De Lorean EuroTec

I was rooting through some paperwork I had, and thought I would post up some info on suppliers to DMC 'back in the day', perhaps if you know anymore you could add them on etc, or correct mine!

I think Nick Sutton may have some corrections and additions!


BSC Stainless , Sheffield , England - Provided the stainless for outer skin

Thyssenn Maschinebau, Germany - Molds for the inner hood and louvre, the dies for the front fenders and the dies and assembly fixtures for outer hood.

August Lapple, Germany - Molds for upper and lower body panels.

Allgaier-Werke, Germany - Dies for all inner and outer rear quarter panels.

Schelgel Corporation , New York - Weatherstripping.

GTE Products Division - Headlights.

BSG International (Britax) - Seat frames, dashboard and binnacle.

Vita Cortex Ltd - Seat foam.

Bridge of Weir Leather Co Ltd - Seat leather.

AC Spark Plug Division - Spark Plug and Instrumentation.

TRW Clifford, Birmingham - Steering Wheel

Dyno Industries AS , Oslo - Fuel Tank

Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds (GKN), Midlands - Wheels, suspension forgings, cv joints and chassis.

Tallent Engineering Ltd, - Front and rear suspension links.

Goodyear - Tyres.

Societe Franco-Suedoise de Moteurs (PRV), Douvrin France - Engine.

Renault - Gearbox.

Esso - Lubrication for all manufacturing plant and inital lubricant fill of car.

Tellus Mashin AB, Sweden - Assembly line.

Saginaw Steering Gear Division - Steering column.

Plastic Coatings Ltd, Cheshire - Fusion bonded epoxy chassis coating.

Lucas Girling - Braking system

Jonas Woodhead & Sons - Anti Roll bar and coil springs.

Harrison Radiator - Evaporator Core.

Tenneco Walker - Exhaust system.

Delco Remy - Battery

International Paint - Iso Polyester Resin

Unbrako (SPS Technologies) - Torsion Bar

BTR Permall - Permaglas edge moldings for gullwing doors and pultruded reinforcement.

Harman International Industries, - Outside mirrors.

CP Trim Belfast, Seat Assembly and other interior trim pieces.

Rockwell International, Door hardware, window motors and door locks and latches and the space saver.

Thats a great post Al, ive never seen so many of these suppliers in one list before.

That’s a great list Alistair – sure you didn’t work at DMC?

A few things to add:-

August Lapple made the pressings of all the stainless parts probably about forty in all and also made the door inner and outer dies and all the support parts within including the door clinching tool used at Dunmurry.

The Schlegal plant that supplied the door seals was, from memory, based in Leeds and called Schlegal (UK) Ltd.

BSG supplied the metal work for the interior fascia panel (The Americans would call the front and rear end fascia panels – sills were rockers – bonnets were hoods and wings were fenders – new language for me!) This metal part was supplied by BSG to Chamberlain and Phipps in Northampton ( who were 49% owners of Trimtech – the other 51% owned by DMCL the other company you mention in your note). It was inserted into the mould and foam was applied to the tool to make the soft but rigid product.

BSG also supplied the inner support metal for the Instrument Binnacle made by Hills Precision in Coventry a subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation. This tool was late and the early cars had a (which I preferred) a hand stitched binnacle – (a friend of mine has a spare one of these but in a poor state)

BSG – the initials stand for Bristol Street Group also owned Britax who supplied the seat belts and seat frames also Britax Vega who supplied the rear lamps from their factory at Droitwich.

Goodyear also supplied the Pliogrip the adhesive used to bond metal parts to the VARI moulding – supplied from their plant in Le Havre and more than once had the mighty wrath of DMCL management on their backs for the poor supply record. We must have doubled their output!

Tenneco Walker supplied from two locations their plant in Northern England and Germany the place of manufacture of the Volvo Catalytic Converter (if you have viewed the Pennebaker film where JZD asks Chuck Bennington about double dealings by PRV - mainly that’s what it’s about – the Volvo exhaust tooling and associated parts and the ownership rights to manufacture)

Vetrotex Ltd supplied the continuous filament mat necessary for the VARI process and also the woven mat used in the engine bay for the earlier cars.

International Paints supplied the resins – there was more than one type – you can see the resin tanks on the side of the Body Building the foaming agent tanks are next to them.

BTR Permali made some very nice infill panels for the door shut faces – one side has two parts mating and the other just one as it is a smaller part both made in the SMC process.

The Rear Louvre. Hood cruciform, engine cover were made by Ferrozell in Augsburg Germany who were probably – maybe still are – the European leaders in the manufacture of SMC parts.

The venture between Peugeot, Renault and Volvo was abbreviated to PRV and was the holding company of the manufacturing rights for the engine - but the supplier of all the power train parts was DRM (Division Renault Moteur) they in turn had support from the French Government to underwrite their financial exposure.

If you want anything clarified please let me know.

Regards

Nick Sutton

That's brilliant. Thank you for the information Nick it is appreciated !

Likewise Nick, thanks for that, most of its all new to me too!

Regards

Mike

That’s a great list Alistair – sure you didn’t work at DMC?

I couldnt ask for a much better accolade than that, especially from the former Purchasing Manager!

Thanks Nick for adding some more info as well, as everyone said its really appreciated.

Very interesting reading!

I would like to know if there was anything that came from Italy, apart the design

I read about the little cover over the rear windscreen wich Nick Sutton talked about, for example...

It was the front lower windscreen moulding that came from Italy a company named Unicar.

I'll take a look through my records but the other material that I believe came from Italy was the continuous filament glass fibre mat that although supplied by Vetrotex the materail was made by a company with the name Modliagani or something similiar.If I think of anything else I will let you know.

Nick Sutton

nice to know thanks

Getting back to Al's original post, considering JZ had 2 years to produce i.e. a car rolling off the assembly line, and at the time when Investment was granted all he had was a drawing on a servette. Considering in those days there were no internet, they done really well to source the suppliers, and get the parts manufactered in that time frame me thinks!!