DeLorean or De Lorean?

[LordFly]

I was always under the impression it was spelled DeLorean, without a space. But the more I look, the more I see De Lorean pop up, like on the owners manuals and such. Which way is correct?

[DMCVegas]

"De Lorean" is the official spelling of JZD's last name. It was "Delorean" at birth, but he later inserted the space and capital letter to add some flare to it. Even the name on the bumper and official documentation on the car uses this spelling.

While De Lorean, DeLorean, and Delorean are all acceptable spellings technically, I personally prefer to include the space when referencing the man out of respect.

[Dangermouse]

OP,

here is some interesting info from John last year that you probably missed

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?4606-Spelling-of-Delorean-De-Lorean&highlight=spelling

Just my personal opinion:


De Lorean was the man’s name as well as the name of his company (either with a full or half-space – try getting a half-space on your computer)). Most of the inter-company documentation that I have seen also uses “De Lorean”. To me, that makes it the most “technically correct”. The fly in the ointment of this particular statement is that I have seen pictures of his business card and they clearly say DeLorean, so….


“DeLorean” seems to have been more prevalent in the various print media, and I think as computers became more common, this became a more usual spelling. I think that this is probably the “preferred” spelling these days.


I see “Delorean” more in recent times, possibly due to spell checkers etc. not liking capital letters in the middle of words. My own surname should have a capital letter in the middle of it, but I note that it is sadly being erased with all the companies I deal with. Possibly because of this erosion of history, I try not to use this form of the word.


Also to be discouraged, and even ridiculed are Delorian, Deloran, and even Delloran, particularly amongst persons trying to sell one.

[ccurzio]

"De Lorean" is the official spelling of JZD's last name. It was "Delorean" at birth, but he later inserted the space and capital letter to add some flare to it.

Err, I wouldn't be so sure. The capital letters maybe, but certainly not the space. If the space were THAT important then I think this right here would look a lot different:

http://i.imgur.com/9H6l6Xl.jpg

Works for me. I don't like the space and I always spell it "DeLorean".

[ccurzio]

Also, thus sayeth Wikipedia:

"DeLorean's name is correctly spelled without the space, as DeLorean, the same goes for the Company. Only if the use of lower case letters was not possible (or not wanted), for instance on typewritten documents of the DeLorean Motor Company, the use of a space is correct. This appears to have been the company's chosen form. In typeset documents, a half space, not a full space, appears between the two portions, and the same is visible in more stylistic representations, as on the automobiles themselves."

So in short, you only use a space if lowercase letters aren't available, and it should ideally be only a half-space in those instances.

[Dangermouse]

Not wishing to question the mighty wiki, but that entry is non-correct.

They cite an example - Only if the use of lower case letters was not possible (or not wanted), for instance on typewritten documents of the DeLorean Motor Company, the use of a space is correct.

Are they saying that "DE LOREAN" is correct and was used by the company, but "De Lorean" was not? pish and nonsense, to quote the great bard William Robertson. Plenty of in-house documentation using De Lorean.

But, yes, any time the word appears in ALL-CAPS, then there does indeed appear to be a (half) space.

[DMCVegas]

My own surname should have a capital letter in the middle of it, but I note that it is sadly being erased with all the companies I deal with.

DangerMouse then?;)



Also to be discouraged, and even ridiculed are Delorian, Deloran, and even Delloran, particularly amongst persons trying to sell one.

Very discouragable, yes. However, eBay searches for "delorian" have yielded me some very exceptional auctions in the past, including dummy bearings locking cam sproket brackets for about $20



Not to derail the thread too much, but I always thought that the De Lorean font used on the cars and company logos had a very familiar look to it...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/Cool_Hand_Luke_Poster.gif/215px-Cool_Hand_Luke_Poster.gif

[Dangermouse]

DangerMouse then?;)



LOL, actually yes, but while that isn't the name I was referring to, it is another great example. :)

[LordFly]

Well, since it's on the mans grave without a space, I'm going to take that as final. And a half space is just unreasonable, not just in the computer age, but in general. Even on a typewriter a half space would be a pain in the ass. Also, the size of a space depends entirely on the font. Is the name on the back of the car a half space, or is that just the size of a space in that font?
16885

But since the capital L does separate the name a bit, I can understand using a space when the name is all caps. Why the name would ever need to be in all caps is beyond me. I will consider it a distant second option. I'll stick with DeLorean 99.9% of the time, and DE LOREAN the other 0.1%.

