From The Drive:
The first DeLorean wasn’t a car—it was a snowcat. And its backstory is far more important than you know.
The name DeLorean is known in all corners of the world. The former GM executive turned automobile entrepreneur made waves when he launched the gull-winged stainless steel sports car known as the DMC-12 in the early 1980s. His time in the limelight was cut short after he was arrested and instead of being known for his contributions to the auto industry, John Z. DeLorean became known as the man who was charged (though acquitted) with a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, and the DMC-12 mainly as the time machine in 1985's Back to the Future.
Even before the famous scandal, there was another kind of snow he was interested in: the stuff falling from the sky. His passion for winter weather and vehicles that could traverse those icy conditions became one of DeLorean's main sources of post-GM income (and a significant pawn in the post-conviction DMC bankruptcy) but was somehow simultaneously his least known business endeavor. In fact, the first DeLorean wasn't the DMC-12—it was a snowcat.
The DeLorean Manufacturing Company, as it was branded—and not to be confused with the DeLorean Motor Company—was a turnkey purchase for the serial entrepreneur in 1978, just as his automotive ambitions were gathering real steam. The business had been building snow groomers for several decades as part of a larger multinational conglomerate Thiokol. Somewhat amazingly, it represented more than half of the U.S. market share for snow grooming equipment at the time.DeLorean Loved to Ski, Apparently
DeLorean's snow-machine era began with a chemical-aerospace company called Thiokol. It's since restructured several times and finally merged with Northrop Grumman, meaning it's not as relevant today. But in the 1970s, Thiokol was making everything from rocket boosters for NASA's space shuttle (a project which later resulted in the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster) to lift and grooming equipment for ski resorts. Perhaps thinking it should focus more on its core competencies—spaceflight is tricky—Thiokol started downsizing or shedding some of its ancillary concerns that decade. This included its cold weather operations; a corporation founded by two former employees acquired the ski lift portion of Thiokol, while the snowcat and groomer manufacturing business was purchased by a flashy guy who had made a name for himself at General Motors as the designer of the Pontiac GTO and Firebird: John Z. DeLorean.
It was 1978 when DeLorean approached Thiokol saying he wanted to buy its snow equipment manufacturing division, located in Logan, Utah. Nobody knows exactly why John DeLorean had his eye on Thiokol, but his son Zach told me that John loved to ski. He theorized that his father's passion for the slopes and keen eye for potential investments may have made a turn-key operation like building snow grooming vehicles seem like a rather smart investment, especially for the man who spent nearly two decades working in a high-level position for GM. Regardless of the reason, DeLorean was set on buying.
The former GM exec ponied up $8.5 million for the deal, a sum which he claimed to have been loaned by Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus and man responsible for some of the most important engineering decisions related to the DMC-12's chassis and suspension layout.
This transaction would later become a topic of interest to federal prosecutors in 1986 during one of DeLorean's legal battles, as the government learned that the money was funneled through a Swiss-owned Panamanian company called General Products Development Service (GPD), the same company which made the design arrangements between DeLorean Motor Company and Lotus. Whether or not Chapman authorized the loan is something still up for debate today—DeLorean produced documents at the time verifying the loan, while DeLorean's ex-wife Cristina Ferrare claimed that he not only had the means to forge documents, but also practiced forging the signatures of his business partners. Either way, Chapman took that secret with him to the grave in 1982 when he died of an apparent heart attack....
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