I have a 1981 DeLorean.  It’s a fun car to drive, has lots of power (thanks to an engine swap to a 350 sbc from a late 70’s Corvette), still turns heads more than 30 years after it came out, due to the incredible design by Giorgetto Giugiaro  of famed ItalDesign, featuring Gull Wing Doors that incorporated Northrop cryogenically hardened torsion bars to hold them up… (okay, that was a cool but nerdy engineering fact).  It looks cool from pretty much every angle.

Except one…

The front nose, or fascia, head on.  My wife loves the car except that nose. Same here, and if you talk to a number of other DeLorean owners, you might get the same story.

Yes, it’s typical of the 80’s with the rectangular headlights, and the rectangular grill – which is in fact a non-functioning block of plastic made to look like a grill. Non-functioning as no air passes through it.

At all.

And thus one of the many engineering design flaws of an otherwise extremely cool car which I’m totally enamored with.  The engine is in back, you have the radiator up front, and you limit air flow through the lower vent in the spoiler.

Good going guys.

So, I consider myself somewhat of an R&D Designer/industrial designer/fix things to make them better kind of guy.

And I decided I’d try and come up with something better – more modern, sleek, and hey! – more air flow while I’m at it.

So I did some quick sketches.

And then did some mockups in Photoshop.

I personally like the one with the round headlights. They offset the angles, and they’re pretty cheap to get off the shelf, whereas the others, being LASER headlights (pew! pew!) aren’t even available yet. Overall this would be a pretty simple and cost-effective mod.  And if you donate to my Kickstarter LOTS of money, then I’ll do this, and take you for one of the coolest rides you’ve ever had in your whole LIFE. (okay, I don’t have a Kickstarter but now that I think about it…)

Comments are always welcome, unless they’re related to John DeLorean and his arrest/entrapment, or cocaine. BTTF comments and jokes are a-okay.

• Automotive Design