John Zachary DeLorean was born on 6 January 1925, in Detroit, Michigan USA, of Hungarian and Romanian descent. He was an executive and engineer, best known for his work at General Motors. He was also the founder of the DeLorean Motor Company and was responsible for designing numerous vehicles throughout his career. All of his efforts helped put his net worth to where it was prior to his passing in 2005.
How rich was John DeLorean? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that was at $50 million, mostly earned through success in the automotive industry. He’s best known for designing the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car which was featured in the film “Back to the Future”. All of his achievements ensured the position of his wealth.
John DeLorean Net Worth $50 million
John attended Cass Technical High School, and would pursue an electrical curriculum there. He would earn a scholarship at the Lawrence Institute of Technology where he studied industrial engineering, however, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted for military service in 1943, serving for three years in the US Army. After the war he worked as a draftsman for the Public Lighting Commission before deciding to complete his studies. During his time at college, he was recommended to work for Chrysler. He also briefly attended the Detroit College of Law but did not complete it and instead went to the Chrysler Institute, completing a master’s degree in Automotive Engineering. He also completed an MBA degree from the University of Michigan in 1957.
John spent less than a year with Chrysler and then moved to the Packard Motor Company because of the higher salary offering; his net worth started increasing quickly. After four years with the company, he would succeed as head of research and development, but was then contacted by General Motors, offering him a job, so in 1956, John accepted a higher salary at General Motor’s Pontiac division and his net worth further rose up.
He became close friends with Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen who was the son of the former president. DeLorean created numerous patented innovations for the company, and became very successful. One of his most notable contributions was the Pontiac GTO, a car with sales that continued to grow over the following years, considered one of the first ‘muscle cars’ and for which DeLorean was given a lot of credit. He would become the youngest division head at GM, however, conflicts with other division heads led to changes with the design of future Pontiac models. In the 1970s, he would help design the Pontiac Firebird which became popular throughout the decade.
During this time, he travelled to various events around the world and enjoyed celebrity status, which was nonconformist among General Motor executives, and it led to him clashing with the others. Despite that, he was able to rejuvenate Chevrolet sales thanks to improving designs for the Camaro and Corvette. In 1972, he would become the vice president of car and truck production, and it looked like he was set to inevitable become the president of the company. However, many other executives didn’t like that possibility, and the continued clash led to him resigning the following year.
He then formed the DeLorean Motor Company, and one of the first projects was the DMC-12, simply known as the DeLorean. The car had numerous delays and wasn’t released until 1981. However, the market had slumped due to economic recession and the result was financial trouble, which led to the company being dissolved. Later attempts to resurrect his car-making business were all failures.
For his personal life, it is known that DeLorean was married four times, firstly to Elizabeth Higgins from 1954 to 1969, then to Kelly Harmon from 1969 to ‘72. His third marriage was to model Cristina Ferrare in 1977 until 1985 with whom he had a daughter. He was married to Sally Baldwin at the time of his death, from a stroke at the age of 80 in 2005. In the early ‘80s he was charged with drug trafficking after an FBI sting operation, but was found not guilty.
