The leif montin archive
Leif Montin started his automotive career at Saab in the late 1960s and was the DeLorean Motor Company National Parts Manager for the US-side of operations from 1979 to 1983. He spent a year or so working for Consolidated International and Kapac after the DeLorean Motor Company closed, and later worked for Daihatsu.
Even after his retirement, Leif couldn't get away from the DeLorean Motor Company. In 1999-2001, he acted as a consultant when DMC (Texas) moved the parts warehouse from Columbus, Ohio to suburban Houston, Texas. He continued to consult to DMC (Texas) for several years. Leif passed away in June of 2018 after several years of retirement in Louisiana. Many of the documents found on this site were generously donated by Leif to the DeLorean Motor Company, who in turn loaned them to the Museum and we are excited to make them available for viewing here and elsewhere on the site. Learn more about Leif and watch his 5-part interview on our Multimedia page! salesman's fact booklet
Created by C.R. "Dick" Brown to help educate the dealers and salespeople about the car they were offering for sale, this booklet was distributed shortly after the car was introduced - see the entire booklet here.
CHASSIS DEVELOPMENT AT LOTUS
Informal "candid" photos of the chassis development underway at Lotus circa 1979 - see them all here!
prototype DEVELOPMENT AT LOTUS
More of the informal "candid" photos, this time of development of the prototypes underway at Lotus circa 1979/1980 - see them all here!
side stripe designs on the visioneering car
A close look reveals these photos are of the Visioneering car, complete with its sliding windows and already-missing rear sunshade. This car was used to try out various side stripe designs, this one being one of two that were eventually offered as dealer-options.
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DAILY Sales report/company car listing
Particularly interesting as it is dated 31 December 31st, 1981, and represents the first calendar year of sales, this also contains a listing of "company cars" as of that same date.
For some time this was the only one these documents known to still exist. However, more have surfaced from various sources and will be added to the online archives soon. View the entire document here. ASI Radio proposal
While the 1981 and very early 1982 DeLoreans all came with Craig radios, almost all the later cars came with the ASI radio. This proposal to DMC from ASI came from the files of Leif Montin.
february 1979 delorean motor company news
One of the US-produced company newsletters, direct from the files of Leif Montin - see the entire document here.
fall 1980 delorean motor company news
Another of the US-produced company newsletters, direct from the files of Leif Montin - see the entire document here.
luggage/ski rack development
These Polaroid photos taken at the Irvine facility in 1981 show development versions of the dealer-option luggage and ski rack adapter on a very early production car.
Want to see more? There are still hundreds of pages of documents from Leif being scanned and cataloged. Check back as we add more to the site, or sign up for our newsletter to be notified of updates!
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