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John DeLorean:After his cocaine trial, business collapse,loss of his wife and his reputation! — Transcript

by Eileen Prose · 5,256 words · 735 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00Yesterday in a Detroit courtroom, John
  2. 0:02Delorean pleaded not guilty to swindling
  3. 0:04company investors out of $9 million.
  4. 0:07This is the continuing saga of a man
  5. 0:10whose name alone conjures up visions of
  6. 0:12the wealthy and glamorous, as well as
  7. 0:14images of a sleek stainless steel sports
  8. 0:16car bearing the Delorean name. But the
  9. 0:18most indelible impression the public has
  10. 0:20of John Delorean is that of Maverick
  11. 0:22automotive genius who desperate to save
  12. 0:24his failing car company became involved
  13. 0:26in what he alleges was a government
  14. 0:28engineered cocaine deal. The nation
  15. 0:31watched as he was found not guilty in
  16. 0:32the most celebrated drug trafficking
  17. 0:34trial ever. But the story doesn't end
  18. 0:36here. A few days after the verdict was
  19. 0:38announced, the picture perfect marriage
  20. 0:40of John Delorean to model Christina
  21. 0:42Ferrar came to an
  22. 0:46end. From media accounts, we are well
  23. 0:48aware of the recent events in John
  24. 0:49Delorean's life. But most of us know
  25. 0:51very little about he came about how he
  26. 0:53came to power and became such an
  27. 0:54infamous public figure as he is today.
  28. 0:57He left General Motors Corporation and
  29. 0:59with that he gave up a very private life
  30. 1:01that was soon to become a very public
  31. 1:02life. Here with us to tell his story is
  32. 1:05John Delorean who has just completed his
  33. 1:07book entitled Delorean. Good morning to
  34. 1:09you John. So you two had an interesting
  35. 1:10evening. I'm not sure. I don't remember.
  36. 1:13There is so much to know about your life
  37. 1:15in order to do this. born in Detroit.
  38. 1:17Your father was in the industry. Were
  39. 1:19you destined, do you suppose, from day
  40. 1:21one to become a part of the industry?
  41. 1:22Well, you know, my dad was a factory
  42. 1:24worker and really a labor organizer back
  43. 1:26in the early days of unionism in the
  44. 1:29automobile industry. But, uh, I think
  45. 1:31when you are born and raised in Detroit,
  46. 1:33it's either you become part of the
  47. 1:34industry or you move away. You know,
  48. 1:36it's a one industry town. In your 17ome
  49. 1:39years at General Motors, what kinds of
  50. 1:40innovations do you take credit for?
  51. 1:42Well, I don't know about taking credit.
  52. 1:43A lot of the things that I worked on are
  53. 1:45parts of cars today. You know, the for
  54. 1:48example, the frames used in most of the
  55. 1:50major cars, a lot of the uh the
  56. 1:52concealed windshield wipers, a lot of
  57. 1:55the fabrication techniques, a lot of the
  58. 1:57safety improvements and minority
  59. 1:59involvement. We had did a tremendous
  60. 2:02amount of work in minority involvement.
  61. 2:04I put in the first black dealer in
  62. 2:06Watts. In fact, I ran into his widow. He
  63. 2:09died some time back and it was really
  64. 2:11amazing. his daughter and and uh she
  65. 2:14remembered me very well. You blast
  66. 2:17General Motors. Uh not really. Well, you
  67. 2:19say that they're shallow in their
  68. 2:20policym that they had no forward
  69. 2:22thinking uh or planning and that your
  70. 2:24job had no substance that you really
  71. 2:26found you were more of a paper pusher.
  72. 2:27Why in light of some of those things did
  73. 2:29you stay all those years? No. I uh I
  74. 2:31think what happened is that while I ran
  75. 2:33a division that was like being the
  76. 2:35quarterback of the Patriots except last
  77. 2:37weekend and that was fun. And it was a
  78. 2:40challenge every day. It was exciting. Uh
  79. 2:42the interesting thing about the
  80. 2:44automobile industry is that in a town
  81. 2:46like Detroit, you know who your
  82. 2:47competition is and every 10 days you see
  83. 2:50how you're doing in comparison to them.
  84. 2:52You know, you know what's ayakoka doing
  85. 2:54to you today or what are you doing to
  86. 2:55him. So it's a really intense sense of
  87. 2:57competition and the whole organization
  88. 3:00feels it. It's a very healthy thing. Let
  89. 3:02me ask you a question. All right. I knew
  90. 3:04this was going to happen. In a way, it
  91. 3:07sounds like in a way like you were set
  92. 3:09up to be pushed out of General Motors
  93. 3:11and and let me tell you why. At least
  94. 3:12from what I've read, there were uh
  95. 3:14various people for a variety of reasons.
