Man, if you’re as old as me, will remember the man getting busted for smuggling cocaine in his gull-wing super-car. If you’re older then me, then you’ll remember him for creating the “Goat”. If you’re younger then me, then you’ll not remember him, himself, but his creation of that very same coke-transport car that was in Back to the Future. Sadly, John DeLorean past away at the age of 80 due to complications to a stroke he had. He sits up there, with me at least, in the same caliber at Carrol Shelby. Outside of the Mustang, the GTO was one of the best things that came out of the mid-sixties. The only other car that gave the two a run for their money was the 1968 Dodge Charger R/T.

A Detroit native, DeLorean broke the mold of staid Midwestern auto executives by “going Hollywood,” and pushed GM to offer smaller models, auto historians said.

While at GM, he created what some consider the first “muscle car” in 1964 by cramming a V-8 engine into a Pontiac Tempest and calling it the GTO, fondly dubbed the “Goat” by auto enthusiasts.

“John DeLorean was one of Detroit’s larger-than-life figures who secured a noteworthy place in our industry’s history,” GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said Sunday in a statement. “He made a name for himself through his talent, creativity, innovation and daring. At GM, he will always be remembered as the father of the Pontiac GTO, which really started the muscle-car craze of the ’60s.” [Full Text]

In the end, though, John learned the greatest things were not cars, but humbleness. “The deadliest sin is pride,” he said, proclaiming his faith as a born-again Christian. “I was an arrogant egomaniac. I needed this, as difficult as it was, to get my perspective back.” So it seems fitting that he is now home with the Lord.

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