John DeLorean

John Zachary DeLorean (1925 to 2005) was an American engineer, inventor and executive in the United States automobile industry, widely known as the founder of the DeLorean Motor Company and for his work at General Motors. Born in Detroit, he studied at the Lawrence Institute of Technology and became the youngest division chief in General Motors history, managing the development of the Pontiac GTO, Pontiac Firebird, Pontiac Grand Prix and the Chevrolet Cosworth Vega. He produced dozens of patented innovations for the company and was promoted to division chief engineer in 1961. He left General Motors to start the DeLorean Motor Company in 1973, whose first car, the DMC DeLorean later seen in the film Back to the Future, reached the market in 1981. The company went bankrupt, and DeLorean was tried in 1984 on cocaine trafficking charges and acquitted on the grounds of entrapment.