Cybertrucks are just sitting around, waiting for someone to officially label them the DeLorean of the 21st century.
Hey! You take that back! DeLoreans were always cool cars. Their demise wasn’t due to lack of popularity, the company just had problems getting established, and ultimately didn’t survive its initial growth phase.
Nobody despised the DeLorean, or it’s owner. They just ran out of money, and he tried a desperate Hail Mary play, that didn’t work.
Yeah, he was a larger than life character, and the end of the company was spectacular. Most companies end with a whimper, his ended with an explosion.
I have a little personal anecdote about the end of DeLorean Motor Cars. At the end, I was living in Cleveland, OH, where DeLorean’s brother had a Cadillac dealership, which also sold DeLoreans, of course.
When the company crashed, the government, or the bank, or the court, or somebody, was coming to take all the cars that were sitting in the factory parking lot in Detroit. The local news caught a helicopter shot of a long line of DeLoreans driving out of the lot, and down the road in a long line. They didn’t bother to follow them.
A few days later, it was reported that all the surplus DeLoreans were missing, and DeLorean was hiding them somewhere, and they showed the footage of the cars driving off.
A few days after that, I was taking one of my favorite shortcuts through Lakewood, the suburb where DeLorean Cadillac was located. My shortcut was a small road/alley, with far less traffic and lights, which went behind the businesses along the main road.
One of those businesses was DeLorean Cadillac, with a big parking lot behind the dealership. I’d passed that lot many times, and it was always a mix of Caddys and DeLoreans, but this time I saw that it was FULL of nothing but DeLoreans, packed in like sardines. I had no doubt that these were the missing DeLoreans that the authorities were searching for.
So, of course I notified the authorities where they could find the cars, right? Fuck NO. DeLorean didn’t seem like a bad guy, just a major dreamer who got desperate. I always kind of admired him. So I kept my mouth shut, and made the authorities find the cars without my help.
Their demise wasn’t due to lack of popularity, the company just had problems getting established, and ultimately didn’t survive its initial growth phase.
Hm, I thought their demise was due to them arbitrarily going back in time.
Their demise was absolutely due to lack of popularity. In December '81 they had produced 7,000 units and sold 3,000. I’d argue that they failed for the same reason Fiero did – they looked like a sports car but were not. Top speed was 110mph. 0-60 time was 10.5 seconds. It had a V-6 that put out 130hp in a car with a curb wt of 2700 lbs. 0-60 time was measured at 10.5 seconds. To put that in perspective, about the same as a 99 Ford F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 Dually or 73 LTD Brougham. There are virtually no modern cars that run 0-60 that slow. A 2024 5.3l Suburban has a time of 7.0
In addition, they had numerous quality control problems. This in a car that retailed for $25k or the rough equivalent of $86,000 in today’s dollars. While it’s probably true that nobody despised the car, it was not a good car. They were definitely cool sitting in a parking lot but getting spanked by a 1980 Chevy Citation (0-60 10.3) is not a good look
Me too. That’s comparable to my dad’s old 4 cylinder Toyota Pickup (mid-80’s, so similar era). Smaller engine
and wayyyy less power so I would’ve expected the pickup to get worse than the Delorean.
I’m not saying you are wrong in anything you state, and you make good points.
And yes you are probably right that the shortcomings compared to what was promised is the main reason sales didn’t go as expected.
But I think you don’t see it the same way as barneypiccolo you responded to.
Wasn’t the DeLorean design pretty iconic from the beginning? The fact that there are still more than 2/3rds of the cars built on the road today 44 years later does speak volumes to its favor regarding popularity IMO. Those were not cars that were bought, found insufficient and then scrapped. But instead have been maintained despite DeLorean hasn’t been around to supply spare parts.
Also the fact that the car had such a central role in the Movie Back to the Future, because it was simply such a cool car despite it’s flaws, what other car could they have used for similar effect?
Imagine trying to do that with the Cybertruck! The Cinema would most like burst out in laughter from claiming doing anything with a Cybertruck would be to do it in “Style” as Emmet Brown expressed it regarding the DeLrean. It would clearly be seen as a fat joke on how stupid the car is and looks.
So no the car wasn’t popular enough in sales for the number of cars DeLorean built, but it was never an unpopular atrocity like the Cybertruck is.
Hey! You take that back! DeLoreans were always cool cars. Their demise wasn’t due to lack of popularity, the company just had problems getting established, and ultimately didn’t survive its initial growth phase.
Nobody despised the DeLorean, or it’s owner. They just ran out of money, and he tried a desperate Hail Mary play, that didn’t work.
Yeah and at least they’re creator had a cool story.
Yeah, he was a larger than life character, and the end of the company was spectacular. Most companies end with a whimper, his ended with an explosion.
I have a little personal anecdote about the end of DeLorean Motor Cars. At the end, I was living in Cleveland, OH, where DeLorean’s brother had a Cadillac dealership, which also sold DeLoreans, of course.
When the company crashed, the government, or the bank, or the court, or somebody, was coming to take all the cars that were sitting in the factory parking lot in Detroit. The local news caught a helicopter shot of a long line of DeLoreans driving out of the lot, and down the road in a long line. They didn’t bother to follow them.
A few days later, it was reported that all the surplus DeLoreans were missing, and DeLorean was hiding them somewhere, and they showed the footage of the cars driving off.
A few days after that, I was taking one of my favorite shortcuts through Lakewood, the suburb where DeLorean Cadillac was located. My shortcut was a small road/alley, with far less traffic and lights, which went behind the businesses along the main road.
One of those businesses was DeLorean Cadillac, with a big parking lot behind the dealership. I’d passed that lot many times, and it was always a mix of Caddys and DeLoreans, but this time I saw that it was FULL of nothing but DeLoreans, packed in like sardines. I had no doubt that these were the missing DeLoreans that the authorities were searching for.
So, of course I notified the authorities where they could find the cars, right? Fuck NO. DeLorean didn’t seem like a bad guy, just a major dreamer who got desperate. I always kind of admired him. So I kept my mouth shut, and made the authorities find the cars without my help.
Hm, I thought their demise was due to them arbitrarily going back in time.
I’d fucking love to have a DeLorean; they’re bad cars but that’s where the similarities to the Cybertruck end. They’re just cool.
Their demise was absolutely due to lack of popularity. In December '81 they had produced 7,000 units and sold 3,000. I’d argue that they failed for the same reason Fiero did – they looked like a sports car but were not. Top speed was 110mph. 0-60 time was 10.5 seconds. It had a V-6 that put out 130hp in a car with a curb wt of 2700 lbs. 0-60 time was measured at 10.5 seconds. To put that in perspective, about the same as a 99 Ford F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 Dually or 73 LTD Brougham. There are virtually no modern cars that run 0-60 that slow. A 2024 5.3l Suburban has a time of 7.0
In addition, they had numerous quality control problems. This in a car that retailed for $25k or the rough equivalent of $86,000 in today’s dollars. While it’s probably true that nobody despised the car, it was not a good car. They were definitely cool sitting in a parking lot but getting spanked by a 1980 Chevy Citation (0-60 10.3) is not a good look
The cybertruck is on a different scale of unpopularity.
Nobody threw Molotov cocktails at Delorians. (Edit: or even DeLoreans)
Not with that spelling.
Holy moly those specs are remarkably similar to my 1st generation Prius.
Now compare the gas mileage lol
Edit - Was actually curious:
I actually expected the DeLorean to be worse
Me too. That’s comparable to my dad’s old 4 cylinder Toyota Pickup (mid-80’s, so similar era). Smaller engine and wayyyy less power so I would’ve expected the pickup to get worse than the Delorean.
How dare you disparage the amazing Fiero!
I’m not saying you are wrong in anything you state, and you make good points.
And yes you are probably right that the shortcomings compared to what was promised is the main reason sales didn’t go as expected.
But I think you don’t see it the same way as barneypiccolo you responded to.
Wasn’t the DeLorean design pretty iconic from the beginning? The fact that there are still more than 2/3rds of the cars built on the road today 44 years later does speak volumes to its favor regarding popularity IMO. Those were not cars that were bought, found insufficient and then scrapped. But instead have been maintained despite DeLorean hasn’t been around to supply spare parts.
Also the fact that the car had such a central role in the Movie Back to the Future, because it was simply such a cool car despite it’s flaws, what other car could they have used for similar effect?
Imagine trying to do that with the Cybertruck! The Cinema would most like burst out in laughter from claiming doing anything with a Cybertruck would be to do it in “Style” as Emmet Brown expressed it regarding the DeLrean. It would clearly be seen as a fat joke on how stupid the car is and looks.
So no the car wasn’t popular enough in sales for the number of cars DeLorean built, but it was never an unpopular atrocity like the Cybertruck is.
Edit PS:
That’s not true:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMC_DeLorean
And allegedly they needed to sell about 2000 cars remaining to continue.