[LordFly]

Oh on, I just realized the grave stone one is using all caps, but the D and L larger..... I'm still going to stick with my previous conclusion. But I'll stick the large caps option as the 0.1% option and drop DE LOREAN down to #3 and only use it in this post and my previous post.

[DeLorean03]

Kathryn's middle name (due to her marriage) is DeLorean. That, along with the grave, says enough for me.

[Citizen]

For a while, Kathryn DeLorean was posting here. Out of respect for the family, I asker her what was the correct way to “present” her last name. This was way back prior to DCS in Lexington (may have been before the .org switch-a-ru, but I’m not completely sure when that happened).

Anyway, she said something to the effect (paraphrasing); “Sometimes he would put the space in, but most of the time not. He liked to keep them guessing.”


Thomas

...

[thirdmanj]

Out of respect for the family...

What is this, "DeLorean Abbey"?

[LordFly]

Seems more site appropriate than the $300 NRA thread (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?6373-300-NRA-Life-Membership).

[ccurzio]

Oh on, I just realized the grave stone one is using all caps

Technically it's not. In typography, the shape of the letters is less important than the size of the letters when determining "caps" versus "non-caps" when using a typeface that does not have any traditional "lowercase" SHAPED letters.

So it's still spelled "DeLorean" on the headstone, just in a different typeface. :)

[thirdmanj]

Seems more site appropriate than the $300 NRA thread (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?6373-300-NRA-Life-Membership).

:hihi2: fo' sho.

[LordFly]

In typography, the shape of the letters is less important than the size of the letters when determining "caps" versus "non-caps" when using a typeface that does not have any traditional "lowercase" SHAPED letters.

I'll accept that :)

[Shep]

Even on a typewriter a half space would be a pain in the ass.The hell? There was a dedicated key for it. Here's a 1981 Smith Corona Portable typewriter:

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=16886&d=1362018268

The "half-space" key is to the left of the spacebar, clearly labeled.


Why the name would ever need to be in all caps is beyond me.Because typewriters back in the 80's didn't have lowercase? Hell that same typewriter doesn't even have lowercase letters on the labels. Even ones from the 90's didn't have lowercase.

[Dangermouse]

Yes, they did!

Hitting the "A" key gave you an "a" unless you were simultaneously holding down the Shift key, in which case you got an "A".

[Shep]

Yes, they did!

Hitting the "A" key gave you an "a" unless you were simultaneously holding down the Shift key, in which case you got an "A".Where was my mind on that one? :8ball: Somewhere there is a padded room with my name on the door, I'm sure of it.

[Dangermouse]

Why the name would ever need to be in all caps is beyond me.

16888

[Dangermouse]

Technically it's not. In typography, the shape of the letters is less important than the size of the letters when determining "caps" versus "non-caps" when using a typeface that does not have any traditional "lowercase" SHAPED letters.

So it's still spelled "DeLorean" on the headstone, just in a different typeface. :)

So, Mr Typography expert (;) ), or anyone else, was the font/typeface used on the rear bumper created specially for the car, or did it exist prior to 1980?

[ccurzio]

That I can't say. Font identification is one of my super powers, but I don't know the origins of this one.

[Dangermouse]

Sounds like a question for Nick S. New thread time.

[LordFly]

16888

Well that never should have happened in the first place ;)

[thirdmanj]

I believe the DeLorean style font was developed by Guigiaro, the DMC logo specifically for the car, but JZD liked it so much he adopted it of the company.

