Sutton - The DeLorean Story

This book is dedicated to DMCL employee number 21, my wife Phyllis, who has been a constant daily reminder that many things in the DeLorean Dream were positive. And to my children, Christopher, Fiona and Nicole.

Overview

T his is the inside account of the DeLorean saga written by a senior manager who worked with the company from beginning to end. The short life of the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car a vision of the future with its gullwing doors and stainless steel body began after John DeLorean secured financial backing from the British government for his car-making venture.

In a blaze of publicity the DeLorean dream arrived in Belfast in the summer of 1978. The challenge was to build a car and a factory in 18 months, with two prototypes and 72 acres of muddy fields in West Belfast as the basic ingredients. Money shortages and civil disturbances the result of the IRA hunger strike campaign caused major disruptions.

Four years and almost 9,000 cars later the company went bust and John DeLoreans dream turned into a nightmare as he was tried for alleged drug offences, eventually to be found not guilty due to entrapment by the FBI. His apparent charmed life continued when he was also found not guilty of embezzling the missing equity money from the Belfast factory. His big ally, Colin Chapman of Lotus, also drew posthumous scrutiny.

Prior to John DeLoreans trials, Margaret Thatcher vetoed a plan by a UK consortium to restart the DeLorean site, which would have provided over 1,000 jobs, but she decided this recovery plan was not for her. What were her reasons? This book offers one possible answer.

Who were the real heroes and villains in this saga? The DeLorean Story reveals everything about the car, the people and the scandal, from 1978 to 2004.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 1

Hero to villain in four years

J ohn DeLorean. We shook hands.

My first meeting with John DeLorean in the reception area of the training building in Dunmurry was only a brief moment, but its one that I shall always remember. A major refurbishment of the building, a former carpet warehouse, had just been completed to reflect the international status and grandeur of its new occupants: DeLorean Motor Cars Ltd. In this lobby just weeks earlier television crews, journalists and dignitaries had attended the groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the foundation of the new enterprise.

The success of the venture was pivotal to the UK governments credibility in the investment policy they had planned for Northern Ireland. Jim Callaghans Cabinet knew that the money provided to John DeLorean was a huge political and financial gamble. But as everything that had been tried in order to resolve the civil conflict that had raged through Northern Ireland for the previous ten years had so far failed, the investment in the DeLorean programme was thought to be well worth the risk. Over 700 deaths had been recorded in Northern Ireland during the previous four years, with a further 7,000 people injured, and all this despite the intervention of the 22,000 military personnel stationed in the province. The new car and modern factory were intended to bring jobs and confidence to Belfast. The government hoped that a successful operation would attract other overseas investors.

My short conversation with John DeLorean took place next to the full-size photograph of the DeLorean car (code name DMC12) adorning the wall of the reception stairwell. I was immediately impressed that a man known to everyone in the automotive business had felt the need to tell me his name; John DeLorean at his very best. The date was early December 1978.

During his visits to the factory at Dunmurry and Lotus he radiated a persona of confidence and certainty of purpose that permeated the two companies. His presence at Dunmurry, usually lasting no longer than a day, lifted the morale of those who had the opportunity to talk to the legend that was John DeLorean. They hoped he would make an irrevocable difference to their lives.

Three years later things had changed. The money was gone; the order book of 30,000 cars promised at the start of the programme had disappeared. The dream John DeLorean sold us had turned sour.

A year further on he was charged with drug offences. By this time the company was in receivership and the number of employees at Dunmurry had shrunk to a handful of people retained by the receiver to assist in the closure of the factory. I was one of the lucky few who stayed to the end.

Despite the trials, lawsuits and adverse publicity associated with his name, many in Belfast still regard John DeLorean as the hero and the UK government the villain. Johns endeavour to create jobs and improve the prosperity of the impoverished areas of Belfast remains his legacy. For many, there can be no debate regarding the sincerity of his mission.

Other ex-employees hold a different view, bitter that the man they had trusted failed them with his involvement in the drugs trade. His skirmish in drugs trafficking resulted in a trial in April 1984 in Los Angeles lasting four months before he was cleared of all charges in August of that year. Arrested in room 501 of the Sheraton La Reina hotel at Los Angeles airport on 19 October 1982 for holding $24 million of cocaine, he was charged with possession and various other drug offences. Its better than gold were the words that condemned him in the eyes of the public.

The investigation by the FBI involved months of research, videotaping, and the recording of DeLorean employees telephone calls in the USA and the United Kingdom.

On the day following his arrest we were told that the factory was to close at the end of the year. This was the end of the dream. No more government Seventh Cavalry charging over the Dunmurry Hills to save the financial remnants of the DeLorean wagon train, a scene we had experienced many times over previous years. It was closure for certain this time. This was the end.

John DeLoreans name was stained by his drugs trial, by missing equity money and allegations of misuse of public funds. These events tarnished the legacy of a talented man tempted by easy access to money provided by the British government; lax management allowed him to convert his dreams into cash and secure the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed.

The lifestyle stole the dream. The dream was now the lifestyle. The transition began in the President Wilson hotel in Geneva in late October 1978 when plans were made to skim off a significant amount of cash intended for the DeLorean car plant in Dunmurry. The commercial vehicle for the scam was GPD Services Inc., a shelf company in Panama (founded on 18 August 1977) used as a conduit to move money intended for the Belfast operation into other pockets. The GPD deal landed John DeLorean the biggest bonus of his seemingly charmed life.

For 30 years Id not really given a thought to John DeLoreans vision, until I was persuaded to write this account and record the chronology of the company and its legacy. Many details I recall clearly, while other memories are jogged to life by reading journals of the time or my wife Phyllis filling in the gaps, as she was also an employee from the beginning of the venture.

This is the story of the DeLorean dream in Belfast and it details the events that resulted in its foundation and ultimate closure. Its a personal view, recording activities from the first visit of DeLorean personnel to Belfast in June 1978 and the groundbreaking ceremony in October 1978; through the cars development programme and short manufacturing period; the IRA hunger strikes and the production ramp-up to satisfy John DeLoreans public stock offering, which would make him a multi-millionaire; into receivership and the attempt to save the factory, foiled by Margaret Thatcher; and then closure of the factory in February 1983.