The real reason Jay Leno will never own a DeLorean: “just another sleazy coke dealer”
Jay Leno, the man with a garage full of automotive history, doesn’t own a DeLorean. It’s not because he dislikes the car’s quirky stainless-steel look or underwhelming engine. No, his problem is with the man behind the machine. “He just turned out to be another sleazy coke dealer,” Leno said of his once hero: John DeLorean. Ouch.
Leno grew up idolizing John DeLorean. “When I was an impressionable 13, 14 years old, the GTO came out, and that was John DeLorean’s baby,” he said. At the time, DeLorean was revolutionizing Pontiac, making it cool and exciting. “He’s the guy that made Pontiac not an old man’s car anymore, but an exciting car.”
When DeLorean announced plans to launch his own car company, Leno was thrilled. “It was like, ‘Ah, he’s sticking it to GM. He’s the rebel,’” he said. It was the perfect ‘60s story: the visionary engineer breaking away from the corporate machine to chase his dream. But the dream didn’t last.
“And then of course, he just turned out to be another sleazy coke dealer, y’know,” Leno said bluntly. “That was such a huge disappointment to me.”
DeLorean was arrested in 1982 for attempting to smuggle $24 million worth of cocaine to save his struggling car company. Though he was acquitted on grounds of entrapment, the damage was done. For Leno, the scandal erased everything DeLorean had accomplished.
John DeLorean’s scandal, “just marred everything he ever did”
“When you see your heroes do something like this…it just marred everything he ever did,” Leno explained. “It’s not like he was selling coke to feed his family. It was just pure greed.”
The betrayal hit Leno hard. “It really was disillusioning,” he admitted. He could respect John DeLorean’s engineering genius but couldn’t look past the scandal. “When I saw the movie, things were even worse than that, and I went, ‘Oh boy, not a good guy.’”
Today, Leno’s car collection spans over 180 vehicles, from steam-powered relics to cutting-edge hypercars. It’s a celebration of engineering brilliance and the human stories behind each car. But you won’t find a DeLorean in his garage.
Jay Leno’s vast collection celebrates innovation, history, and the human spirit behind the wheel. But the DeLorean? It’s a reminder of how greed and scandal can derail even the most promising dreams. For Leno, that’s one car—and one legacy—he won’t park in his garage.
You can see Leno tell the story for yourself in the video below:
