DeLorean Motor Company

The De Lorean car company was founded in 1979 in Northern Ireland by flamboyant John De Lorean, to make the car of his dreams.

The car as he dreamed it, with its distinctive gull-wing doors hinged at the top, and stainless steel skin was never fully implemented. The unfettered ambition of the prototypes designed by Lotus was whittled down at each stage closer to production, as deadlines and budgets were hopelessly overrun.

There were about 8000 cars were made between 1981 and 1983, of which 6000 are still on the roads.

The adventure ended dramatically when John De Lorean was charged in Los Angeles with dealing in cocaine. The Dunmurry factory closed with the loss of 2000 jobs and taking over $100 million in British government subsidies down with it.

De Lorean was later acquitted of all charges but went into retirement in New England. The dream with which he had mesmerised Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her government, of capitalism rising out of the ashes of Ulster's sectarian conflict, was shattered.