Editing John DeLorean (section)

====Chevrolet====
[[File:1970 Chevrolet Nova.jpg|thumb|The redesigned 1970 [[Chevrolet Nova]] was released under DeLorean's leadership of GM's Chevrolet division]]

By this time, DeLorean earned an annual salary of $200,000 ({{Inflation|US|200000|1969|fmt=eq|cursign=[[United States dollar|US$]]}}), with yearly bonuses of up to $400,000 ({{Inflation|US|400000|1969|fmt=eq|cursign=[[United States dollar|US$]]}}). He was ubiquitous in popular culture. At a time when business executives were typically conservative, low-key individuals in three-piece suits, DeLorean wore long sideburns and unbuttoned shirts.<ref name="nytimes2005">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/21/business/john-z-delorean-father-of-glamour-car-dies-at-80.html |title=John Z. DeLorean, Father of Glamour Car, Dies at 80 |first=Danny |last=Hakim |date=March 21, 2005 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> He invited Ford president [[Lee Iacocca]] to serve as best man at his second wedding.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weiner |first1=Rex |title=How John DeLorean Took Us Back to the Future – essay |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-john-delorean-took-us-back-to-the-future/ |access-date=15 September 2023 |work=Los Angeles Review of Books |date=January 10, 2016 |language=en}}</ref>

DeLorean was a [[Limited partnership|limited partner]] in a pair of American professional sports franchises. The first was the [[History of the San Diego Chargers|San Diego Chargers]], as part of a syndicate led by [[Gene Klein]] and [[Sam Schulman]] that bought a controlling interest for $10 million in August 1966.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/oct/08/ticker-pernicano-died-60-million-worth-chargers/ |last=Potter |first=Matt |title=How to die with $60 million worth of the Chargers |newspaper=San Diego Reader |date=October 8, 2016 |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q_1ZDwAAQBAJ&q=john+delorean+mabee+chargers&pg=PA431 |last1=Quirk |first1=James |last2=Fort |first2=Rodney D. |title=Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports |edition=Second |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1997 |page=431 |access-date=September 16, 2019 |isbn=9780691187945}}</ref> The other was the [[New York Yankees]] of which he was one of fifteen investors led by [[George Steinbrenner]] and [[E. Michael Burke|Michael Burke]] who completed the purchase from [[CBS]] for $10 million on January 3, 1973.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/11/archives/yanks-new-owners-got-deal-they-couldnt-refuse-owners-couldnt-refuse.html |last=Chass |first=Murray |title=Yanks' New Owners Got Deal They Couldn't Refuse |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 11, 1973 |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref><ref>New York Yankees 1973 Yearbook.</ref>

DeLorean continued his jet-setting lifestyle and was often seen hanging out in business and entertainment celebrity circles. He became friends with [[James T. Aubrey]], president of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] Studios, and was introduced to celebrities such as financier [[Kirk Kerkorian]], [[Chris-Craft Industries|Chris-Craft]] chairman Herb Siegel, entertainer [[Sammy Davis Jr.]], and ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]'' host [[Johnny Carson]].{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

The executive offices of General Motors headquarters continued to clash with DeLorean's [[nonconformity]] . When he was appointed, Chevrolet was having financial and organizational troubles, and GM president Ed Cole needed a manager in that position to sort things out. The new model Camaro was due out for the 1970 model year, and it was rapidly falling behind schedule. Redesigns for the Corvette and [[Chevrolet Chevy II / Nova|Nova]] were also delayed, and unit sales had still not recovered from the past four years of turmoil, much of that because of the bad publicity surrounding the [[Chevrolet Corvair|Corvair]] and well-publicized quality-control issues affecting other Chevy models, including defective motor mounts that led to an unprecedented recall of 6.7 million Chevrolets built between 1965 and 1969. DeLorean responded to the production problems by delaying the release of the Camaro and simplifying the modifications to the Corvette and Nova. He used the extra time to streamline Chevrolet's production overhead and reduce assembly costs. By 1971, Chevrolet was experiencing record sales in excess of 3 million vehicles, and his division alone was nearly matching that of the entire Ford Motor Company.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

[[File:Delorean and 1971 Vega 2300.jpg|thumb|John DeLorean and the [[Chevrolet Vega]] in 1970]]

The [[Chevrolet Vega|Vega]] was assigned to Chevrolet by corporate management, specifically by Cole, just weeks before DeLorean's 1969 arrival as the Chevrolet division's general manager. In a ''[[Motor Trend]]'' interview in August 1970, DeLorean said, "Vega will be the highest quality product ever built by Chevrolet."<ref>Motor Trend-August 1970.</ref> By DeLorean's orders, dozens of extra inspectors were assigned to the Vega assembly line, and the first 2,000 cars were road-tested. He stated, "the first cars, from a manufacturing standpoint, were well built." But in 1972, General Motors Assembly Division took over the Chevrolet [[Lordstown, Ohio|Lordstown]] assembly plant and the adjoining [[Fisher Body]] plant. Their main goal was to cut costs, and more than 800 workers were laid off, many of whom were the additional inspectors. This led to assembly-line vandalism, with workers intentionally slowing the line, leaving off parts and installing others improperly. Incomplete and often non-functioning cars soon filled the factory lot, which then had to be reprocessed and repaired by a team assigned to this task by DeLorean. A one-month [[Strike action|strike]] followed, and dealers did not receive enough cars for the demand in 1972. DeLorean regrouped for the 1973 [[model year]] with Vega sales of 395,792. The one-millionth Vega was built in May 1973.<ref>''Hot Rod'', December 1973. Rodden at Random</ref>

In 1972, DeLorean was appointed to the position of vice president of car and truck production for the entire General Motors line,<ref name="telegraph1"/> and his eventual rise to president seemed inevitable. However, the idea of him assuming that position was almost intolerable to GM executives, and on April 2, 1973, he announced that he was leaving the company, telling the press, "I want to do things in the social area. I have to do them, and unfortunately the nature of our business just didn't permit me to do as much as I wanted." However, it had been rumored that he had been fired.<ref name="nytimes2005"/> GM gave him a Florida [[Cadillac]] franchise as a retirement gift,<ref name="washingtonpost1"/> and DeLorean took over the presidency of The National Alliance of Businessmen, a [[Charitable trust|charitable organization]] with the mission of employing Americans in need, founded by [[Lyndon Johnson]] and [[Henry Ford II]]. 

DeLorean was sharply critical of the direction GM had taken by the start of the 1970s, as well as objecting to the idea of using rebates to sell cars: <blockquote>"There's no forward response at General Motors to what the public wants today. A car should make people's eyes light up when they step into the showroom. Rebates are merely a way of convincing customers to buy bland cars they're not interested in."<ref name="nytimes2005"/></blockquote>After DeLorean left General Motors, Patrick Wright, author and former ''[[Business Week]]'' reporter, approached him with the idea of writing a book based on his experiences there. DeLorean agreed to dictate his recollections for Wright, who wrote the book. The final product, published in 1979, ''On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors'', sold approximately 1.6 million copies, but disagreements over the content led to a conflict between the collaborators, with Wright eventually publishing the book on his own.<ref name="an01">{{cite news |last=Lapham |first=Edward |date=October 31, 2011 |title=DeLorean didn't fit the GM mold |work=Automotive News |url=http://www.autonews.com/article/20111031/CHEVY100/310319927/delorean-didnt-fit-the-gm-mold |access-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref>