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Fabled De Lorean is glance from the past

Wednesday, 07 July 2010

ONE of the 20th century’s most controversial and fabled motor cars, a 1981 De Lorean DMC12 Coupé, owned by Miranda Guinness, Countess of Iveagh, was due to go on sale by Bonhams as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The car, which has been on long-term display at the Robert Guinness Steam Museum in Dublin and the Irish Museum of Transport, attracted a pre-sale estimate of e18,000 - e24,000) at time of going to press. The brainchild of ex-General Motors executive John Zachary de Lorean, the de Lorean sports car project found a home in Northern Ireland following a grant from the British government. Under the helm of ex-Pontiac designer, Bill Collins, the car attracted much attention for its stylish coupé body and doors that opened in a ‘gull-wing’ fashion. The highly anticipated De Lorean, which finally arrived in 1980, quickly ran into quality control problems that were never recovered, in part due to the creator’s indictment on drug charges in 1982. A high point for the De Lorean was its starring role in Stephen Spielberg’s ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy. This left-hand drive De Lorean has only 19,400 miles on the odometer and has been maintained to the highest standard. Miranda Guinness has been the only owner of the car. Miranda Guinness, Countess of Iveagh, married Arthur Francis Benjamin Guinness, 3rd Earl of Iveagh, in 1963. The family seat, currently inhabited by their son Edward Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh, is Elveden Hall in Suffolk. Miranda Guinness acquired her 1720 Palladian home Wilburry in Wiltshire in 1996 in a state of severe disrepair. She spent six years renovating it before moving in. Miranda was awarded the Building Conservation section of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors International Building Awards of 2006.