"He's Worth a Lot to Me."

Retro Obsession: DMC DeLorean

"We will do anything to keep this company alive."
-John DeLorean

It's inevitable I guess. 25 years gone and we're celebrating a movie that exploded the membrane of American pop culture. Back to the Future was certainly not the first motion picture to drive automotive sales, nor will it be the last, but what is notable is how much acclaim the DMC DeLorean has received despite the epic career flameout that befell its namesake.

This is a beloved piece of machinery. The stainless steel and winged throttle rocket became a cultural icon even before the movie hit Betamax.

Flux capacitor, nose candy, and Huey Lewis aside.

(Pictured below is Pontiac's former golden-boy John DeLorean in marketing stills for the DMC-12. His master stroke at Pontiac was the legendary GTO.)

"After giving Pontiac its new style, DeLorean gradually transformed himself from a button-down conformist to a vain, middle-aged clotheshorse. He lost 60 lbs., began lifting weights and started draping his 6-ft. 4-in. frame in brightly colored shirts, turtlenecks and nipped-at-the-waist suits. He got a facelift (for a while he denied it) and affected longish hair, which he dyed black. He divorced his wife of 15 years, Elizabeth...He dated starlets, and, by now, every move had flair." Via.


"Detroit did not approve of DeLorean's lifestyle, so in 1973 he "fired GM" and set off on his own. The DeLorean myth grew. He was a maverick, a risk taker, and he had bold dreams...but what he really wanted to do was start his own car company and break the hold that Ford, Chrysler and GM had on the American auto industry. The sporty DMC-12, he thought, would do the trick. The sleek stainless-steel sports car with the distinctive gull-wing doors boasted a 130hp Renault engine and could go from zero to 60mph in eight seconds." Via.


"DeLorean needed $175 million to finance his dream. Over one hundred investors, including Johnny Carson and Sammy Davis, Jr., put over $12 million into a partnership for research and development while the British government produced $156 million in grants and loans in return for DeLorean locating the DMC factory in Northern Ireland. DeLorean risked relatively little of his own money -- $700,000 is the best estimate -- but he seemed to have made his dream come true. The Auto Prince lived like royalty in a $7.2 million, 20-room Fifth Avenue duplex, a $3.5 million estate in New Jersey and a $4 million California ranch. He made sure DMC's $25,000-a-month New York offices were located in a skyscraper that towered as high as the nearby GM building. He paid himself nearly half a million dollars a year and his estimated value in 1982 was $28 million. John Z. DeLorean was a real American success story, the poor boy who made good. Or so it appeared." Via.

"Unfortunately, the DMC-12 racked up mediocre sales figures. Entering the market in 1981, it faced stiff competition from Datsun, Mazda and Porsche sports cars. At $26,000, it cost $8,000 more than the Chevrolet Corvette. And of course a recession during 1981-82 didn't help, either. DeLorean expected to sell 12,000 cars a year; in the first six months only 3,000 DMC-12s were purchased. (A pair of 24-karat solid gold cars bearing $85,000 price tags were made for an American Express Christmas catalog; one resides in a glass showcase in the lobby of a Snyder, Texas bank and the other is in a Reno,Nevada car museum.) By February 1982 the DMC factory was in receivership, and in October of that year the British government ordered it shut down. DeLorean needed $17 million in a hurry to save his business. In desperation he entered into a drug-smuggling scheme, and in so doing walked right into a FBI sting operation designed to nab a smuggler named William Hetrick." Via.

"Hetrick was suspected of flying cocaine in from Colombia and moving it through the offices of a company called Morgan Aviation at Mojave Airport, ninety miles out of Los Angeles. He was looking for a bank that would launder his ill-gotten gains. The FBI confidential informant hooked Hetrick up with one agent posing as a bank officer and another who posed as a drug distributor. DeLorean then approached the CI, and was filmed and recorded at meetings in Washington D.C.'s L'Enfant Plaza Hotel as well as L.A.'s Bel Air Sands and the Sheraton Plaza. Hetrick was arrested after exchanging the cocaine for money; DeLorean was was taken into custody the following day when he flew into L.A. from New York. Ironically, he just missed a call from a banker who wanted to offer a legitimate $200 million loan that would have saved DMC, which shut its doors for good owing creditors $180 million. DeLorean's dream had turned to dust -- and left a lot of investors burned." Via.