[Totally 80s]

When John writes to me he uses the space. So I would say the space is correct. I'll take his personal letters over a tombstone any day of the week for accuracy.
16889

[ccurzio]

When John writes to me he uses the space. So I would say the space is correct. I'll take his personal letters over a tombstone any day of the week for accuracy.
16889

I wouldn't be so sure... seems he was a little fast and loose with the spaces, putting two between "got" and "to" in the last line. ;)

He also didn't capitalize his middle initial. Heh.

[Totally 80s]

I wouldn't be so sure... seems he was a little fast and loose with the spaces, putting two between "got" and "to" in the last line. ;)

He also didn't capitalize his middle initial. Heh.

If you're gonna type your middle initial you might as well do it with some style.

[thirdmanj]

When John writes to me he uses the space. So I would say the space is correct. I'll take his personal letters over a tombstone any day of the week for accuracy.
16889

"Wrote" to you, and didn't someone earlier mention that he was inconsistent with the space? To "keep them guessing"?

[jamesrguk]

The hell? There was a dedicated key for it. Here's a 1981 Smith Corona Portable typewriter:

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=16886&d=1362018268

The "half-space" key is to the left of the spacebar, clearly labeled.

Because typewriters back in the 80's didn't have lowercase? Hell that same typewriter doesn't even have lowercase letters on the labels. Even ones from the 90's didn't have lowercase.

O/T

'Space-O-Matic' gotta love the eighties

James

[mluder]

Well, since it's on the mans grave without a space, I'm going to take that as final.

Even Elvis's name is misspelled on his grave... just sayin'.

Cheers
Steven

[ccurzio]

Even Elvis's name is misspelled on his grave... just sayin'.

Cheers
Steven

But it actually isn't, if you know the story.

Elvis's birth middle name was Aron, but Elvis wanted to change it to Aaron. Elvis's dad was aware of this, so he made sure to follow through with his son's wishes and selected "Aaron" as the spelling for the grave marker. So no, it's not misspelled.

[Totally 80s]

"Wrote" to you, and didn't someone earlier mention that he was inconsistent with the space? To "keep them guessing"?

I thought that was the hiding place of the cocaine, to keep them guessing. That sounds ridiculous to me.

Could be "write"
http://tusitalatom.hubpages.com/hub/Messages-from-the-Dead-via-Automatic-Writing

[thirdmanj]

Could be "write"
http://tusitalatom.hubpages.com/hub/Messages-from-the-Dead-via-Automatic-Writing

:hysterical: thats ridiculous.

[Shep]

"Wrote" to youHis username is "Totally 80s". JZD was alive in every single part of the 80's. Thus, since we're referencing the 80's, it's "writes" :)

[ccurzio]

"Writes" is present-tense. The references cite examples which took place in the past so the correct language is either "Every time he wrote" or "each time he has written".

If JZD were still alive and expressed this as standard practice, then "writes" could be valid, though only if the subject was the practice itself and not past examples of the practice.

[thirdmanj]

"Writes" is present-tense. The references cite examples which took place in the past so the correct language is either "Every time he wrote" or "each time he has written".

If JZD were still alive and expressed this as standard practice, then "writes" could be valid, though only if the subject was the practice itself and not past examples of the practice.

Yup.

[thirdmanj]

His username is "Totally 80s". JZD was alive in every single part of the 80's. Thus, since we're referencing the 80's, it's "writes" :)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/02/araqu8es.jpg

[Sidaries]

Sometime in the past I found an interview with Kathrine Delorean and this question came up. Here is her answer:

How do you spell Delorean?
You are not going to like this answer.... all are the way we spell it!
I asked my dad this question a few times, he said "It depends on the day, I like to keep em guessing, and I have been doing it so long even I forgot how to spell it so it just depends on the day. Today I will spell it no space, tomorrow there will be one and the capital L depends on how important I want to feel." That is paraphrased a bit as it was a long time ago, but basically the gist of what he said. So even I don't know. I suppose I can check his birth certificate if I ever get that back and let you know how his parents spelled it . My guess is uncle Chuck kept it the way it should be, thought I am not positive, so however DeLorean Cadillac spells it should be correct.....or not!

