Early in 1982 Bank of America seized 1,400 DeLorean DMC-12’s because John DeLorean’s company failed to make payments on a loan. If you recall, John DeLorean was charged with cocaine trafficking DeLorean attempted to sell 220 pounds of cocaine worth about $24 million back then. DeLorean was found not guilty due to police entrapment.
Enter Sol A. Shenk, a Russian immigrant to the United States. He started Consolidated International in 1967 selling closeout and overstocked auto parts. Shenk later started a consumer Consolidated Stores which you may recognize his stores like Big Lots and Odd Lots. Shenk was the only distributor of the DeLorean DMC-12’s and parts. Although he had the right to continue manufacturing the car it was determined that the car could not be sold for a profit. He only produced about 100 cars.
John DeLorean managed the development of such muscle cars like the Pontiac GTO muscle car, the Pontiac Firebird, Chevrolet Vega, and the Pontiac Grand Prix. The DeLorean Motors downturn was due to cost overruns, lack of demand and unfavorable exchange rates as the car was manufactured in Ireland. Sammy Davis Jr. and Johnny Carson were initial investors in the company. To this day I remember Johnny Carson said in his monologue on The Tonight Show that the rebate was in the trunk of the DeLorean after DeLorean’s cocaine arrest.