"Interviewed by Rolling Stone's Aaron Latham in 1983, DeLorean claimed that he was trying to get a loan using stock in a shell company as collateral, and that he tried to back out of the deal after discovering that drugs were involved. At that point, according to DeLorean, the lives of his kids were threatened. Furthermore, the money paid for the drugs brought in by Hetrick was provided by the government. DeLorean suggested that the government was out to destroy him because the Big Three automakers wanted to see his enterprise fail; at other times he surmised that either the British government or the Irish Republican Army had set him up." Via.


"In 1984, DeLorean was acquitted of all charges after a federal judge ruled that the FBI operation had been a clear case of entrapment. He became a born-again Christian and wrote his autobiography. But in April, 1985 Christina divorced him, and that September a federal grand jury indicted him for income tax evasion and mail and wire fraud on evidence that he had bilked DMC investors, siphoning the funds into his private bank account. Though never convicted, DeLorean was ordered to reimburse creditors to the tune of $9 million. In 1995 a jury ordered him to pay the law firm of Morganroth and Morganroth $10.3 million in unpaid legal fees. In 1998 a New York jury ruled that DeLorean's accounting firm owed DMC investors $46 million, plus $65 million in interest." Via.

"It is believed that a total of 8,563 DMC-12s were built. Approximately 6,000 of them still exist today." Via.



Specs for the DMC-12:

Exterior: made of brushed stainless steel intended to be rust-free for 20 years. The undercarriage is glass-reinforced plastic. The vehicle sported counter-balanced gull wing doors.

Interior: leather/vinyl seats and dash, electric windows and mirrors, a 4-speaker stereo system, locking storage compartment behind driver's seat.

Engine: a rear-mounted, light alloy V6, 2.85 liter, single overhead cam, with maximum torque of 208Nm at 2,750 rpm, and a compression ratio of 8:8:1. The DMC-12 was produced from 1981 to 1983.


A stunningly rare marketing film for sales employees - Part 1:



Part 2:



DMC John DeLorean Documentary:

Fall Swag

Fawlz-a-here, which means that I can finally loot my closets of the old unwanted gear and either hawk it, donate it, or trash it. At the time of this post I will have already unloaded three bags worth of pants, tops, and shoes. Not bad, considering that I have already found a bunch of new stuff to add to my ongoing collection.

I'm personally digging a lot of things over at Hickoree's Hard Goods.

You can chalk this up to, "shit I want for the Fall":


This 1940s-50s Hercules Denim Chore Jacket is pretty sweet. Perfect for just about any outdoor activity.

Including working on a chain gang. Just ask Paul Newman:



I see these 1950s-60s Sears "Mountain Cloth" work pants and think about every working stiff that ever had to pull a pair of these on and trudge to the office. They'd make for a great motorcycle utility pant.



This Stanley & Sons selvedge denim apron is unfortunately sold out on the web. Great for any craftsmen, artist, architect, mechanic, etc.

I'm not a wallet guy anymore but this may change my attitude. Just don't drop it in the woods 'cause it'd be gone forever.

This pimp leather biz card holder satisfies a need in my life. I will own this.

The embossed "dueling pistols" icon on the front is an old military insignia used by the MP division, and is stamped with a WWII-era lead and steel die. I didn't need any additional reasons, but this description makes it that much better.

These Velskoen boots are the precursor to the modern day desert boot. Here's what's neat about them:

Our velskoen are made in the coastal town of Swakopmund, Namibia, at the Herbert Schier factory. A production line of eight Damara gentlemen assembles every shoe by hand, turning out 30 pairs a day.

Herbert Schier vellies are made of vegetable-dyed Kudu leather. The Namibian government mandates the culling of these large native antelope to control the population. Kudu skin yields amazingly durable leather and suede, and because these are taken from wild animals they often show scars or other "imperfections" that domesticated hides don't.

What, you mean to tell me that you wouldn't want this to keep vagrants away from your fort?

I'm a voracious note-taker and a doodler. I will often carry note pads with me from meeting to meeting as a tool to stay on task. These little guys not only look cool, but will also slip into your back pocket. Excellent.

Every scribbler needs a good set of graphite pencils. These are about as worthy as you will find.

Passing Legends

Tony Curtis and his Rolls Royce. Ralph Crane. 1961. LIFE Magazine.

I'm world famous, everywhere I go there are people who love me because I've been able to bring them some joy from the movies I've made.
-Tony Curtis

On this day in history we lost two Hollywood Legends.

In case you've been living in a box, movie star Tony Curtis died today at age 85.

And up-and-coming young film actor James Dean tragically passed...in 1955.

"Live Today. Tomorrow Will Cost More."

The title of this post was the once famous slogan from the now defunct Pan American World Airways. Cultural icon of the 20th Century.

