1981 – DeLorean DMC-12

The example in the collection dates from 1981, the year production of the DeLorean DMC-12 began, and was acquired as a significant testimony to one of the most ambitious and unconventional projects in the history of automotive design.

Commissioned in 1975 by former GM Vice Chairman John Z. DeLorean for the new brand bearing his name, the project followed an unusual path: design and prototyping in Italy, production in Europe and a commercial target focused primarily on the United States.

Giugiaro developed a highly distinctive sports coupé combining sharp proportions with a number of unusual technical and stylistic solutions. Its brushed stainless-steel body, composite structure, gull-wing doors and rear-mounted V6 engine gave the DMC-12 an identity unlike that of any other production car of its time.

Production began in 1981 at the new factory near Belfast, Northern Ireland, but the project was soon affected by financial and industrial difficulties. Fewer than 9,000 cars were ultimately built before production came to an end.

Despite its troubled industrial history, the DMC-12 became one of the most recognizable cars of the late twentieth century. Its presence in the collection reflects both its importance in Giugiaro’s career and its broader significance as a rare example of a radical design vision successfully translated into series production, later becoming a global cultural icon through its appearance in the “Back to the Future” film trilogy.