DO Crush: John DeLorean
Car designer and cocaine trafficking arrestee
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Posted: 3/22/05, 10:27 PM EST Section: Pulp
Marty McFly: "Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me you built a time machine ... out of a DeLorean?"
Dr. Emmett Brown: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"
It was 1986, and John DeLorean's car company was near collapse. So the designer of the Pontiac GTO and DeLorean DMC-12 of "Back to the Future" fame did what any sane American would do - put up $1.8 million to bring 100 kilos of cocaine into the U.S. It seemed like a good idea, since he stood to make $24 million, which would have pulled him out of debt.
However, the FBI wasn't so hot about his plan, and charged him with money laundering and drug trafficking, which he claimed was a part of the government's plan to support the big three car companies and bring DeLorean Motor Company down. He was eventually acquitted of all charges, became a born-again Christian and was divorced by his supermodel wife. DeLorean died Saturday of complications after a stroke, but his legacy lives on in the approximately 6,000 DeLoreans still in existence, and a little thing called the flux capacitor.
Dr. Emmett Brown: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"
It was 1986, and John DeLorean's car company was near collapse. So the designer of the Pontiac GTO and DeLorean DMC-12 of "Back to the Future" fame did what any sane American would do - put up $1.8 million to bring 100 kilos of cocaine into the U.S. It seemed like a good idea, since he stood to make $24 million, which would have pulled him out of debt.
However, the FBI wasn't so hot about his plan, and charged him with money laundering and drug trafficking, which he claimed was a part of the government's plan to support the big three car companies and bring DeLorean Motor Company down. He was eventually acquitted of all charges, became a born-again Christian and was divorced by his supermodel wife. DeLorean died Saturday of complications after a stroke, but his legacy lives on in the approximately 6,000 DeLoreans still in existence, and a little thing called the flux capacitor.
