Roy Nesseth

Although Roy Nesseth’s title within the company was somewhat vague he was one of John DeLoreans personal friends and top executives at DMC. He played a vital role in the formation of the DeLorean dealer network. This network was being managed by C.R ‘Dick’ Brown and Nesseth in an effort to sign more dealerships to create sales channels for the DeLorean DMC-12.

It was the requirement of the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) that DeLorean Motor Company meet the number of dealers stated by Dick Brown which was 150 - spread out throughout the US. The SEC had given DeLorean Motor Company just 4 months to complete the task. With 8 weeks before the deadline, Brown had managed to secure agreement from 122 dealers. However, John DeLorean became concerned that the remaining 28 dealers would not be found in time, and the contract could not be completed. In fear of the program being set back, DeLorean set Roy Nesseth the task of finding the elusive 28 dealers in time.

Roy recruited his own team who ‘convinced’ Dick Brown’s potential dealers to sign up. Some of the tactics were described as somewhat ‘grey’. However, when all was taken into account, Nesseth’s team had signed another 36 dealers. By the time the underwriting was closed, the DeLorean dealer network stood at an impressive 158. The dealerships had invested an impressive 4 million dollars into the venture. However, this was still only part of the puzzle, and 4 million dollars was still far short of the capital needed to build a state of the art factory and hire a full compliment of employees, let alone produce a car too.

Nesseth played his part at the company and went from month to month, building his reputation. Nesseth’s next ‘promotion’ was to replace Gene Cafiero after his planned departure. Roy Nesseth was essentially president of DMC, although not in title. He operated from Gene’s office and answered only to DeLorean. At this point, his salary had grown to $150,000 - almost twice as much as the previous year.

At 6'6", Roy was often referred to as 'Big Bad Roy' by John DeLorean, although both men had been great friends for over twenty years, and shared a mutual respect.