  96. 3:16Roger Keys, who was your boss when you
  97. 3:18were running Pontiac Chevrolet Kais,
  98. 3:19Roger Kais, he didn't like your dress,
  99. 3:22your way of dress, he didn't he thought
  100. 3:23you were a womanizer. Richard Terrell,
  101. 3:25who succeeded Keys, said quote to you,
  102. 3:27John, disappear into the boondocks. Um
  103. 3:30then you gave this speech at the
  104. 3:31Greenbryer on product quality and it was
  105. 3:34leaked by the PR department. You say it
  106. 3:36was the rough draft. It pretty much
  107. 3:37blasted General Motors and that was kind
  108. 3:40of the end for you. Was it true that no
  109. 3:43one liked you there, John, that you were
  110. 3:44not? No, I think I got along with most
  111. 3:47of the people pretty well. Although
  112. 3:49there were a few you everybody in every
  113. 3:51organization has, you know, some people
  114. 3:53on your side and some against. I've
  115. 3:55always gotten along very well with my
  116. 3:57peers and the people who worked under
  117. 3:59me. I've always had a certain amount of
  118. 4:01problems and confrontations with my
  119. 4:03bosses. That's been the nature of my
  120. 4:05life. But your resignation was drawn by
  121. 4:07General Motors. Is that unusual for a
  122. 4:09man who intends to resign? Were was it a
  123. 4:11resignation or were you in fact asked to
  124. 4:12leave? No, no. I I left I I tended my
  125. 4:15resignation almost immediately after I
  126. 4:17was promoted and given a tremendous
  127. 4:19bonus. I moved up from uh the head of
  128. 4:21Chevrolet to the group executive of
  129. 4:23North American Car and Truck Operations.
  130. 4:25And I did that about a month spending
  131. 4:27every minute and sitting in a committee
  132. 4:29meeting listening to the same people say
  133. 4:32the same things. And I said, I just
  134. 4:33can't imagine doing this for 18 more
  135. 4:35years. I can't I couldn't possibly
  136. 4:38survive. But just bottom line, weren't
  137. 4:39you dissatisfied? There's been so much
  138. 4:41in print about your criticism of GM. Can
  139. 4:43I just ask you, do you criticize the
  140. 4:45company? No. No. I owe everything I have
  141. 4:46in the world to General Motors. And what
  142. 4:48I when I did the book, I was trying to
  143. 4:50be constructive. And that's the reason
  144. 4:52that the author and I had a problem. You
  145. 4:54know, he printed the book without my
  146. 4:56permission on a clear day. Yeah. And
  147. 4:57then we had a contract. He was supposed
  148. 4:59to pay me half of what he got. I think
  149. 5:01he's made about a million and a half
  150. 5:02bucks. He's never given me a penny. So,
  151. 5:04but John, as they say in the automobile
  152. 5:06industry, let's shift gears here. We've
  153. 5:08heard a lot about your automotive
  154. 5:09career, which has been very successful
  155. 5:11for the most part, but a lot of people
  156. 5:12are interested and intrigued by your
  157. 5:15personal life and your image and
  158. 5:16lifestyle. And one of the corporate
  159. 5:18grains, I guess, that you cut against
  160. 5:20there at GM was that you liked younger
  161. 5:22women, beautiful women. You were
  162. 5:24flamboyant. You dyed your hair. You lost
  163. 5:26weight. You had cosmetic surgery. Any of
  164. 5:29these things true? Well, some of them
  165. 5:30are true. Obviously, uh, you know, I
  166. 5:34have liked attractive women and, uh, now
  167. 5:38I'm reformed. I like ugly women.
  168. 5:42But, seriously, did you I like ugly
  169. 5:44women, slow cars, and bad food now.
  170. 5:47Got that line down, Pat. How did you?
  171. 5:49No, not really. But did you have John,
  172. 5:51and I don't want to sound like we're
  173. 5:52we're interrogating you here because
  174. 5:54you've already had that experience with
  175. 5:55the best, but did you have a nose job?
