Back to the Future in a New 1981 DeLorean

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So you think you have mastered Doc Brown’s time traveling technology and all you need to own the time space continuum is a 1981 DeLorean D12 platform to mount it in? For you and your time machine there’s good news.

Are You Interested?

The Delorean Motor Company (no connection to the original DMC) in Humble, Texas, is planning to manufacture a limited number of DeLoreans to sell to enthusiasts and the occasional optimistic physicist.

The stainless steel, gull wing DeLorean had a brief but celebrated run between 1981 and 1982 and has left behind an enthusiastic fan base. A total of just over 9,000 of the two-door sports car were built and a surprisingly large number, over 6,500, are still licensed in the United States. It’s that crowd of drivers who are hooked on the Delorean that support an active original parts and aftermarket industry.

Famous for Being Famous

Any objective evaluation of the DeLorean DMC 12 or the short lived Delorean Motor Company would leave most people wondering why anyone would want to own or collect the single model produced. The DMC 12 was underpowered, outrageously priced ($65,000 in 2016 dollars) and burdened by the two engineering nightmares that gave it its uniqueness, stainless steel body panels and gull wing doors.

The panels were not structural and were attached to a fiberglass frame underneath, adding significant unneeded weight that degraded performance. The stainless steel surface was nearly impossible to paint, meaning all DMC 12s started their life as silver. Some dealers tried painting the cars in an effort to make the cars distinctive with mixed results.

The gull wing doors were not only heavy, they leaked and the window could not be lowered.

Reliability Issues

As the name implies, DeLorean Motor Company was the brainchild of General Motors’ fair-haired boy John DeLorean, one of the youngest GM executives ever. In 1975, armed with seed money from Johnny Carson and Sammy Davies Jr., DeLorean began searching for a location that would subsidize the building of a production facility.

He looked at the U.S., including Puerto Rico, and Ireland, but it was the UK’s promise of $200 million if the plant was built in Ulster, Northern Ireland, that won the day. This was during “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland when there was significant violence between competing political groups. The new DeLorean plant was built right on the borderline between two of these groups.

Many of the employees hired by DeLorean not only had no experience building cars, they had no experience with jobs of any kind given how depressed the area was. As a result there were serious quality issues. DMC decided to address these issues after the car was shipped at “Quality Centers” located in the U.S. Frame, door and other problems were repaired in the States and then shipped to the dealer.

Lackluster sales and unexpected expenses put a serious financial strain on the new company. The DMC 12 was sold with a 12 month or 12,000 mile warranty, but dealers were reluctant to do the work because the parent company was not reimbursing them.

In 1982 DeLorean was personally involved in a $27 million cocaine smuggling deal and the FBI had the video to prove it. DeLorean was arrested but acquitted when the video was deemed entrapment. By that time however, the car company had gone broke and production ceased.

“You built a time machine out of a Delorean?”

Four years after the first DMC 12 hit the streets in the U.S., Doc Brown and Marty McFly hopped into a plutonium-powered flux capacitor driven DeLorean and blasted back to the future. A new cult car was created. “Back to the Future” was a huge success and for the 13-to-15-yea- old crowd the DeLorean became the coolest car ever.

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When you’re a kid and you fall in love with a car, you don’t care about its corporate problems or even its performance issues. It’s cool and that’s all that matters, and that’s how the DeLorean built a fan base even though it was no longer in production.

Those 15-year-olds are 30 somethings now and like the generation before them they crave the dream car of their youth…the one they never had. For this generation that dream car is the DeLorean DMC 12, warts and all.

Save the Clock Tower, Save the Delorean

Meanwhile, in Humble, Texas, the owner of Delorean Motor Company (name , logo and images purchased from John Delorean’s estate) has stockpiled a huge collection of original parts which he plans on incorporating into his planned hand-built “new” DMC 12 replicas. The Texas firm has already completed several DeLoreans using OEM parts and aftermarket parts on a custom basis.

However, now that the government has relieved low volume auto manufacturers (fewer than 350 vehicles) of some the regulations mainstream manufacturers must follow, DMC is looking to build “new” Deloreans at the rate of one per week.

DMC is in negotiations with a number of vendors for powertrain solutions as well as other systems. The end package will look like a Delorean and may have some original Delorean parts, but will be new equipment and titled as a new vehicle.

When is this supposed to happen? The company is claiming they will be ready with the first vehicle in 2017 but there are no guarantees. They are currently accepting non-binding letters of intent on their website.

If you do wind up with a “new” gull wing DMC 12 you can park a piece of movie magic in your driveway. Just don’t expect anything special to happen the first time you take it to 88 mph.