Barrie Wills contacted me in February to assist with providing a DeLorean for a trade article. This was to feature on the ground-breaking way in which the purchasing task was completed within the record breaking 28 months and how the car met the most stringent legislation of the day to enter the demanding US market. As many of you know, Barrie was the longest serving employee of DeLorean Motor Cars Limited in Dunmurry. He was hired by John as director of purchasing in October 1978 and left once he had completed his duties to the receivers as chief executive in February 1983.
The shoot took place on a very cold, exposed March morning on what appeared to be just another urban wasteland in the West Midlands. I'd never been in so close proximity to trucks coming and going delivering gravel and other materials before. The lorries were luckily paying attention and giving enough of a wide birth around the parked DeLorean and people huddled around it. The dereliction was rapidly developing into a housing development. The sad thing is as Barrie gazed around where he stood now in 2015 he fondly recalled memories of the Jaguar plant that once stood in place of all the new cramped housing springing up around us. We were lucky that the shoot was just the one day as I think we would have been standing in setting concrete should we have been there another 24 hours.
I've had permission from the magazine editor to reproduce the article for everyone to enjoy as it discusses the car and legacy from a unique perspective. Thanks to Barrie and the crew from the magazine as I had a unique experience myself too
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