Super Furry Animals frontman and Welsh wunderkind Gruff Rhys is collaborating with Los Angeles producer Boom Bip under the name Neon Neon. Their album, due out next month, is called Stainless Style and is apparently inspired by the life of auto impressario and would-be coke dealer John DeLorean.

For those of you who only know DeLorean as the guy who invented the stainless steel-bodied gullwinged car from the Back to The Future movies, the man himself cut a wide swath through both the car world and the gossip columns in the 60s and 70s.

DeLorean was a young executive on the rise at General Motors in the 60s, helping to create Pontiac’s image as a youthful exciting brand with the GTO and Firebird. He also favored sideburns and paisley ties, a “hip” look that was decidely on the outs for staid Detroit. So was his courting of fashion models and increasingly decadent lifestyle as the 70s dawned.

GM proved to confining for him and he vowed in the mid-70′s to start his own company, with help from the goverment of Northern Ireland and Lotus’ Colin Chapman. Eventually Delorean the company would find itself in such dire straits that DeLorean the man would attempt to raise money by pulling off a massive cocaine deal. Of course the other side of the table in that deal turned out to be government agents.

Here’s a video from Rhys’ last solo album Candylion: