The DeLorean is Coming Back?... To the Future?
When talking about hero cars from movies it is hard not to mention the flying DeLorean from Back to the Future. The DeLorean DMC-12 in the movie was a perfect choice for bridging the gap between science fiction and car culture. It was a cool car with stainless steel body panels, rear engined, rear wheel drive, and who could forget those gull-wing doors. Also for the movie it was fitted with multiple Hollywood gadgetries that took an already futuristic looking car for the time, and propelled it to immortal stardom that makes the car recognizable to even people who haven’t seen the movie.
The real life DeLorean however was not the flaming tread machine like the movie car was. Only being produced for a handful of years and having issues in all aspects from production to performance, the DMC-12 was a car that appeared to be destined to fail. With only 130hp the DeLorean was underpowered to say the least. And with the company’s founder John DeLorean being accused of trafficking cocaine, things were gloomy for the DeLorean Motor Company, who was also in debt for millions of dollars. And with these hurtles the DeLorean Motor Company couldn’t survive and the business went under in late 1982, not surviving for even a decade.
A new DMC did emerge after the original company’s demise, with the drive to keep these cars alive. Selling parts and modifications to improve on the original design, the new company has been flourishing and has had a long time dream to bring the DMC-12 into production. Now in 2020 with recent developments in production laws it seems like the DeLorean might be getting its second wind.
The DeLorean won’t coming back into mass production. But thanks to the Low Volume Motor Vehicle act of 2015 and a lawsuit from SEMA trying to get the NHTSA to create guidelines to which these low volume manufacturers must follow, the “new” DeLorean is expected to return in 2021. The new DeLorean is said to be coming with a new engine producing 300 to 350hp, and the new car will have the modern creature comforts that will be a huge improvement on the original if done right. The DeLorean is estimated to start being sold at around $100,000 and although that is not feasible for most people to buy one, it will be awesome to see these cars back on the road. And even though the fate of the DMC-12 is not set in stone at the moment, we can always stay optimistic that one day we can get a chance to drive one of these machines up to 88mph and jet into another time with flaming tire marks behind us.
