DeLoreans Are Back to the Present (Maybe)

By Alex in Auto & Transportation on Aug 6, 2007 at 1:41 am

Danny Botkin fell in love with the DeLorean,which was made famous by the blockbuster movie "Back to the Future" when he was a teenager in the early ’80s.

Since then, the company that made the DeLoreans had gone bankrupt, and its owner was ~~convicted~~ (he was acquitted) on a cocaine trafficking charge – which he purportedly did to keep on making the cars.

Now, Botkin is laying plans to bring the iconic car back into limited production. LA Times has the story: Link – Thanks kerozene!

Previously on Neatorama: Cars That Became Metaphors | Back to the Future in (Mod) Style | Back to the Future DeLorean Replica

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

No
Aug 6th, 2007 at 3:27 am
Actually, if you are going to report something like this at least do a few fact checks to make sure you have it right. DeLorean was actually acquitted of the charges filed against him.
Sid Morrison
Aug 6th, 2007 at 8:23 am
And John Delorean wasn’t the “owner” of Delorean Motor Company. He was founder and Chairman, put there were a number of big $$$$ shareholders (and eventual creditors).

Also, while it is useful to say that John Delorean was charged with (and acquitted on) drug charges, a larger impediment to the car’s future is that HE’S DEAD!

Actually, the biggest problem will be that the high dollar body stamping dies and related tooling were all destroyed. Since there aren’t any NOS body panels available, how is going to reproduce those?
coreysmoo
Aug 6th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Just so you know, these new DMC’s will be VIN-less and therefore must be registered as kit cars. I can’t imagine the resale value on these to be very high.

Corey
Owner of DMC VIN# 2423
Sid Morrison
Aug 6th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
well, resale value doesn’t mean too much to a lot of people. Speculators buy cars hoping to make money; ENTHUSIASTS buy cars to DRIVE them. If it was possible to “resume” Delorean production the way Caterham resumed producing the Lotus 7 or the Avanti was produced decades following the death of Studebaker, that would be very cool. It’s gonna be tough though for any “DMC2″, though:

1. The stainless steel body panels are a *KEY* feature and they will be very tough to reproduce in small volume.
2. Frankly, the performance of the 2.8L Renault engine sucks (and always has). That contributed to the car’s less than stellar sales in the early 80s. Do you keep the dog engine because it’s historically accurate or move to something better? I personally would go with something better… As Corey notes, this new car is not a real Delorean anyhow. The current Caterham Seven uses a much nicer powertrain than the original Lotus Seven (and they sell!). Keep everything that made the Delorean unique (rear engine, gullwing doors, stainless steel) and adapt the rest where necessary.
MadMolecule
Aug 6th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
As long as we’re picking nits, I’d point out that the DeLorean wasn’t really “made famous” by the movie. When “Back to the Future” came out, I was 13, and it was common knowledge among everyone I knew what a DeLorean was. Heck, that was part of the reason we were excited to see the movie.
Lasse
Aug 7th, 2007 at 12:16 am
That’s all nice and good, but how do we get it to hover?

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