Proper Make/Model for DeLorean

[pezzonovante88]

This may be a really stupid question, but still after all this time I'm not sure if the car is a "DMC DeLorean DMC-12" or a "DeLorean DMC-12 produced by DMC". So, is the make 'DMC' or 'DeLorean'? I'm leaning towards the latter....

[Cory W]

I'm going with "DeLorean", if only to avoid similarities to "GMC" and "AMC"....things I already hear far too often.

[stevedmc]

Its called whatever you want to call it. Basically whatever some bozo on the street (or Autozone) tells you about your car is wrong, and whatever you say is right. Its that simple.

[rddmc]

Make- DeLorean

Model- DMC-12

[Ron]

Both are on your title & tag paperwork...

[sadeeky]

My favorite is Back to the Future car

[Dangermouse]

Both are on your title & tag paperwork...

or a close approximation thereof

:biggrin:

[Farrar]

On all of my paperwork it is "Make: DeLorean" and "Model: DMC-12." If I can wrangle it, it says "Color: Stainless Steel," but at work it's "Color: Silver."

[Dangermouse]

Mine says:

Delo 2S

:rolleyes1:

[sean]

yes, I had "Color: silver" on mine as well.

[Notifier]

Make=Datsun, that is when DeLorean isn't in the computer and it's the closest thing he's got!

[Jeff K]

Make=Datsun, that is when DeLorean isn't in the computer and it's the closest thing he's got!

If I remember right, CA DMV list DeLorean as make and model. Silver color.

[seventy4burban]

My favorite is Back to the Future car

My daughter calls it "the Future car."

[Rich]

...I'm not sure if the car is a "DMC DeLorean DMC-12" or a "DeLorean DMC-12 produced by DMC". So, is the make 'DMC' or 'DeLorean'?
...
The "make" is "DeLorean".
Opinions and even third-party documentation will differ on the "model" question.

First, the car was originally and to this day is widely known as the DeLorean DMC-12. What the manufacturer and their sales subsidiary called it after it went into production is a different matter.

DMC is an acronym for DeLorean Motor Company, the manufacturer. The USA cars were sold by DeLorean Motor Cars of America, so DMC could also be an acronym for DeLorean Motor Cars.

The DMC-12 model name was coined by DeLorean during the development period. However, that model name was rarely, if ever, used as the model designation when the cars went to market.

I don't propose that we hold back on calling them DMC-12's. That's the model name DeLorean started with and it stuck. Just the same, it seems that DMC and its subsidiary, DeLorean Motor Cars of America, later refrained from calling these cars DMC-12's. Possibly because the "-12" referred to an intended price target they could not meet in the end?

As far as being a useful way to differentiate one kind of DeLorean from another kind of DeLorean we can all agree that a model name isn't necessary. All DeLoreans are the same "model", whether there is an official model name or not.

Photos:
1-2. Designations on the original window sticker carry no DMC-12 callout.
3. 1981 DeLorean Owner Manual introduces the car as "your 1981 De Lorean" and "your De Lorean" - yes, with a space between De and Lorean - with no mention of DMC-12. The factory seems to always have a space in the name, an off-topic matter if anybody cares.
4. The California registration for the car shows it as a DELOR (truncated field). Body style is CP for coupe. No color or model info on it, so at best is suggests there was no model callout. Not sure that Calif. reg. tags print the model info for any car, my others do not have it.

[Jonathan]

And I think it is pretty darn cool that no matter how many names people might have, they always know exactly what car you're talking about. How many other cars can claim that? Not "your Ford", or "your Chevy", or "your Ferrari"... but when someone says "your DeLorean", there can be only one.

I'll give credit to Cory from whom I heard this first... "30 years later, even people that don't know cars know what a DeLorean is" BOO YA!! :D