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
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?
Corey
Owner of DMC VIN# 2423
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.