  176. 5:57Did you have your face lifted? You know,
  177. 5:58I had my my nose busted about five times
  178. 6:01when I played basketball and I didn't
  179. 6:04have a nose job, but I had it
  180. 6:05straightened and uh and I had to have
  181. 6:08some I had a little work back when I was
  182. 6:11a kid. I had a a serious injury to my
  183. 6:15jaw and I had a piece of impacted bone
  184. 6:16which had to be removed about 18 or 19
  185. 6:18years ago. And I had such a horrible
  186. 6:21experience that when that happened that
  187. 6:23I've really never felt, you know,
  188. 6:26impelled to go back and have it
  189. 6:28straightened out. And of course, my face
  190. 6:29is about half scar tissue now. Well, it
  191. 6:31looks okay.
  192. 6:33But it's going to last the rest of my
  193. 6:35life anyway. That's true. The other
  194. 6:36thing that intrigued me about you was
  195. 6:39that you said you preferred a certain
  196. 6:41kind of woman. A woman that was very
  197. 6:43attractive, nonthreatening,
  198. 6:45non-challenging, and any woman that was
  199. 6:47intelligent threatened you. Do you still
  200. 6:49feel that way? No, I I think I realized
  201. 6:52that that was a mistake and that somehow
  202. 6:55uh psychologically I've been trying to
  203. 6:57readjust myself to understand why I felt
  204. 7:01that because certainly I met a lot of
  205. 7:03very intelligent, intriguing women and I
  206. 7:06guess I felt somewhat intimidated by
  207. 7:08them and so uh you know today I have a
  208. 7:11different attitude although you know
  209. 7:13it's I'm going to lose my reputation as
  210. 7:15a womanizer if I don't get a date pretty
  211. 7:17soon. It's been a year and two months.
  212. 7:19Well, that was the other thing about the
  213. 7:21GM detractors. They said that you were
  214. 7:23indeed a womanizer. You liked women who
  215. 7:25a great deal younger than yourself. Um
  216. 7:28Liz Kelly, I think Kelly Harmon, the
  217. 7:30daughter of Tom Harman. She was what,
  218. 7:32about 19? No, she about 22. In fact, I
  219. 7:34just saw her in the street the other
  220. 7:36day. We But how much younger is she than
  221. 7:37you? Uh about 24 years. What was the
  222. 7:40reaction at GM? Yeah, it was pretty
  223. 7:42although the president at that time Ed
  224. 7:44Cole's wife was 25 years younger than
  225. 7:46him and my boss that's Dolly Cole,
  226. 7:48right? Yeah. And uh and Pete Estus who
  227. 7:51was my immediate boss's wife was 24
  228. 7:53years younger. So I think that that was
  229. 7:55not unusual. You said something in the
  230. 7:57Playboy magazine interview that I saw
  231. 7:59where a friend of yours said we love you
  232. 8:01and we hate you. While they're jumping
  233. 8:03into bed with their ugly wives, you're
  234. 8:05going to bed. I was a PR director at
  235. 8:07Chevy said that, you know, one of the
  236. 8:09problems and, you know, I never thought
  237. 8:11much about I've never concerned myself
  238. 8:13much about what other people think.
  239. 8:14Anyhow, really, John? I can't believe
  240. 8:16that. That's true. Changing your image,
  241. 8:18you're you're in an image business, the
  242. 8:19automobile business, you don't care what
  243. 8:21other people think. Well, certainly
  244. 8:22that's much more true now even than it
  245. 8:24was then. But I've always sort of, you
  246. 8:26know, believe that if you live your life
  247. 8:28the way you should and do the things
  248. 8:30that you believe are correct that
  249. 8:31everything ultimately will turn out. I
  250. 8:33still you're a maverick. Then you really
  251. 8:34are a maverick, aren't you? Well, I get
  252. 8:37even today I wind up in, for example,
  253. 8:39I'm so depressed by what I see going on
  254. 8:42in South Africa. It drives me insane.
  255. 8:44But uh and those things bother me. I'm
  256. 8:47just made that way. That's all. I met
  257. 8:49her through the my divorce attorney, as
  258. 8:51a matter of fact, who had handled her
  259. 8:53divorce. That's how we met. What about
  260. 8:56the Christianity? You're born again. A
  261. 8:58lot of people say that's what they all
  262. 9:01say. They go to jail and they come out
  263. 9:03and they're born again. It's a cop, but
  264. 9:04it's part of John Delorean's new image.
