The father of the GTO has died at age 80.

One of my first driving memories involves me scaring the **** out of my mom tail sliding my car in his driveway (on my learners permit ). My father was a friend of Johns somewhat. My brother and sister used to visit Kathryn and play at the Deloreans house there in NJ. I am a year or two older than Zach (his son) and we never really got to know each other. It is interesting to note that he had a stable full of cars (literally) including some really nice old Mercedes. Kathryn and my sister chose the oldest limo as "theirs" while playing at the house. In fact we bought an atv from them as well. My father asked him if he had one of his cars and he didn't explain why there wasn't one in the barn. John must have had 10 cars IIRC all old and cool. It's too bad they were sold off to pay his debts. I will continue to remember him as the quiet old guy my dad knew regardless of what the media wants you to remember. After all, even if everything was true about the drugs etc.. We only knew him as someones dad. Let him rest.

 

Heh, ever watched any shows on Ferrari, he did the same thing. Ferrari didn't "invent" the mid engine, he stole it after getting beat by fiat? in racing and then put it in his cars.....
Also Delorean designed alot more than just the GTO I wouldn't say he was "lucky"

 

Oh, here we go.......

"New thread heads south in a record 2 posts!"

that's what makes this place great!

 

The first car I ever owned and still have is my 1974 Pontiac GTO. Thanks for starting the run of such a great car John, just sorry to see what they have done to it with the new one. I know its not a highly looked at GTO by many, but I love it.

 

Ferrari used that name because it described the car ( Gran Turismo Omologazione ), it was used on the Pontiac because it sounded good.

Some Historians think that Enzo had no intention to sell to Ford ever.
I was told Ford spent millions determining what Ferrari was worth ( cataloging everything ), and right at the last moment Enzo said "thanks" and sent them out the door.
It is very possible Ford got played....

 

Ehh??? Fiat??

Ferrari couldnt keep up with the British invation ( Cooper, Lotus, Etc... ),
and started using mid Engined racecars when it became clear to him his Front Engined Cars were heavy and outdated.
He didnt build mid Engined street cars untill after a former Ferrari customer upstaged his cars by building the Lamborghini Miura...

 

I only hope that when I die people argue whether I was as cool as Enzo Ferrari or not.

Anyway, the articles of DeLorean's death state that there will be a public viewing tomorrow (Wed.) from 2-8 pm. It's at the big funeral home on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak. A fitting location considering all the GTO rubber that has been laid on that street.

I'm planning to attend the viewing. It's creepy going to see dead people, and I didn't know the guy. But people always go to these celebrity funerals, and I'm curious. I mean, look at all those fools who lined up to look at Reagan. I didn't know anybody even liked that guy. I'd much rather pay my respects to a man who had a huge positive impact on the automotive world.

Anybody else going to stop in?

 

I wasn't...I'm not so sure Enzo was a nice person, even...

But since I see the HAMB as a Learning Tool, I try to correct misinformation when I think I see it.

I hope people will do the same for me when I drop the ball.

Having said that, I know almost nothing about Musclecars and Underpowered Stainless Steel PoserMobiles...

 

Just to follow up...

I did stop by to pay my respects. It was a real nice normal wake. A****st the flowers near the casket there was one of those big wreath-type things that had "GTO" and the Pontiac V-Crest made out of flowers, like on a parade float.

Most notably, there were a ton of DMC's parked out front of the funeral home. I'm thinking maybe 20. I think there were three of the painted ones, red, black, and green. A lot of them had personalized plates. My favorite was "T304 SS". We got a bunch of snow yesterday so it was interesting to see those cars out in bad weather. I ***ume most of them are summer-only cars.

A nice tribute to a real legend.

 

There are plenty of Polish, East Germans, Slovaks, Czechs, and Americans who more than liked Reagan.

 

Sweet.

 

Anybody break out their 'goats'?

 

I didn't see any. I'm sure most of those guys are more picky about getting snow on their car than the DeLorean guys. I drove a Pontiac Montana there though. It's the GTO of minivans you know.