[SamHill]

"Grand Delusions" dogged JZD about this. That book overstated some things. When somebody decides to class up their name by making it sound more French than Polish, I attribute that to deft self marketing, not necessarily nefarious identity switching.

[Totally 80s]

Sometime in the past I found an interview with Kathrine Delorean and this question came up. Here is her answer:

How do you spell Delorean?
You are not going to like this answer.... all are the way we spell it!
I asked my dad this question a few times, he said "It depends on the day, I like to keep em guessing, and I have been doing it so long even I forgot how to spell it so it just depends on the day. Today I will spell it no space, tomorrow there will be one and the capital L depends on how important I want to feel." That is paraphrased a bit as it was a long time ago, but basically the gist of what he said. So even I don't know. I suppose I can check his birth certificate if I ever get that back and let you know how his parents spelled it . My guess is uncle Chuck kept it the way it should be, thought I am not positive, so however DeLorean Cadillac spells it should be correct.....or not!

While humorous it's not logical at all. As far as the DMC business goes every official document from him I have seen has the space. I'm sure it was done to give the name more flair. Most of the documents I have seen even after the company folded (including my letter) have the space.

There is no way a man as bright as Delorean "forgot how to spell" his name. :hihi2:

[Shep]

While humorous it's not logical at all. As far as the DMC business goes every official document from him I have seen has the space. I'm sure it was done to give the name more flair. Most of the documents I have seen even after the company folded (including my letter) have the space.

There is no way a man as bright as Delorean "forgot how to spell" his name. :hihi2:Katherine was about five years old when DMC collapsed. I'm sure she was even older by the time she actually asked him that question, and in that time he may have forgotten how to spell it. Prior to the collapse, I'm sure he spelled it consistently on a very regular basis, but afterward, he wasn't constantly using the same spelling in the header of each document as he was prior. I would be inclined to believe both of you are correct, albeit at different times.

Although being her dad, he may have said that just so he didn't have to give her a straight answer. My dad did that all the time with me, and still does. It was more an informal question than a formal one considering the father-daughter relationship, so while I believe JZD said what Katherine quoted him as saying, he may not necessarily have meant it.

[thirdmanj]

Katherine was about five years old when DMC collapsed. I'm sure she was even older by the time she actually asked him that question, and in that time he may have forgotten how to spell it. Prior to the collapse, I'm sure he spelled it consistently on a very regular basis, but afterward, he wasn't constantly using the same spelling in the header of each document as he was prior. I would be inclined to believe both of you are correct, albeit at different times.

Although being her dad, he may have said that just so he didn't have to give her a straight answer. My dad did that all the time with me, and still does. It was more an informal question than a formal one considering the father-daughter relationship, so while I believe JZD said what Katherine quoted him as saying, he may not necessarily have meant it.

But I guess we'll never know, will we...?

Naaah, she couldn't possibly have known her own father well enough. Never trust what a woman says!!

[Shep]

Naaah, she couldn't possibly have known her own father well enough. Never trust what a woman says!!That's not what I was saying... :confused0:

[Totally 80s]

But I guess we'll never know, will we...?

Naaah, she couldn't possibly have known her own father well enough. Never trust what a woman says!!

Yeah you are right. JZD too stupid to remember how to spell his own name. I'll go with that.

[Sidaries]

If we go farther to the past there are more information. Delorean's parent were immigrants from Transylvania, what was a Hungarian land that time, but now it is Romania. His father was Romanian, her mother was Hungarian. So I thought maybe I will find something on Romanian pages and I did. Delorean's relatives are still living in Romania with the original name, which is Delorean.
One of his far away relative is Delorean Gyula, who is a Romanian representative. You can google his name for pictures and such.

So the name originally was Delorean, but what John made with it is a different case.

[thirdmanj]

Yeah you are right. JZD too stupid to remember how to spell his own name. I'll go with that.

Nobody said that. Only that he was inconsistent in the spelling of it. That seems to be the most likely answer. People are inconsistent, and his daughter explained it. If you don't want to believe the mans own kid, ok.