  265. 9:06He's created for himself. Well, I don't
  266. 9:09know that. Of course, no true Christian
  267. 9:12would say that because that's part of
  268. 9:14being a Christian. On the other hand,
  269. 9:16it's not unusual. You know, throughout
  270. 9:17the Bible, most of the conversions
  271. 9:20happened under times of great duress
  272. 9:21because when your life is going
  273. 9:23perfectly and there's no problem, you
  274. 9:25have no tendency to to seek solutions
  275. 9:28and particularly those from uh from
  276. 9:31Christ. Although today, Christ is the
  277. 9:33most important factor in my life and and
  278. 9:36I don't care what people think about
  279. 9:38that. It's between me and him. But you
  280. 9:40do understand that people feel that way.
  281. 9:41I mean, I even Chuck Coulson, you talk
  282. 9:43about Chuck Coulson in the Playboy
  283. 9:45interview, so you know, he's an example
  284. 9:47that's been compared to you. Well,
  285. 9:49Coulson, I think, is of course, you
  286. 9:51know, they everybody said this is a fake
  287. 9:53conversion, and it's turned out now. I
  288. 9:56think he's finally worn them all down
  289. 9:57just over a period of time. But it's
  290. 9:59also true in my opinion that he's an
  291. 10:01infinitely more relevant human being
  292. 10:03today than he was when he was the power
  293. 10:05behind the president. The suicide, when
  294. 10:08did you think about suicide? Well, I
  295. 10:11went through a period of, you know,
  296. 10:13feeling pretty morbid about it. My real
  297. 10:14concern was a family. The thought of
  298. 10:17going through years and years more of
  299. 10:20the same aggravation, you know, it's
  300. 10:21clear that the government's not going to
  301. 10:23let up on me that if uh when we win the
  302. 10:25case in Detroit. Now, I'm sure they'll
  303. 10:27come back and back and back until I'm
  304. 10:29dead. Now, Christina brought you the
  305. 10:31Bible, you said. Yes. To the to the
  306. 10:33jail. And that's when you pretty much
  307. 10:35became born again. Well, what happened
  308. 10:37was uh uh for some reason I couldn't
  309. 10:40quit reading it. I read it from the
  310. 10:42break of day till late at night. And one
  311. 10:44of the guards was a seminary student. He
  312. 10:47spent a lot of time with me. Uh helped
  313. 10:49me, talked about Jesus a lot. And then
  314. 10:52eventually I had my experience there in
  315. 10:54prison and it was marvelous. What was it
  316. 10:55just a moment you thought of suicide?
  317. 10:57You didn't really contemplate it for
  318. 10:58Well, I wasn't thinking about it that in
  319. 11:00prison at all. But what about the effect
  320. 11:02on your children? And the one thing that
  321. 11:03interested me in reading your book,
  322. 11:05John, is how are your children, now you
  323. 11:07talk about what a Christian would say or
  324. 11:08not say, how are your kids, Zachary and
  325. 11:10Katherine, going to feel about you when
  326. 11:12they read the things you say about
  327. 11:14Christina in the book?
  328. 11:17Well, I don't think I treat her badly. I
  329. 11:20mean, you know, truth is a truth is a
  330. 11:22truth. And I tried to be perfectly
  331. 11:24candid really about everything. You
  332. 11:25know, I've told parts of my life, but I
  333. 11:28mean, I really wart. The public need to
  334. 11:30know that, John, about Christina's
  335. 11:32so-called attitude and ambitions and how
  336. 11:34she fainted in court and later on said,
  337. 11:37"See, you said I wasn't a good actress.
  338. 11:39I fooled you." I mean, is that Well, as
  339. 11:42I said, I just tried to be absolutely
  340. 11:44honest about everything. I felt it was
  341. 11:45important because the story is a story.
  342. 11:48I'm interested in your third child, your
  343. 11:50dream to fulfill this this lifelong
  344. 11:52dream of yours to have your own your own
  345. 11:54company. So you go to uh Europe and is
  346. 11:58it true that McKenzie brought him as
  347. 12:00consultant by the Brit Brits said
  348. 12:02absolutely not feasible. It probably
  349. 12:04won't work. But a man named Roger Mason
  350. 12:05who was Secretary of State for Northern
  351. 12:07Ireland ultimately put up 77 million to
  352. 12:09start Delorean Car Company. What went
  353. 12:11wrong, John? Well, most of those facts
  354. 12:13that you just said are wrong, but we
  355. 12:16went to Nor, you know, obviously I'd had
  356. 12:19this dream. I wanted to build this uh
  357. 12:21automobile company. Uh we went to
  358. 12:24Belfast because no one else would have
  359. 12:26us in the world. Everybody said it's
  360. 12:28inconceivable that in today's day that
  361. 12:30any new automobile company could
  362. 12:33survive. It's not possible. Who did give
  363. 12:34you the money? So we went to Belfast
  364. 12:36because nobody else would go to Belfast.
