DeLorean

by John Z. DeLorean, Ted Schwarz

An exhaustive autobiography by Delorean himself. A great read by a great, interesting man!

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Business

349 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit surprised this was published by Zondervan, as they usually publish Christian themed materials. Delorean does mention becoming a "born again Christian" though discussion about this is only 5-10% of the book. 45-50% of the book is his life before the cocaine trafficking trial (standard autobiography stuff) and the other 45-50% is the trial itself. I've only seen movie dramatizations of the trial so hard to verify his veracity of the events so I'll watch some documentaries to compare. Overall a recommended read if you are interested in the Delorean myth.

[Robert Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is quite interesting, from childhood to the initial creation of DMC. When DeLorean switches gears to refute every single piece of evidence from his trial, my interest dropped and it became a bit of a slog. Not being familiar with the court case and the acquittal, the book didn't provide me with enough information to understand that part of DeLorean's life.

[George Kuechmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.... a shame the car (DMC) never got to live up to its potential. He did some fine work at Pontiac.

[Sicofonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The DeLorean story told by the man himself. There's very little told about DeLorean's childhood and adolescence; and then his career in Detroit is described in very broad detail. The book focuses a lot on DeLorean's infamous trial, to the point it nearly takes 1/3 of the volume. DeLorean went on great lengths to explain how he got entangled in the fake drug deal mess and how eventually he was acquitted.
Being edited in 1985, I supposed he had this ordeal still very present in his mind when he worked on the book. Hence the preponderance of trial material.

It was a compelling read indeed, but just until the trial thing started. Then the book got a bit tedious to my taste. I was left wanting for more, like learning how he set up his company from zero or what was the process taken to design and produce the DMC-12. Those subjects are mentioned, but very lightly.

[Joanne G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always loved cars, and who wouldn't be entranced with the gullwinged DeLorean? I recall reading this autobiography of the famous car's designer when it was first published. DeLorean was an extremely fascinating individual which made for good reading. DeLorean felt very persecuted by the United States and English governments, the Detroit car industry, and faceless people in power. He may have been paranoid, defensive about his own shortcomings, or he may have been as abused, mistreated, and plotted against as he believed. He had been entrapped by the FBI in a cocaine sting and was found not guilty at trial, but nothing substantial has been proven of his other claims.

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a new DMC owner, I was excited to learn more about John Delorean and the car. I knew the book was about him but I really thought there would be more about how he got the idea for the car. In my opinion, too much of the book was about the trial (and repeated the same things over and over). Honestly, Delorean sounded a little bit like a conspiracy theorist by the end of the book. I am interested to read other books written about him to see the differences.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

John DeLorean was a genius of our time. He not only knew how to bring about the existence of a car of his dreams, but he also knew how to succeed in dooming it, to make it more valuable. To fully understand this statement, I recommend reading all DeLorean books in and out of print.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of the book ( skipped the part on his trial ) about his story from childhood to his downfall trying to save DMC ( DeLorean Motor Company ).

[Joshua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written by a ghost writer, Delorean's attempt to paint an image of himself as something other than a failed, rich, entitled, misogynist, narcissistic asshole.