Photo: DeLorean
It takes a cult film to make a cult car, but with the DeLorean DMC-12 and the Back to the Future trilogy, you really can’t be too sure which was of more help to the other.
Let’s just call it a draw and not even try to imagine Doc and Marty flying across time in a different vehicle than the silver sports car that was so famously unsuccessful in the real world. At the same time, the DeLorean would have been nothing more than a failed attempt at creating a memorable car without the help from the iconic time traveling movie.
As flawed as the car was, it still had a considerable amount of followers, and these people needed to have their cars fixed or refurbished. The Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company provided these exact services, even though it has no actual ties to the original company. In addition, beginning with 2008, it also sold restored DMC-12s, but producing new vehicles was out of the question.
That’s because the American law didn’t make any distinctions between high- or low-volume manufacturers, imposing the same conditions on both types of companies. That’s all over now, since starting last December the federal highway bill includes a new feature that allows small companies to produce a limited amount of completed replica motor vehicles that resemble the appearance of cars that are older than 25 years.
In other words, that’s a green light for a new start in life for the iconic DeLorean DMC-12. The new company bearing the DeLorean name based in Humble, Texas, says it will debut production no later than next year. Initially, the production is expected to be very low (one car per month) but should increase to four times that by the end of the second year. The Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015 allows manufacturers to produce up to 325 replicas a year, so DeLorean Motor Company is still a long way from reaching that threshold.
According to DeLorean Motor Company’s Vice President James Espey talking to Automobile mag, they are currently considering several options. The natural choice would be to stick to a V6 engine, and the leading candidates are Ford and GM, but nothing’s set in stone for now. The good news is they’re aiming for a total power of around 350 - 400 hp, which would be triple what the original car had. Considering it’s most likely going to be a turbocharged engine, the new DeLorean’s performances will be completely changed, and for the better.
They will try to keep the car as close to the original as possible, but some aspects simply need to be addressed: it will have new brakes, larger wheels, and a more modern interior. The really promising piece of news is that the new car is reportedly going to cost less than $100,000, which is actually a decent price for a limited edition classic car with what will undoubtedly be decent performance figures.
So, going back to that “will they sell?” question, the answer is that the company will probably have a waiting list long enough to take up an entire hard drive.
As flawed as the car was, it still had a considerable amount of followers, and these people needed to have their cars fixed or refurbished. The Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company provided these exact services, even though it has no actual ties to the original company. In addition, beginning with 2008, it also sold restored DMC-12s, but producing new vehicles was out of the question.
That’s because the American law didn’t make any distinctions between high- or low-volume manufacturers, imposing the same conditions on both types of companies. That’s all over now, since starting last December the federal highway bill includes a new feature that allows small companies to produce a limited amount of completed replica motor vehicles that resemble the appearance of cars that are older than 25 years.
In other words, that’s a green light for a new start in life for the iconic DeLorean DMC-12. The new company bearing the DeLorean name based in Humble, Texas, says it will debut production no later than next year. Initially, the production is expected to be very low (one car per month) but should increase to four times that by the end of the second year. The Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015 allows manufacturers to produce up to 325 replicas a year, so DeLorean Motor Company is still a long way from reaching that threshold.
Will the new cars sell?
We’re not even going to dignify that with an answer. Of course, a lot of details are still left unsettled, most pressing of all being the engine powering the car. The original model had a 2.85-liter V6 that could only cough up 130 hp. Given the car’s looks, that was nothing short of ridiculous.According to DeLorean Motor Company’s Vice President James Espey talking to Automobile mag, they are currently considering several options. The natural choice would be to stick to a V6 engine, and the leading candidates are Ford and GM, but nothing’s set in stone for now. The good news is they’re aiming for a total power of around 350 - 400 hp, which would be triple what the original car had. Considering it’s most likely going to be a turbocharged engine, the new DeLorean’s performances will be completely changed, and for the better.
They will try to keep the car as close to the original as possible, but some aspects simply need to be addressed: it will have new brakes, larger wheels, and a more modern interior. The really promising piece of news is that the new car is reportedly going to cost less than $100,000, which is actually a decent price for a limited edition classic car with what will undoubtedly be decent performance figures.
So, going back to that “will they sell?” question, the answer is that the company will probably have a waiting list long enough to take up an entire hard drive.
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