What if John Z. DeLorean ran GM?

What if John Z. DeLorean ran General Motors? The auto industry is filled with what-ifs, and a recent documentary on DeLorean, appropriately titled "Myth and Mogul," got me thinking.

The man was unmistakably brilliant. He wasn’t the Elon Musk of his time. Musk is the DeLorean of this century in terms of innovation. DeLorean started as a buttoned-down engineer in the 1950s at GM and rose all the way to vice president.

He was 48 years old in 1973 when he left GM. Depending on what you believe, he either left the company or was told to depart. With his head down for a few more years, maybe he’s running the show by 1980.

In this alternate history GM might have been willing to take more risks in the 1980s, which weren’t kind to the Big Three as Americans continued to shift to smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Would GM have avoided such distractions as buying EDS from Ross Perot? Maybe with DeLorean at the helm, Cadillac transitions to more compelling products sooner and doesn’t squander decades of luxury leadership in the U.S. to German and Japanese rivals.

Almost assuredly he would have pushed for a more interesting, aggressive product portfolio, and if he lasted long enough in the top job, maybe even the EV1 program doesn’t get killed.

Or maybe not. Perhaps none of this happens. Watching this documentary (there are a few good ones out there about him and plenty of books) underscores that DeLorean’s signature traits — passion, ambition, vision, a wild streak, unscrupulous business practices at times — probably wouldn’t have kept him at the helm very long, if he ever got there at all.

DeLorean Motor Cars liquidated when John DeLorean got caught in a drug bust captured on video, which almost boggles the mind 40 years later. He was later acquitted, though his auto career was in shambles. “Myth and Mogul” does a good job of putting DeLorean’s management abilities, or lack thereof, on display.