He got his first infusion of cash from a handful of wealthy investors, and then raised more money from auto dealers, who paid $25,000 each for the right to sell DeLoreans when the car went into production. This early money was used to design and build three prototypes. Raising money for manufacturing would come later.
CAR OF THE FUTURE
In addition to its famous gull-wing doors (which open up, not out), the DeLorean as it was originally conceived would have two other features to set it apart from other American cars:
It would have a high-strength plastic frame instead of a conventional steel one. Using a revolutionary new process known as elastic reservoir molding (ERM), the frame would be stronger than steel but would weigh half as much, making the car faster. Bonus: ERM plastic was a lot cheaper to work with because the parts were made using simple plastic molds instead of the massive, very expensive stamping machines used for steel parts. (There was one drawback: ERM panels couldn’t be painted. DeLorean turned that to his advantage by giving the car a stainless-steel outer skin, which added to its mystique.)
The Hopkins diet? Kangaroo meat is cholesterol free.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
That was how the DeLorean was supposed to turn out, but things didn’t quite work out as planned:
The four-cylinder engine used in the early prototype turned out to be underpowered, so it was scrapped in favor of a larger, heavier six-cylinder engine. But the new engine was too big to fit where the old one had gone, so it was moved to the rear, which hurt the car’s performance.
ERM proved to be impractical, so it was abandoned in favor of a much heavier steel-and-fiberglass frame. Fiberglass could be painted, which made the heavy stainless-steel outer skin unnecessary, but DeLorean insisted on keeping it. By the time all the changes were made, the car was 900 pounds overweight, hurting its performance even further. Now the DeLorean accelerated more slowly than the Chevy Corvette, the Porsche 911, and even the much cheaper Mazda RX-7.
The DeLorean still looked like it was ahead of its time, but underneath its shiny skin and gull-wing doors it was pretty ordinary.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Even worse, by the time DeLorean was ready for production in 1979, the purchase price had soared to nearly $28,000, making it around $9,000 more expensive than the competing Corvette and $18,000 more expensive than the average car.
These figures should have been alarming because DeLorean was gearing up to manufacture 20,000 vehicles a year. A marketing study he had commissioned found that he would be able to sell that many cars only if it kept the price under $18,000. At $28,000, demand plummeted to less than 4,000 cars.
John DeLorean ignored the study and continued on.
For Part II of the DeLorean story, steer to page 440.
Goofy? Mickey? Nope—Walt Disney’s middle name was Elias.
COMMIE CRABS & THIRD-REICH RACCOONS
Two strange tales of nature’s revenge.
STRANGE TALE #1
In the 1930s, Soviet leader Josef Stalin started a transplantation program for Kamchatka crabs, known in the West as Red King crabs. The crabs—whose claws can span five feet and can weigh as much as 25 pounds—are native to the northern Pacific between Russia and Alaska. Stalin had them shipped by train 5,000 miles east to the Barents Sea, off the Scandinavian Peninsula. Red King crabs are a delicacy, known for large quantities of succulent white meat, and Stalin thought they would provide food and create a local industry. But with no natural predators in their new home, there are an estimated 15 million of the Red King crabs in the Barents now. Biologists say the crabs are decimating local fish and shellfish populations, turning the seafloor into an underwater desert. The crabs are also invading neighboring countries, already in huge numbers hundreds of miles up Norway’s coast. Norwegians now fear an environmental disaster from what the media calls the invasion of “the new red army.”
STRANGE TALE #2
In 1934 Hermann Goering, the head of Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe (air force), began a program of importing raccoons from the United States and releasing them into the wild in Germany. Raccoons aren’t native to Europe; Goering said he wanted to “enrich the fauna of the Reich.” Reports vary as to how many he imported—anywhere from one pair to 100—but what Goering didn’t consider is that the raccoons would have no natural enemies in the country. Today there are more than a million of them in Germany alone, and they’re spreading to neighboring countries. To counter the exponential growth of the invasive nocturnal creatures, in 2004 Germany announced that they would begin trapping and killing them. One town even hired a special wildlife officer to deal with the problem. They call him the “raccoon man.”
Celebrity beauty secrets: Cleopatra’s eye makeup was blue-black (upper lid) and green (lower).
FICTIONARY
The Washington Post runs an annual contest asking readers to come up with alternate meanings for various words. Here are some of the best we found (plus a few by the BRI).
Oyster (n), one who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions.
Counterfeiter (n), a craftsman who installs fake kitchen cabinets.
Derange (n), where de buffalo roam.
Heroes (v), how a man moves a boat through the water.
Pokemon (n), a Jamaican proctologist.
Subdued (n), a guy who, like, you know, works on one of those, like, submarines.
Baloney (n), where your shin is located.
Car battery (n), auto abuse.
Abalone (n), shellfish nonsense.
Bernadette (n), the act of torching a mortgage.
Relief (v), what trees do in the spring.
Jocular (adj), to be funny and good at sports.
Discovery (n), a fancy CD case.
Parasites (n), what tourists see from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Spice (n), the plural of “spouse.”
Pharmacist (v), to help out on the farm.
Willy-nilly (adj), impotent.
Dilate (v), reaching old age.
Barium (v), what we do to our loved ones when they die.
Chinese checkers (n), cashiers at the Beijing Piggly Wiggly.
Dogmatic (n), a pooch that walks and feeds itself.
Dialogue (n), Help for your tree is just a phone call away.
Avoidable (v), what a bullfighter tries to do.
Burglarize (n), what a robber sees with.
Polarize (n), what a polar bear sees with.
Ostracize (n), what an ostrich…oh, you get the idea.
In Houston, Texas, it is illegal to grunt while moving boxes.
HAMBURGER 911
This may sound unbelievable, but it comes from the transcript of an actual 911 call made in Orange County, California.
Dispatcher: Sheriff’s department, how can I help you?
Woman: Yeah, I’m over here at Burger King right here in San Clemente.
Dispatcher: Uh-huh.
Woman: Um, no, not San Clemente—sorry—I live in San Clemente. I’m in Laguna Niguel, I think. That’s where I’m at.
Dispatcher: Uh-huh.
Woman: I’m at a drive-through right now.
Dispatcher: Uh-huh.
Woman: I ordered my food three times. They’re mopping the floor inside, and I understand they’re busy…they’re not even busy, okay? I’m the only car here. I asked them four different times to make me a Western Barbeque Burger. They keep giving me a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and cheese, onions, and I said, “I’m not leaving…”
Dispatcher: Uh-huh.
Woman: I want a Western Burger because I just got my kids from Tae Kwon Do. They’re hungry, I’m on my way home, and I live in San Clemente.
Dispatcher: Uh-huh.
Woman: Okay, she gave me another hamburger. It’s wrong. I said four times, I said, “I want my hamburger right.” So then the lady called the manager. She…well, whoever she is, she came up and she said, “Do you want your money back?” And I said, “No, I want my hamburger. My kids are hun
gry, and I have to jump on that freeway.” I said, “I am not leaving this spot,” and I said, “I will call the police because I want my Western Burger done right!” Now is that so hard?
Dispatcher: Okay, what exactly is it you want us to do for you?
Woman: Send an officer down here. I want them to make me…
The B.F. in B.F. Goodrich stands for “Benjamin Franklin.”
Dispatcher: Ma’am, we’re not going to go down there and enforce your Western Bacon Cheeseburger.
Woman: What am I supposed to do?
Dispatcher: This is between you and the manager. We’re not going to enforce how to make a hamburger; that’s not a criminal issue. There’s nothing criminal there.
Woman: So I just stand here…so I just sit here and block…
Dispatcher: You need to calmly and rationally speak to the manager and figure out what to do between you.
Woman: She did come up, and I said, “Can I please have my Western Burger?” She said, “I’m not dealing with it,” and she walked away. Because they’re mopping the floor, and it’s also the fact that they don’t want to…they don’t want to go and…
Dispatcher: Then I suggest you get your money back and go somewhere else. This is not a criminal issue. We can’t go out there and make them make you a cheeseburger the way you want it.
Woman: Well, you’re supposed to be here to protect me.
Dispatcher: Well, what are we protecting you from, a wrong cheeseburger?
Woman: No…
Dispatcher: Is this like…a harmful cheeseburger or something? I don’t understand what you want us to do.
Woman: Just come down here. I’m not leaving.
Dispatcher: No ma’am, I’m not sending the deputies down there over a cheeseburger. You need to go in there and act like an adult and either get your money back or go home.
Woman: She is not acting like an adult herself! I’m sitting here in my car; I just want them to make my kids a Western Burger.
Dispatcher: Ma’am, this is what I suggest: I suggest you get your money back from the manager, and you go on your way home.
Woman: Okay.
Dispatcher: Okay? Bye-bye.
Croaker curfew: A Memphis, Tennessee, ordinance bans frogs from croaking after 11 p.m.
FOOD OF THE GODS
As Mrs. Uncle John always says, be sure to look at your food before you eat it. (You might want to put it on eBay.)
HOLY CHAPATI
Shella Anthony of Bangalore, India, baked a chapati bread (an Indian staple) with what looked like an image of Jesus on it. She brought it to a local church, where more than 20,000 people from all over India flocked to see the “miracle” bread. Said Father Jacob George, “People are feeling blessed on witnessing it.”
HOLY GRILLED CHEESE
Diana Duyser of Miami kept half a grilled cheese sandwich with a bite out of it on her nightstand for ten years because she thought it bore an image of the Virgin Mary. In 2005 she sold it on eBay for $28,000, issuing a statement saying: “I would like all people to know that I do believe that this is the Virgin Mary Mother of God.”
HOLY PRETZEL
Machell Naylor’s 12-year-old daughter, Crysta, of St. Paul, Nebraska, found a Rold Gold honey-mustard pretzel that looked like the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. “We had a feeling of spirituality and warmth when holding it,” Naylor said. She sold it on eBay for $10,600; the money went to charity (Crysta got a pony).
HOLY CHICKEN BREAST
Edward Rouzin-Moy, a freshman at Eastern Illinois University, ordered a chicken breast in the school cafeteria. “I was about to dig in, and I looked at it,” he said. “I turned to my buddy and said, ‘It looks like the pope.’” Pope John Paul II had died just two weeks earlier. He put the breast on eBay, where it sold for $232.50.
HOLY POTATO CHIPS
Rosalie Lawson of St. Petersburg, Florida, found a Lays potato chip that looks like Jesus. When her husband saw it he said, “Well, we can’t eat that!” But take it with a grain of salt, warned Ms. Lawson, because “you only know what you think he looks like from pictures.” She added that she might be selling the chip on eBay.
According to zoologists, a tiger’s scent markings smell like buttered popcorn.
LOCAL HERO: LEROY GORHAM
Here’s the story of a man who suffered a family tragedy and then went on a mission to save other families from the same fate.
TERRIBLE LOSS
In the summer of 1946 a fire broke out in LeRoy and Lillian Gorham’s house in The Bottom neighborhood of Chapel Oaks, Maryland. It took firefighters a very long time to arrive. Too long. By the time they put out the fire, all three of the Gorhams’ children—Ruth, 4, Jean, 3, and LeRoy Earl, 2—had perished in the blaze.
There’s no way to know if the Gorham children could have been saved had the fire department arrived sooner, and for that matter, no one knows exactly why it took the fire department so long to get there. But The Bottom is a black community, and residents there claim that the all-white fire departments of surrounding communities were always slow to respond to emergencies in black neighborhoods…if they came at all.
