In memoriam: Car designer John DeLorean

Automobile developer John Z. DeLorean has died at age 80.

Hallmarks [of the DeLorean DMC-12], such as an unpainted stainless steel skin and the gull-wing doors, have been ignored by mainstream automakers. The angular design, however, earned it a cult following, and the car was a time-traveling vehicle for Michael J. Fox in the popular "Back to the Future" films of the late 1980s.

But the factory produced only about 8,900 cars in three years, estimated John Truscott, membership director of the DeLorean Owners Association. That figure is dwarfed by the major automakers, who sell more than a million vehicles a month. DeLorean's company collapsed in 1983, a year after he was arrested in Los Angeles and accused of conspiring to sell $24 million of cocaine to salvage his venture.

Link (Thanks, Mo)