John Zachary DeLorean turned up in Belfast in 1978 boasting that he had $500 million to build a sports car that would be safe, economical and rust-proof. Roy Mason, then Northern Ireland secretary, gave him £54 million, to set up a factory and DeLorean, who never spent another night in Belfast, built it at Dunmurry where unemployment was the highest in Europe.

DeLorean's company received subsidies of £84 million, but the factory closed in October 1984, the day DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles on drug charges. He found not guilty of conspiracy to possess and distribute $24 million worth of cocaine. In Detroit he was also aquitted of fraud.

In 1992 Ivan Fallon and James Srodes wrote a book about the debacle of DeLorean, with documents showing how $17.65 million was purloined from the government money and shared out to DeLorean, Colin Chapman, and Fred Bushell, the Lotus accountant. DeLorean claimed the money had gone to Lotus to pay for the design and construction of the prototype. Colin Chapman said he never received it, and the documents suggested both were right. They had split it 50/50, and none of it went near either company.

The court heard how DeLorean, Chapman, and Bushell siphoned off millions of pounds intended for DeLorean's company, which drew up a contract in 1978 for Lotus to develop the backbone-framed stainless steel bodied car. The conception of a gull-wing-doored roadster selling in big large numbers was ill-conceived. The cost of the work was to be $17.65 million.

The cash was laundered in a Panamanian-registered, Geneva-based company set up by Chapman and Bushell, GPD Services Inc. None of it got anywhere near the car and, in the words of the receiver Sir Kenneth Cork, "went walkabout".

There was a three-way payout with DeLorean taking $8.5 million, while Chapman and Bushell divided $8.39 million between them in numbered Swiss bank accounts. Chapman took 90 per cent, Bushell 10 per cent.

The development work was carried out, but paid for directly by DeLorean, and the car went into production in 1981.

 

Within a year the project was in ruins, and there was concern at the treasury over the advances of taxpayer's money, and warnings about offshore payments from DeLorean to GPD. It took eight years for a settlement to be reached.

Fallon asserted that Colin Chapman did not devise the wheeze on his own, but he was something of a hero to Fred Bushell who devised offshore accounts and other money-saving schemes fôr him. Although Bushell's signature was on the documents, he denied having signed them. Were they forgeries? Bushell would not go as far as that, but insisted he never signed them.

Bushell was jailed for three years and fined £2.25 million. Lord Justice Murray told Belfast Crown Court that he was the brains behind a "bare-faced, outrageous and massive fraud" entered into with John Z. DeLorean and Colin Chapman.

DeLorean produced 8333 cars, only 3347 of which were sold when the factory closed. The remainder languished in distribution centers around America, or the the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. An agreement was reached with DeLorean and he paid $7 million on top of $9.4 million already refunded to creditors. After payments from Lotus and Colin Chapman's estate, the amount recovered by the receivers reached £20 million.

The best that could be said of Chapman's role in the scandal was that he chose his associates carelessly. Yet this was the man whom Jim Clark had trusted with his life.

Taken from 'Jim Clark - Racing Legend' by Eric Dymock

Books:
'Jim Clark - Racing Legend' by Eric Dymock, ISBN 0-7603-1689-9
'DeLorean' by Ivan Fallon and James Srodes, ISBN 0-340-35176-4
'DeLorean Stainless Steel Illusion' by John Lamm, ISBN 0-97441-0-7

Internet:
http://www.delorean.com
http://www.delorean.ch

 

1) What sorts of of stainless steel are in use? What sort is magnetic?

2) Name advantages and drawbacks of stainless steel.

3) Why did DeLorean build a stainless steel car?

4) What was the career of John Z. DeLorean? When did he die?

5) Why was the DeLorean factory set up in Norther Ireland?

6) Who has taken over the stock of DeLorean parts? Are DeLoreans still serviced, repaired and sold?

7) Have you ever seen a DeLorean in Switzerland? Where?

8) Who were Colin Chapman and Jim Clark?

9) Name the counties that constitute Northern Ireland.

10) Write a summary of Ireland's history from 1900 onwards.