“It’s just the way it was,” says resident Luther Crutchfield. “If they got a call for a fire in a black neighborhood, they either came or they didn’t. Sometimes they came, but they took their time.” Further complicating matters, The Bottom didn’t have running water in the 1940s, so even when firefighters did respond, there was no place to hook up their hoses. Fires were fought with bucket brigades, using water drawn from nearby wells and streams.
A NEW BEGINNING
Gorham was devastated by the loss of his children. He wanted to do anything he could to see to it that no other families in his neighborhood or the surrounding communities ever had to suffer the same fate. So he and a group of his friends decided to found the Chapel Oaks Volunteer Fire Department, the first all-black volunteer fire company in the state of Maryland.
Less than a year after the fire, the department opened its doors.
Milk cartons were invented in Sweden.
It wasn’t easy—the organizers didn’t receive any funding from Prince George’s County, so they took up a collection in the surrounding black community and used these funds to buy an old pumper, which they kept in an old garage that served as the fire station. There wasn’t enough money for proper firefighting gear, so the Chapel Oaks firefighters made do with surplus helmets, coats, and boots they got from the U.S. military. They had no breathing equipment, either—if the men had to enter burning buildings, they simply held their breath or tied wet handkerchiefs over their mouths. Since they didn’t have access to professional training, the volunteers trained themselves by setting fires in abandoned buildings and putting them out.
“We weren’t in the county fire association, because they had a white male-only clause,” remembers Crutchfield, who joined the department in 1949. And the discrimination continued even when firefighters battled a blaze. “The white firefighters would take our lines out and put theirs in,” Crutchfield says. “They wouldn’t recognize the authority of our chief on the scene. But we wouldn’t play those games. We were professional men who were there to save lives, and that’s what we did.”
HEALING
Change came slowly in the decades that followed. When a fire destroyed the garage that served as Chapel Oak’s first fire station, the volunteers raised enough money from the community to build their first proper fire station nearby and laid the bricks themselves. The county fire association eventually dropped its whites-only clause and Chapel Oaks joined in 1960; then in 1979, the county built them a new fire station.
Gorham and his wife had three more children. He was a volunteer with the department for 54 years, serving as chief for 17 of those. And when he wasn’t at the station, he was listening to his radio scanner. “The only time his scanner wasn’t on was when he was at church,” his daughter Tanya says.
Even when he became too old to fight fires, Gorham continued to
visit the fire station every day, and did so until the day before he died in July 2000. “LeRoy wanted to be sure,” his friend and fellow firefighter Roy Lee Jordan remembers, “that no other children died like his did.”
In 1999, residents of Melbourne, Australia, erected a 40-foot statue of Barbie.
WHEN REAL LIFE BECOMES REEL LIFE
Movies that are “based on a true story” often stray from the truth. Hollywood has a tendency to embellish some facts, while omitting others. Here are some inconsistencies we found in major motion pictures.
SEABISCUIT (2003)
Reel Life: Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) was neither a great jockey nor a great prizefighter, but he tried hard at both. When he’s paired up with a racehorse who, like him, has never amounted to much, Pollard overcomes his weakness and starts winning races using little more than pure heart and guile.
Real Life: The film doesn’t touch on Pollard’s life-long battle with drinking, which started as a way to ease the pain suffered from his many injuries, but then became a habit he was unable to kick until much later in life.
Reel Life: Pollard is painted as a true American hero whose courage gives hope to a nation mired in the Great Depression. Real Life: The movie left out the fact that he was Canadian.
APOLLO 13 (1995)
Reel Life: On the second day of the ill-fated 1970 mission to the Moon, the three-man crew hears a loud bang. Warning lights begin flashing on the instrument panel. Commander Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) says into his microphone, “Houston, we have a problem.” Real Life: It wasn’t quite that dramatic. After checking the instrument panel, Swigert—not Lovell—said, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Mission Control responded, “This is Houston. Say again please.” And then Lovell said, “Houston, we’ve had a problem. We’ve had a main B bus undervolt.”
Uncle John’s Fast-Acting Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader Page 19