[Dangermouse]

So in summary,

when referring to the original company we should use De Lorean, as they did
when referring to the new company we should use DeLorean, as they do
when referring to JZD himself, we can use DeLorean, De Lorean, or Delorean, just to keep people guessing

[DMCVegas]

So in summary,

when referring to the original company we should use De Lorean, as they did
when referring to the new company we should use DeLorean, as they do
when referring to JZD himself, we can use DeLorean, De Lorean, or Delorean, just to keep people guessing

Yeah.

[thirdmanj]

So in summary,

when referring to the original company we should use De Lorean, as they did
when referring to the new company we should use DeLorean, as they do
when referring to JZD himself, we can use DeLorean, De Lorean, or Delorean, just to keep people guessing

Dermot, I love you man. ;)

[DMCVegas]

Speaking of which, we should do one of those cgi archeology things like they do on the History Channel to see if this guy is related to JZD.

Who wants to photoshop, or at least MSPaint some eyebrows and a chin on this guy?

16996

[LordFly]

So in summary,

when referring to the original company we should use De Lorean, as they did
when referring to the new company we should use DeLorean, as they do
when referring to JZD himself, we can use DeLorean, De Lorean, or Delorean, just to keep people guessing

Perfect! So I can now say I shopped at DeLorean for a car made by De Lorean which was designed by Delorean :)

[refugeefromcalif]

So in summary,

when referring to the original company we should use De Lorean, as they did
when referring to the new company we should use DeLorean, as they do
when referring to JZD himself, we can use DeLorean, De Lorean, or Delorean, just to keep people guessing

It doesn't get any easier to understand then that! :biggrin:


(For grins and giggles I ran a spell checker on your comment, DeLorean was the only one it liked)...

George

[Totally 80s]

Nobody said that. Only that he was inconsistent in the spelling of it. That seems to be the most likely answer. People are inconsistent, and his daughter explained it. If you don't want to believe the mans own kid, ok.

He said that. From his daughters quote he said "It depends on the day, I like to keep em guessing, and I have been doing it so long even I forgot how to spell it so it just depends on the day." If we are taking her words as gospel there are only a few explanations. He had gone senile, he was ignorant or he was joking with her. I believe he was joking with her and you alleged that we were wrong because his daughter told us otherwise. So logically speaking if he wasn't joking he was either senile or stupid.

I would like to see a document penned by JZD where he doesn't add the space. Not a tombstone or a third party document. Does anybody have a link to a personal written document by JZD that doesn't have the space? That would be very interesting to me and provide hard evidence that he was "inconsistent". I don't think I have seen one but there must be one out there.

[SamHill]

You are making this more complicated than it is. He consistently varied the spelling of his name to suit his mood, and he tended to alter almost anything about himself to suit his audience and his ego. It fits with everything we know about him.

[Ron]

So in summary,

when referring to the original company we should use De Lorean, as they did
when referring to the new company we should use DeLorean, as they do
when referring to JZD himself, we can use DeLorean, De Lorean, or Delorean, just to keep people guessing
Hard to tell with these fonts, but I assume you used a full space for "De Lorean"...which would mean you left out "DeiLorean"... :lol:

[Dangermouse]

Hard to tell with these fonts, but I assume you used a full space for "De Lorean"...which would mean you left out "DeiLorean"... :lol:

You got me. My Logitech keyboard seems to be missing a "half-space" key.

Either that, or I'm just keeping you guessing about the size of the space, as JZD would have wanted it.

[thirdmanj]

He said that. From his daughters quote he said "It depends on the day, I like to keep em guessing, and I have been doing it so long even I forgot how to spell it so it just depends on the day." If we are taking her words as gospel there are only a few explanations. He had gone senile, he was ignorant or he was joking with her. I believe he was joking with her and you alleged that we were wrong because his daughter told us otherwise. So logically speaking if he wasn't joking he was either senile or stupid.

I would like to see a document penned by JZD where he doesn't add the space. Not a tombstone or a third party document. Does anybody have a link to a personal written document by JZD that doesn't have the space? That would be very interesting to me and provide hard evidence that he was "inconsistent". I don't think I have seen one but there must be one out there.

