Early DMC design and prototype stories by Peter Giacobbi...Renault connections
Check out this blog entry at Hemmings Daily telling the story of Peter Giacobbi. He's noted in a recent Hemmings Sports and Exotic Cars article about the Sinthesis 2000, a one-off exotic in 1970. His work on that car with stylist Tom Tjaarda (think Pantera) helped him land a job working as Director of Engineering for John Z. later on, a job that involved him in the drivetrain selection and perhaps, had things gone differently, a lot more for DMC-12. I don't recall reading this bit of history in any of the DMC literature before.
LINK: peter-giacobbi-on-de-loreans-road-not-taken/
A few tidbits here out of the 5-paragraph blog entry which got a link at the end of the S&EC print article about the Sinthesis:
.....the Sinthesis remained a one-of-a-kind, but it did lead Peter to a job with another company interested in building a mid-engine GT. “Ultimately, I ended up being DeLorean’s director of engineering. I was instrumental in building the first two prototypes, actually designed the second one completely,” Peter says. John De Lorean “hired me because his vice president of engineering saw my car......"
“Because I speak French, I was the one who negotiated the deal with Renault for the Renault-Peugeot engine. They [JZD's Renault contacts] said, ‘You ought to go up and see the Alpine division.’ I drove an Alpine A110, and I’ve been racing cars all my life, so I drive fairly well......
Read about how we might have gotten more design and content for the DMC-12 from France than just the Renault/Peugeot/Volvo drivetrain....
and the Alpine connection
Further to the first post above:
While Peter G. did his test drives on behalf of DMC in the Alpine A110 it was the Alpine A310 V6 successor that ended up having quite a lot in common with the DMC-12, as most of us know. The target market, drivetrain and rear engine layout were major commonalities, as were the production volume (about 9,000 of the V6 cars, which came after an earlier 4-cyl version) and the era (produced in V6 form from 1976-1984). But Alpine managed to spread their production out a bit better than JZD did....
