Rebellious auto executive John DeLorean is busted in a Los Angeles airport motel with a suitcase containing $24 million worth of cocaine.
DeLorean, the developer of the Pontiac GTO and the self-named DeLorean DMC-12 , was attempting to raise money for his failing company, authorities charged.
Although the DeLorean — a stainless steel sports car with the gull-wing doors — was later featured in the movie “Back to the Future,” the car had some problems. With the 1981 recession, the DeLorean Motor Co. was reeling.
According to DeLorean, it was at this time that an acquaintance in California, who was actually a convicted felon-turned-government informant, told him he could find investors. Claiming that he didn’t know it was a drug deal until it was too late, DeLorean said he was afraid to back out. Despite a videotape of the drug deal in which he called the cocaine-filled suitcase “good as gold,” the jury believed that DeLorean had been entrapped and he was acquitted.
DeLorean died from a stroke at the age of 80 in 2005.