  365. 12:38You know Belfast is the the worst. You
  366. 12:41tried Puerto Rico first, didn't you? We
  367. 12:43went through a whole series of
  368. 12:44alternatives and ultimately none of them
  369. 12:46worked until we went up there. And the
  370. 12:47reason they gave us financial support
  371. 12:49was that they put us in a battlefield
  372. 12:51between major Catholic and Protestant
  373. 12:53developments. And remarkably, and this
  374. 12:55is the one real tragedy of that whole
  375. 12:58thing, is we built a successful company
  376. 13:00in 1981, the only year we were in
  377. 13:01business. We made I think like $27
  378. 13:04million in the last half of the year.
  379. 13:06The only profitable motor company in
  380. 13:08Great Britain. Did the Brit British
  381. 13:09people British government give you the
  382. 13:11money? What happened is under the
  383. 13:12Conservative government, we started the
  384. 13:14project under not Roger but Roy Mason
  385. 13:17who was the Secretary of State under the
  386. 13:19Conservative government when the I mean
  387. 13:21the Labor when the Conservatives were
  388. 13:24elected, they decided not to honor the
  389. 13:27contract signed by labor just like the
  390. 13:29remember when uh President Carter was in
  391. 13:31they start building all those missile
  392. 13:33sites in Utah and Nevada when the Reagan
  393. 13:35administration came in they changed
  394. 13:36their mind. They still own all So you
  395. 13:38didn't get $77 million. Oh, we got much
  396. 13:40more than that. But we never got the
  397. 13:42last part of the contract which was 93
  398. 13:44million under the working capital clause
  399. 13:46and that put us out of business. When
  400. 13:48was that? Well, when was when were we
  401. 13:50supposed to get the 97 million? When we
  402. 13:52opened the factory which was well we
  403. 13:54started in production in about March of
  404. 13:571981.
  405. 13:58Then um financial arrangement to try to
  406. 14:01bail out the company. Well, we when I
  407. 14:03knew they weren't going to honor their
  408. 14:05contract and that's where my own ego got
  409. 14:07in my way because when that happened,
  410. 14:09anybody who had intelligence would have
  411. 14:11said, hey, if they don't want it to
  412. 14:12live, it's not going to live. You might
  413. 14:14but why would they want it to live when
  414. 14:15ultimately they did in the first place
  415. 14:16to stimulate employment? But it was a
  416. 14:18different government. It says I just
  417. 14:19want But don't they still want to
  418. 14:20stimulate government in Belfast? No,
  419. 14:22they've been selling off and closing all
  420. 14:24the businesses up there. Many of the big
  421. 14:26almost every business in Belfast has
  422. 14:28been closed. All right. the involvement
  423. 14:29with cocaine. Talk about that. Why did
  424. 14:32it happen? You say it was Well, it's a
  425. 14:34peculiar thing because, you know, in my
  426. 14:36life, I have never, even to this day,
  427. 14:38with the exception of that one suitcase
  428. 14:40they threw in front of me, and I'm not
  429. 14:41even sure what that was, but I've never
  430. 14:43ever seen cocaine, touched cocaine, used
  431. 14:46cocaine, or been in the presence of
  432. 14:47anybody who's ever used it. I mean,
  433. 14:49that's just not the, you know, the the
  434. 14:52social group that we went with are
  435. 14:55basically wine and cocktail drinkers and
  436. 14:57they don't they just don't use cocaine.
  437. 14:58But you say they didn't tell you it was
  438. 15:00cocaine. They just said that they had an
  439. 15:02arrangement and that you suddenly
  440. 15:04thought you were involved with the mob
  441. 15:05and you were fighting for your life and
  442. 15:06children's lives. Really what happened
  443. 15:08is that when the government, the great
  444. 15:10British, the the conservative government
  445. 15:12elected not to live up to their
  446. 15:13contract. I knew I was in financial and
  447. 15:15I talked to everybody anywhere in, you
  448. 15:18know, any era that came along, anybody
  449. 15:20who had the potential to try to save our
  450. 15:22company because, as I said, my ego got
  451. 15:24in the way. I said, "My name is on this.
