The thing is that in those times there were rumors that Colin was not really dead and that he had retired in secret to Brazil to enjoy some dirty money obtained in a fraud that involved somehow John DeLorean (the same guy who owned DMC, that created the Back to the Future car)
A short search in wiki tells that Colin died from heart attack 16th December 1982 and that:
By the way, Lotus designed the chassis and bodywork details of the DMC car, the factory started manufacturing it in early 1981, but the company was in receivership by February 1982. It turned out around 9,000 cars over 21 months before the British government ordered its closure in November 1982.In the summer of 1982, DeLorean received a phone call from James Hoffman, a former drug smuggler turned FBI informant. DeLorean met with Hoffman on July 11, 1982, to discuss an investment opportunity to help save his company. Over the course of the next three months, Hoffman slowly explained his intricate plan involving cocaine smugglers, a bank for laundering money, and the specifics of how much money DeLorean would be required to front to procure the deal. DeLorean went along with these discussions, planning to trade DMC stock for the seed money for any deal that would benefit the company, but leaving the drug-smuggler investors with stock in a company completely controlled by the British government. On October 19, before going to meet the investors to consummate the deal, DeLorean wrote a letter to his attorney and sealed it, with instructions to open it only if he did not return. The letter explained the situation he was in and his fear for his family's safety if he tried to back out of the deal. On October 19, 1982, DeLorean was charged with trafficking in cocaine by the US Government.
What do you think, urban mith or planned retirement?
