was intended to become an option on later production cars. However, these two cars were the only ones to be thus equipped from the factory.

Insurance costs on the gold vehicles were approximately $1,000 a month (in 1981 dollars) and a small dent in the car body could cost as much as $24,000 to repair.

When founding his company, John De Lorean negotiated with many celebrities to persuade them to back the new De Lorean car and the company. Johnny Carson, talk show host/comedian, was given a De Lorean and also invested in DMC; other famous owners included Matthew Reilly, Patrick Swayze, Danny Lee, Jim Varney, James Bourne, Howard Johnson, and Chevy Chase.

The DMC-12 was featured and mentioned in many films and on television, most notably as the time machine designed by Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy. Brown's rationale for choosing the DeLorean was stated in the first film: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" He also indicates that the stainless steel construction of the automobile is advantageous for the "flux distribution" of a time machine. In addition to elaborate enhancements for time travel, the fictional car was later modified with a fusion reactor and flying capabilities.

Six DMC-12s were co-opted for use in the making of the films. For the second and third films, producers replaced the underpowered stock engines in their production cars with Porsche engines.

In large part due to the popularity of Back to the Future, the DeLorean has been seen in many other contexts as well, including The Simpsons, The Wedding Singer, Monster Garage, Drawn Together, Family Guy, Haker, Get a Life, Rocky III, Matlock, Stargate Atlantis, Eerie Indiana, Donnie Darko, Harvey Birdman, Fairly Odd Parents, Designing Women and also Minoriteam. In most of these films and television shows, actors are seen driving a DMC-12 or mentioning the De Lorean in dialogue.

The DMC-12 has also been featured in many computer games, most notably in the Back To The Future games; but also in Carmageddon: Splat Pack (1997), Resident Evil 2 (1998), Duke Nukem: Time to Kill (1998), Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now (1998), M25 Racer (1999), Interstate '82 (1999), Vigilante 8: Second Offense (1999), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999), Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (2002), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) (lookalike, sans gull-wing doors, named "Deluxo"), R Racing Revolution (2004), Gran Turismo 4 (2005), Enthusia Professional Racing (2005), FlatOut 2 (2006) and Scarface: The World is Yours (2006). In most of these video games, there are similar cars that are look-alikes of the De Lorean, but not actually named De Loreans.

De Lorean culture lives on through the existing owners and their passion for the car. Children of the 80s are now able to afford the car that captured their imagination in "Back To The Future".

The DeLorean Owners Association, founded in 1983, is the largest international DeLorean group to date. The Association has yearly gatherings followed by great support of DeLorean members all over the world.