Pan Am existed at a time when air travel was new and cool, it was ok to hit on the "stewardessessessess", and it didn't take five hours to get through security. Because, well, there was no security.

When I was younger my family took our semi-annual trips from Houston to London on Pan Am. We flew steerage on the Jumbo Jet and back then it was okay to smoke and get sauced on flights. It looks glamorous in old movies right? Yeah, well, when you're stuck on a nine hour flight and everyone is smoking the entire trip it pretty much just sucks. Especially when you're squinting through the haze on the one screen to watch Corey Haim in Lucas.

Pan Am Clipper - 747 Jumbo Jet.

Anyway, the airline company may be dead but the brand continues to live on through a variety of goods; primarily these kickass bags:

Marc Jacobs approved.

I purchased mine (below) a few years ago and can testify to the fact that it makes a perfect carry-all for flights, weekend trips, whatever. I get stopped all of the time in airports by people asking me where I purchased it from. Plus, it looks dope.

Method and Motorcycles

Warren Beatty cornering on a Triumph.

While cleaning up some old photos on my computer I came across a file titled "random actors on motorcycles". Upon further investigation I realized that they are not really random at all. In fact, they share one important bond aside from their love of speed. That is to say that they are all associated with The Method school of acting.

According to one description:

The “Method” required a performer to draw on his or her own self, on experiences, memories, and emotions that could inform a characterization and shape how a character might speak or move. Characters were thus shown to have an interior life; rather than being stereotyped figures representing a single concept (the villain, the heroine), they could become complex human beings with multiple and contradictory feelings and desires. it was the ability to convey the complexity-indeed the confusion of inner feelings that made the Actors Studio-trained Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean such emblematic figures for the Postwar era.

So there you have it. Now if I could only rationalize their affinity for Triumphs.

Steve McQueen glides around on his Triumph.

Paul Newman ready for some desert scrambling.

Actor Mickey Rourke on his Kawasaki in this production still from the movie Rumble Fish, 1983.

Marlon Brando lounges atop his Triumph Tiger in this production still from the movie The Wild One, 1953.

James Dean astride his Triumph.

Jack Nicholson in The Rebel Rousers, 1970.

Dennis Hopper rides his customized Panhead in Easy Rider, 1969.

Al Pacino in Paramount's Serpico, 1973. Seen here on a Honda Superhawk CB77.


ca. 2001 — Daniel Day-​​Lewis in Brimmed Hat on Motorcycle — Image by © Steve Smith/​Corbis

Luke

"Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand."
-Luke

Newman. Hopper. These names are synonymous with the 1967 Oscar-nominated film classic, Cool Hand Luke.

But these screen grabs are taken from a lesser known movie. A short 8mm film shot simultaneously by an avant-garde artist/director by the name of Bruce Conner. His version is known simply as Luke. Conner was a buddy of Dennis Hopper's that was allowed to pal around on set during the making of the picture.

It is a 22 minute behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of those iconic moments from the film. Convicts shoveling dirt along the blazing hot tarmac. Cameras setting up. Positions shifting. Empty director chairs. And through it all an affable Paul Newman.

The release of this flick is closely guarded by the Conner family and is generally viewable only during artist gallery openings.

I saw a boot-legged copy of it many years ago during a party. It's a real cool hand.

Rebel Without A Clue

Here I am making a meager case to be part of Brando's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Hell, they all rode Triumphs!

Easter with the King

A couple of weekends ago, well, Easter weekend to be exact, I had the chance to check out the new Elvis exhibit at the Newseum in DC.

I am a "recovering" Elvis junkie, truth be told, have all of the greatest hits collections, seen the movies, read the books, been to Graceland, peanut butter and 'nana sandwiches, fried bacon, TCB Mama, the works, etc. etc.

With Elvis memorabilia it's easy to develop a "been there, done that, seen it all" sort of mentality. Especially if you've been away from it awhile like I have.

But then a crazy thing happens. You get sucked in. Again. Next thing you know you're buying the '68 Comeback Special on DVD for $30 at the gift store. You go home and watch the tape and realize all over again...damn he was good.

And there will never be another artist like him.


Elvis's black leather Harley Davidson jacket from the 50's "greaser" years.

Elvis's 1957 Harley Davidson.



This terrible photo is of the display containing the suit Elvis wore to open the '68 Comeback Special, the Gretsch "Country Gentleman" guitar he played in 1969 during a four-week engagement in Vegas, and the belt he wore when he met with President Nixon at the White House in 1970.

The jumpsuit Elvis wore during rehearsals for the "Aloha from Hawaii" concert in 1973.

The famous cape. The actual outfit he wore during the concert is at Graceland.