I came across this very cool story where a company has been set up in the USA to build DeLorean cars;  “new” versions of the iconic car from the 1980’s classic movie, Back To The Future.

The speedometer climbs as we race down a straightaway in Humble, Texas. As the needle edges to 60, 70, then 80 miles per hour, the 36-year-old automobile rattles and the wind whistles through the windows. Finally the DeLorean zooms up to 88 miles per hour and we feel, just for a moment, like we’ve gone back to the future.

Then, a series of loud honks from the other side of the road, followed by animated waving, awaken us out of our speed spell. “We get that all the time,” says DeLorean Motor Company CEO Stephen Wynne, sitting shotgun. “That doesn’t happen with any other car.”

Well, I’d be willing to bet it would with Lady Penelope’s six-wheeled Rolls Royce from the 1960’s TV series Thunderbirds, but nobody’s building those.

Lady Penelope’s Roller

Like that vehicle the DeLorean should be just another one-off car that sits in a museum, but the three Back To The Future movies established it as an icon of popular culture. And it inspired one English mechanic to pursue a dream.

Even before its Hollywood debut, the DeLorean had more publicity than most new cars get. This was mainly because of the reputation of the guy behind it, John DeLorean, a legendary executive with General Motors. He wrote a book that is still considered to be a classic about the US automobile industry – On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors.

John DeLorean at his “hip” 1970’s best

Through the 1960’s and 70’s DeLorean had pushed the development of a number of vehicles that became mainstays of GM, including the Pontiac GTO muscle car, the Pontiac Firebird and Pontiac Grand Prix. He was the youngest GM division head when he quit in 1979 to build what he called “the new American sports car.” His reputation enabled him to borrow $200 million in 1981 – an incredible sum of money for one man in those days – and he set to work to build the cars in Belfast.

Gull-winged, with a stainless-steel body, the DeLorean caught people’s attention. But it was all downhill from there. Cost overruns meant it got pushed to market at twice the price planned and with a lot of engineering bugs. Poor reviews and slow sales doomed the enterprise and by early 1982, after making just 9000 cars, the company declared bankruptcy. DeLorean himself ran into financial problems as his star dimmed, eventually getting charged for trafficking cocaine, a charge he defeated on the basis of entrapment by the FBI (sounds familiar).

And that was that! At least until 1985, when it rolled out the back of Doc Brown’s trailer and became cool all over again. Over the decades various collectors have obtained used versions and spent untold hours fixing them up or even converting them to look like the modified version in the movies. They spend between $20,000 and $50,000 on each restoration.

But several years ago, Wynne, a native of Liverpool, put together a more ambitious plan. He’s basically bought all the leftover spare parts, body shells, engines, transmissions, trademarks, documentation, intellectual property – everything – from the original company and factory. Enough hardware was made to build 30,000 DeLoreans and it’s all stored in Houston, Texas.

And with that he has set out to build about 300 new DeLoreans a year.

Wynne had a wealth of experience working on similar cars—after all, DeLorean’s preproduction and development was primarily done by Lotus, while the car’s engine and transmission were made by Renault. “It was basically a mix of the English and the French,” says Wynne. “Everything about the [car] was what I already knew.”

He’s also helped by the FAST Act, a piece of legislation passed by the US Congress in December 2015, which allows for low-volume manufacturers (i.e. 300 per year) to produce cars that can be built conforming to the production year’s requirements. Just as an example, airbags were not mandatory in 1981 when the DeLorean was first built.

DeLoreans outside the Texas factory

There have been the usual holdups on putting the legislation into practice – what will the bureaucratic forms and processes be for example? But setting that aside, Wynne has a good chance to achieving his dream.

The big joke about American cars like the DeLorean is that they were actually quite shitty in terms of handling and mechanics. The original engine produced 130hp, which is a joke by modern standards. Wynne plans to dump in a modified version that will crank 300-400hp. I assume the transmission and suspension will be upgraded to handle all that as well, otherwise we’re going to have a few dead DeLorean drivers!

I recall that there was some little company in NZ – based in Napier I think – that specialised in taking classic English and American cars and updating them with all mod cons without changing their internal or external appearance. I think some doctor owned a piece of it. I’d be interested if readers have any knowledge of it and whether it’s still in business.

There is this guy in South Canterbury, Rod Temporo, who has been building old cars from scratch, to customer specification or original spec since the 1990’s.

I would also think we may see some classic cars on the road with fully electric motors in a few years time. I note that one power company has already done this with Evie, a converted 1957 Ford Fairlane.

Evie – Mercury Power’s electrified Classic Car

So good on Mr Wynne and here’s hoping we might see one or two of these curiosities here in NZ in the next few years.