I somehow missed the part in her quote of her father where he said that. Oops. Either way, the man said himself that the way he wrote it depended on his mood. If what the daughter said is accurate. But yeah, I've yet to see it any other way. I can't say that I really care to waste the time looking or gathering "evidence" for it. Just because it doesn't really matter.

[Totally 80s]

I somehow missed the part in her quote of her father where he said that. Oops. Either way, the man said himself that the way he wrote it depended on his mood. If what the daughter said is accurate. But yeah, I've yet to see it any other way. I can't say that I really care to waste the time looking or gathering "evidence" for it. Just because it doesn't really matter.

Is it possible he never wrote it any other way?

You are right it doesn't really matter but I have seen this topic come up a dozen times over the last 20 years of ownership so I thought it would be interesting to actually see a document he wrote where he wrote it "Delorean". (no space no capital L)

Guess I am just getting bored with the same old questions and posts over and over again. I've been into these damn cars too long. I was just trying to add something new to the forum by finding a document written "Delorean".

I'll be quiet now.

[thirdmanj]

Is it possible he never wrote it any other way?

You are right it doesn't really matter but I have seen this topic come up a dozen times over the last 20 years of ownership so I thought it would be interesting to actually see a document he wrote where he wrote it "Delorean". (no space no capital L)

Guess I am just getting bored with the same old questions and posts over and over again. I've been into these damn cars too long. I was just trying to add something new to the forum by finding a document written "Delorean".

I'll be quiet now.

20 years?! Dude... :bigclap: respect.

[Ron]

You got me. My Logitech keyboard seems to be missing a "half-space" key.

Either that, or I'm just keeping you guessing about the size of the space, as JZD would have wanted it.It must be the former because, although I cheated before, if yours is a half space, mine is a quarter space.
De Lorean
DeiLorean

[SamHill]

It must be the former because, although I cheated before, if yours is a half space, mine is a quarter space.
De Lorean
DeiLorean

Goshdarnit you guys, go outside

[thirdmanj]

Goshdarnit you guys, go outside

:hihi2:

[LordFly]

It must be the former because, although I cheated before, if yours is a half space, mine is a quarter space.
De Lorean
DeiLorean

Oh, so you want to play THAT game? Try these on for size (pun intended). And yes there is a single "space" between each, highlight them to verify ;)

De Lorean
De Lorean
De Lorean
De Lorean
De Lorean
De Lorean
De Lorean
De​Lorean

Now what spelling do we use?!

[Tillsy]

This is almost crossing into the Nerd Thread ;)

[thirdmanj]

This is almost crossing into the Nerd Thread ;)

:lol: I was thinking the same thing.

[matt clark]

I have the Corporate ID book that goes into some detail about this - I'll dig it out at some point and scan the page in. But from what I remember it's the quarter-space thing.

For me, if I were doing anything 'official' like a banner or graphic, I'd go with De Lorean as that's how the promotional materials and the car's badges roll (see attachement). For when I'm typing stuff online or whatever, I just go with DeLorean.

Also, my iPhone seems to know 'DeLorean' too, and it hasn't just learned it from me, so that's interesting

17025

[LEVY]

I have the Corporate ID book that goes into some detail about this - I'll dig it out at some point and scan the page in. But from what I remember it's the quarter-space thing.

For me, if I were doing anything 'official' like a banner or graphic, I'd go with De Lorean as that's how the promotional materials and the car's badges roll (see attachement). For when I'm typing stuff online or whatever, I just go with DeLorean.

Also, my iPhone seems to know 'DeLorean' too, and it hasn't just learned it from me, so that's interesting

17025

That image show De Lorean with a half space in between.



It must be the former because, although I cheated before, if yours is a half space, mine is a quarter space.
De Lorean
DeiLorean

Can't find that quarter space! :D

LEVY

[awildermode]

This is from Paul De Lorean, John's nephew.


My family uses a space and big L. Sometimes no space if it's not possible, or on box forms, but the big L always.

[Kitsunechild]

I always write it "DeLorean". Without a space, and a capital L. I've seen it written all the other ways, but I've always done it this way.