  452. 15:26I'm not going to let it die." Well, then
  453. 15:29I got a call from a man in California
  454. 15:32who turned out later to be a government
  455. 15:34informant who'd been given
  456. 15:36$360,000 tax-free for what he did. And
  457. 15:40he he said he had investors. He gave me
  458. 15:42a bank reference, one of the largest
  459. 15:44banks in California. I talked to the
  460. 15:47president. The president of the bank
  461. 15:48said, "Yes, this man has an 8 figureure
  462. 15:50deposit, which is more than $10 million,
  463. 15:52and he has good credit with us, and if
  464. 15:55he says it, we'll be glad to help
  465. 15:57finance other parts of your company."
  466. 15:59Well, that's the guy I started dealing
  467. 16:01with among 50 others simultaneously.
  468. 16:04Well, then suddenly, about two months
  469. 16:06later, he mentioned a subject of
  470. 16:08narcotics. I tried to escape and I
  471. 16:10couldn't. How what do you mean you tried
  472. 16:12to escape? Well, the when they mentioned
  473. 16:14it, I said, "Well, you know, I don't
  474. 16:16have the money now. No, I can't. In
  475. 16:17other words, this commission
  476. 16:18arrangement, I just tried to get to get
  477. 16:21out of it. When I got out of the room, I
  478. 16:22called my attorneys in New York and I
  479. 16:24said, I think I've stumbled into a into
  480. 16:26a nest of organized crime. And I
  481. 16:28described the fact that suddenly what
  482. 16:30had started as a legitimate transaction
  483. 16:33was turning into an illegal one. And
  484. 16:35yet, you've been asked this many times
  485. 16:36on that tape. You look relaxed. You're
  486. 16:38laughing. You're toasting. You say
  487. 16:40people who really know you would know
  488. 16:41that's not the real John Delorean. Of
  489. 16:42course. Well, I was uh do now the
  490. 16:45attorneys advised me three things. They
  491. 16:47said first, don't confront them. Go
  492. 16:48along with them because at this point,
  493. 16:50the alternatives are that or they'll
  494. 16:52probably kill you. Number two, don't
  495. 16:54make any kind of a deal with them. Don't
  496. 16:56take any money. Don't give them any
  497. 16:58money and don't enter in any agreement,
  498. 17:00which is what I did. And of course,
  499. 17:02that's what the jury found. Now, that
  500. 17:04tape you have to talk about. That was
  501. 17:06totally orchestrated because the
  502. 17:08prosecutor had decided I had not
  503. 17:10committed any illegal act. and he had no
  504. 17:12chance unless they could somehow get me
  505. 17:14on tape with, you know, with some
  506. 17:16cocaine. So, they they demanded that I
  507. 17:19come to California on the threat of my
  508. 17:21children's lives. And when I got and I
  509. 17:24thought I was dead. That's why I wrote a
  510. 17:26letter to my attorneys before I left.
  511. 17:27And I said, "Look at in the event of my
  512. 17:29death, this should be opened." And this
  513. 17:31tells all the people and what they've
  514. 17:32done. Just a final question in this
  515. 17:34segment. You say that you feel in the
  516. 17:36bottom of your heart. I've read you said
  517. 17:37this. All right. that you say that
  518. 17:39General Motors might have been with the
  519. 17:41with the United States government, the
  520. 17:43FBI and even the English government in
  521. 17:45cahoots that they were threatened by the
  522. 17:47Delorean success being a threat to
  523. 17:48Corvette. You feel they were all in
  524. 17:50cahoots together and that's why this
  525. 17:52whole thing happened. No, I think what
  526. 17:53is absolutely clear is that the British
  527. 17:56and the and the US government worked
  528. 17:58together because for example during the
  529. 18:00times uh of this of this sting operation
  530. 18:05uh I had a contract with the British and
  531. 18:07it expired and they kept extending it
  532. 18:09and they extended it four times and each
  533. 18:11time they extended it it coincided
  534. 18:14exactly with a meeting with the fake
  535. 18:16banker and the but what I don't
  536. 18:18understand in closing in the segment and
  537. 18:19we'll come back with more. What I don't
  538. 18:20understand is why would the British
  539. 18:22government on purpose put egg on their
  540. 18:24face? Because it is egg on their face.
  541. 18:25They closed a plant that gave employment
  542. 18:27to people in Northern Ireland. Why would
  543. 18:29they fall prey to what the United States
  544. 18:31wanted? What you say the United States
  545. 18:32wanted? No. No. I think that the British
  546. 18:34had made up their mind not to see.
