The DeLorean DMC-12 Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1981-1983

There were three years of production for the DeLorean DMC-12 car, which were 1981-1983. The DeLorean Motor Company originally scheduled production of the DMC-12 to begin around 1979, but delays put off assembly of the cars until 1981. The company went bankrupt in 1982, so 1983 was the last year of production for the DMC-12.

Answer: Northern Ireland

After scouting such locations as Texas and Puerto Rico; Dunmurry, Northern Ireland was chosen as the location of production for the DeLorean DMC-12. One of the reasons for the choosing of this particular site was to stimulate the dwindling economy by creating jobs.

In a little over two years, DeLorean Motor Company built a state-of-the-art factory in an old peat bog in Dunmurry and began production on its cars. Although production was based in Ireland, the DMC-12 was primarily intended to be sold in the United States.

Answer: DeLorean Motor Company

John Z. DeLorean, the father of the DMC-12, was born in the motor capital of the world, Detroit, Michigan. He worked for nearly 20 years as a successful engineer for Chevrolet, Pontiac (DeLorean designed their GTO), and General Motors. As he envisioned building a sleek new sports car, DeLorean left his position as vice-president of General Motors in 1973.

After gathering up $175 million in funds, he formed the DeLorean Motor Company in 1974.

Answer: Giugiaro

Italian car designer, Giugiaro designed the stainless steel outer shell of the DeLorean DMC-12. The type used was Grade-304 brushed stainless steel, which had a life-expectancy of 25 years. Although smudges and fingerprints were hard to get off, and waterspotting occurred after washing, DeLorean boasted that stainless steel had one advantage: "Got a scratch? Buff it out!"

Answer: False

In addition to having a stainless steel outer body, the DeLorean DMC-12 was supposed to have a stainless steel frame as well, which would make the entire car rustproof. However, due to its tenancy to crack at low temperatures, stainless steel was not used for the chassis of the car.

Instead, all production models of the car had an epoxy-coated alloy frame, which would rust if the epoxy chipped off.

Answer: DeLorean Safety Vehicle

The original concept for the DeLorean DMC-12 was a sleek sports car that was stylish, yet equipped with state-of-the-art safety features. And so, the DMC-12 was originally to be called the DeLorean Safety Vehicle. However, when the prototype was introduced in 1979, the name "DeLorean Safety Vehicle" was scrapped and the car was renamed the DeLorean DMC-12, with the initials "DMC" appearing on the radiator grill.

Answer: All of these

The 1979 prototype of the DeLorean DMC-12 looked nearly identical to the production models of the car, however many features that came equipped on the prototype never made it to production. These features included saddle-brown leather interior, driver and passenger seats flush with rear of the car, knee safety bar, lap seatbelts, absence of the louvers, a 4-cylinder engine by Citroen, old-style side mirrors, and a driver's side airbag mounted on the steering wheel.

Answer: Cost of the car

The name DMC-12 was chosen for the car to reflect its inital projected cost. The "12" represents (US) $12,000; which is what the DMC-12 was originally priced to cost so it would contend directly with the Chevrolet Corvette, which at the time cost (US) $12,000. However, due to the inflation of the British pound, the actual sale price of the DMC-12 was increased to (US) $25,000.

Answer: True

The engine used in the production models of the DeLorean DMC-12 was the V-6 PRV (PRV standing for car manufacturers Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo). It was a 130 Horsepower engine with a maximum speed of 125 MPH: nothing too spectacular for a sports car.

But the PRV was chosen because it was well-tested and reliable enough to pass the 50,000 mile test drive the DeLorean had to undergo before it was distributed to the United States. The engines were so underpowered that during the filming of the Back To The Future trilogy, their DeLorean engines were ripped out and replaced with Porsche engines.

Answer: False

Since the V-6 PRV engine was mounted in the rear of the car, with the trunk in front, the bulk of the vehicle's weight was focused over the rear wheels. This made handling poor and cornering on sharp turns resulted in understeer. This problem was partly corrected before production began by featuring 15 inch wheels on the rear axle, and 14 inch wheels on the front.

