The rise and fall of John Delorean perhaps sums up the go-getting spirit and greed of the 1980s. Delorean was the eldest of four siblings, he started from humble beginnings to rise up through the ranks as a highly regarded and celebrated engineer and executive at General Motors. He was responsible for sparking the muscle car era. However, he is best known for founding the company bearing his name, Delorean, by which time he was already a millionaire.

Delorean decided to establish a manufacturing plant in Northern Ireland, lured by government funding. The Delorean DMC flopped, yet it went on to gain cult status. With mounting debts, John Delorean decided the best short-term way to raise fresh funds was to get involved in cocaine trafficking.

John Delorean successfully defended himself in court citing he was caught in a case of entrapment orchestrated by an FBI sting operation. But the damage had been done and the Delorean project ceased.