  547. 18:36They've been selling off all the
  548. 18:37government-owned businesses. They've
  549. 18:39sold off. They're selling off British
  550. 18:40land, British Airways, British
  551. 18:42petroleum, British steel. And they had
  552. 18:45elected not to not to do any more
  553. 18:48industrial development. And that's the
  554. 18:50reason they would not honor the balance
  555. 18:52of our contracts because I think I'm
  556. 18:55essentially irrelevant. I really can't
  557. 18:58imagine that that so many people could
  558. 19:00be interested. Well, maybe irrelevant
  559. 19:02but not boring. Two technicalities. The
  560. 19:04technicality of your aquid. You did not
  561. 19:07testify in your own defense yet. You got
  562. 19:09an aqu quiddle. Can you explain that?
  563. 19:11Yeah. What happened is that almost from
  564. 19:13the very beginning of their case, the
  565. 19:15the government frame up became clear.
  566. 19:18The first witness who testified was an
  567. 19:20FBI agent who was caught not only
  568. 19:22destroying valuable evidence but
  569. 19:24fabricating new evidence. And then it
  570. 19:26turned out later that the prosecutor and
  571. 19:29the informant had perjured themselves 31
  572. 19:31times that the uh every other agent was
  573. 19:34caught either backdating documents or
  574. 19:36faking evidence that tapes had been
  575. 19:38modified and changed. They broke into
  576. 19:41houses and stole you know everything. So
  577. 19:43their case collapsed in a so but by the
  578. 19:44time we got and then a miracle happened
  579. 19:48in that one of the case agents on the
  580. 19:50case had gotten so offended by the gross
  581. 19:53injustice that he resigned and and he
  582. 19:56came and he decided to testify for us
  583. 19:59and he told the whole story. He said the
  584. 20:00prosecutor one night got drunk with $400
  585. 20:04worth of taxpayers money. He stood up
  586. 20:07and he said I'm going to be on a cover
  587. 20:08of Time magazine for nailing this guy.
  588. 20:11the technicality of your divorce. But
  589. 20:13before that, before I ask you, are you
  590. 20:15really divorced? Were you shocked that
  591. 20:18she divorced you? Two weeks after the
  592. 20:19trial, we saw her standing by you
  593. 20:22looking very chic all the time and then
  594. 20:23suddenly we read in the papers that
  595. 20:25she's divorcing you. Yeah, I was really
  596. 20:27shocked. In fact, after going through
  597. 20:28the whole trial, you know, which I think
  598. 20:31I survived rather well, I went into a
  599. 20:34fit of horrible depression. I think I
  600. 20:36lost about 35 pounds and three. Oh,
  601. 20:39yeah.
  602. 20:40Are you really divorced? Because I know
  603. 20:42she's remarried to an ABC executive, but
  604. 20:44there was some technicality about venue
  605. 20:47California, New Jersey. Yeah. Actually,
  606. 20:48what the judge in New Jersey found was
  607. 20:51that her California divorce was not
  608. 20:54valid because she had misrepresented her
  609. 20:57residency. And so he found that she they
  610. 20:59were that she and I were still married.
  611. 21:02Oh, no. She and I were still married and
  612. 21:04her new marriage is not valid. But you
  613. 21:06know that's those are moot technical
  614. 21:09points. You face u the indictments in
  615. 21:12Detroit and I know you can't talk about
  616. 21:13those but I can talk a little bit about
  617. 21:15it. Are you going to take the the stand
  618. 21:17in your own defense on this trial? I
  619. 21:18believe so. You think you will? Yes. I
  620. 21:20was on the phone this morning at 6
  621. 21:22o'clock with the London Observer and
  622. 21:23they told me something. And they said
  623. 21:25that after this that there have been
  624. 21:26fraud charges brought in Geneva for
  625. 21:28$17.5 million that was paid to GPD, a
  626. 21:32company set up that it's claimed was a
  627. 21:34Panameanian company with a Swiss account
  628. 21:36that was used to bring money back for
  629. 21:38your own personal use. Uh Colin Chapman,
  630. 21:41who was head of Lotus, has died of a
  631. 21:42heart attack. I guess that further that
  632. 21:44complicated things and because he he was
  633. 21:46part of
  634. 21:46GPD. You're aware obviously of these
  635. 21:49fraud charges. Are you involved in them?