Answer: Design of the hood

Although the "speeds" of the transmission and location of the battery (behind the passenger seat) remained constant on all production years of the DeLorean DMC-12, the hood design varied greatly, among other things. The early 1981 production models had a gas flap built into the front hood directly over the fuel access in the trunk, so the car could be refueled without opening the hood.

But this was discontinued due to the fact that the hood with the gas flap sometimes cracked during casting, which was becoming costly. All 1981 production models also had indentations in the hood which ran parallel to the length of the car, but 1982 and 1983 models had smooth hoods.

Other differences included location of the antenna, different audio systems, location of the interior clock, and the lettering "DeLorean" on the hood (which appeared mostly in the 1983 models).

Answer: 5

The DeLorean came in a 5-speed manual transmission and a 3-speed automatic transmission. The price for the DMC-12 with manual transmission was (US) $25,000 while the DMC-12 with automatic transmission cost (US) $25,650.

Answer: Saddle-Brown

Black and gray leather interiors were standard on the DeLorean DMC-12. Although certain special DeLoreans, such as the prototype and one of the Gold DeLoreans had saddle-brown interior, it was not included in regular production of the cars. If the DeLorean Motor Company had continued production after 1983, saddle-brown would have been included as a standard interior for its cars.

Answer: False

One of the popular misconceptions of the DeLorean DMC-12 is that if someone parks in between two cars, the gullwing doors will scrape the other cars. This is not true; the counterbalanced doors are attached close to the center beam at the top of the car, so they only require 1 foot of clearance on either side to open.

The gullwing doors open nearly within the radius of the car and do not swing out very much, which makes them more convenient for getting in and out of tight spaces than typical side-hinged car doors.

Answer: The rear driver side

In earlier models of the DeLorean DMC-12, the antenna electronically retracted into the body of the vehicle and it was located on the passenger side of the front hood. However, there were many complaints that this location was an eyesore, and in later models the antenna was moved to the rear driver side.

Answer: Seats

Although the DeLorean came with many power features, the seats had to be manually-adjusted. The DeLorean DMC-12 seated two people, and the 1979 prototype had seats that were flush with the rear of the car. However, the production models had a small area in the rear behind the seats that could be covered by an optional cargo net.

Answer: Twin turbo engine

After the first DMC-12 came off the assembly line in 1981, DeLorean contracted to replace the clunky V-6 PRV engine with a more powerful twin turbo engine. The twin turbo, which was built by Legend Industries for DeLorean, had 12 pounds of boost that allowed it to go from 0-60 MPH in 5.8 seconds (the PRV engine took 8 seconds), which is impressive even for an engine today. Had DeLorean Motor Company not gone bankrupt, the twin turbo engine would probably have been included in the 1984 production models.

However, when DeLorean went under in 1982, so did Legend Industries, as well as the dream of the twin turbo. A few DMC-12 cars were built with the prototype of this massive engine and really only a couple are known to exist today.

Answer: Busses and snowplows

DeLorean Motor Company, in addition to producing the DMC-12, also planned to produce the DMC-80 and the DMC-3700. The DMC-80 was a bus that was made for public transportation, but was never implemented. Like the DMC-12, the DMC-80 was intended to be ahead of its time. The DMC-3700 was a snowplow, also known as a snowcat; another project that was never put into production.

Answer: 8,000 - 9,000

Over 6,000 cars came off the assembly line at the DeLorean Motor Company factory in 1981, and nearly 2,000 each year in 1982 and 1983. Sales were strong for the 1981 models, but sales dwindled in early 1982 and cars were stockpiled until DeLorean Motor Company went out of business later that year.

Answer: True

Even with the DeLorean Motor Company going bankrupt and having dealt with numerous financial hardships, John Z. DeLorean has been working on a new car project. He is funding the project by selling collector watches for (US) $3,000 apiece. He plans to introduce two new cars: one will have a very powerful 1260 Horsepower engine and its sale price will be about (US) $1 million.

The other car will be sporty and will cost about (US) $22,000: much more affordable than the other car. Both will sport the DeLorean trademark gullwing doors.