  636. 21:50Will you then go to Geneva to face
  637. 21:52charges? Well, the fir you're telling me
  638. 21:55the something that I had never heard
  639. 21:57before. I never heard of anything over
  640. 21:58there. But I have to say this that
  641. 22:00first, all of these allegations had been
  642. 22:03previously investigated by Scotland Yard
  643. 22:05and we have documents from them saying
  644. 22:07that there's absolutely no basis in
  645. 22:09them. Number two, when I was acquitted
  646. 22:11in California after this horrible
  647. 22:14embarrassment that the Department of
  648. 22:15Justice uh
  649. 22:18uh suffered, uh I was told by many, many
  650. 22:21people, including agents, that they're
  651. 22:23not going to quit. In fact, an agent got
  652. 22:25on a phone interview last night on radio
  653. 22:27and said said, "You know, when you win
  654. 22:29this, that isn't going to be the end of
  655. 22:30it. They're going to keep coming after
  656. 22:31you to know with your book coming out
  657. 22:34that they're bringing this up at the
  658. 22:36same time." Well, what's really peculiar
  659. 22:37is that grand jury is in its third year
  660. 22:40and suddenly the week my book comes out
  661. 22:43and I start the book tour so that of
  662. 22:45course people like you can try to
  663. 22:46humiliate me about this subject, it
  664. 22:49suddenly comes up which is completely
  665. 22:51illogical. But I will say this uh first
  666. 22:53we expect to prove unequivocably that
  667. 22:56every single penny was honestly and
  668. 22:58legitimately come by. Number two, that
  669. 23:01all these charges are absolutely and
  670. 23:04totally false. And you know, and
  671. 23:07finally, uh uh when you get all through
  672. 23:10with it, hopefully somewhere down the
  673. 23:13line, they'll leave me alone and let me
  674. 23:14have a little You have a new car coming
  675. 23:16out. You were quoted in Playboy saying,
  676. 23:17"I think there were a lot of things I
  677. 23:18did wrong. I think my ultimate sin and
  678. 23:20it was really terrible was that I had
  679. 23:21this insatiable pride. I really was
  680. 23:22insane. Looking back, I see that I only
  681. 23:24had arrogance beyond that of any other
  682. 23:26human being alive." Will you do it
  683. 23:27differently this time, John? Yeah, I
  684. 23:28think I'm a different person now. this
  685. 23:30experience the the horror of it has been
  686. 23:32one thing it's destroyed my life my
  687. 23:34family my company and my what my good
  688. 23:37name and everything else on the other
  689. 23:38hand having found Christ I really am a
  690. 23:41different individual and I believe that
  691. 23:42I'm going to be a very different person
  692. 23:44in the way I conduct all of my affairs
  693. 23:46so you don't think 60 is too late no I
  694. 23:49don't think so will this new automobile
  695. 23:50be handled this whole where will it be
  696. 23:52built well we're in the process now the
  697. 23:55parts are all in Columbus Ohio the cars
  698. 23:58are ready to be assembled and a man down
  699. 23:59there has made us a very attractive
  700. 24:01arrangement in which he will finance the
  701. 24:03the components right to the back door of
  702. 24:05the factory until they're sold. So, it's
  703. 24:07a really easy deal. There's a movie very
  704. 24:09attractive there's a very attractive
  705. 24:10offer being made for the movie rights to
  706. 24:12your book. Uh, a less serious less heavy
  707. 24:16question. John, who do you want to play,
  708. 24:17John Delorean?
  709. 24:20I don't know. I haven't thought about
  710. 24:21that very much. I don't know. It's hard
  711. 24:23to tell. I don't think I'd be a good
  712. 24:25judge of who should play me.
  713. 24:28I got a few people in mind. Do you think
  714. 24:30the do you think the John Delorean of
  715. 24:31the future will find some happiness and
  716. 24:33maybe a sense of internal peace that you
  717. 24:34haven't had for quite a while now? Well,
  718. 24:36I tell you what shakes you up right now
  719. 24:38is that of course uh the only re the
  720. 24:40only time I really find peace is of
  721. 24:42course I'm like I'm going to LA this
  722. 24:44weekend and of course my two kids hug me
  723. 24:46and our our little sheep dog jumps up
  724. 24:49and licks your face. Suddenly you forget
  725. 24:51all of the other things in the world.
  726. 24:53But I I pray that someday I will have
  727. 24:55some peace and that my children can have
  728. 24:57some. Well, John, we really hope that
  729. 24:59for you, too. For better or for worse,
  730. 25:00whether you're right or wrong, we're not
  731. 25:02the ones to judge you. This is John's
  732. 25:05new book. It is called Delorean. It is
  733. 25:06his explanation of all that he has gone
  734. 25:08through. And I promise you, it is
  735. 25:10fascinating reading.

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