DeLorean is Coming Back - Not From The Future, But From Texas

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

For the “Back To The Future” fan keen on winning the parking lot at the next confab, DeLorean announced this week that it’ll make “new” cars again in Texas.

Thanks to a change in the small volume manufacturing law, DeLorean Motor Company said it could build around 300 new cars from parts it purchased when the original DeLorean went under.

The Texas outfit said they’ll bin the puny Renault-Volvo V-6 that made 130 horsepower in favor of a crate engine sourced from somewhere that’ll make 300 to 400 horsepower. Electronics, brakes and other drivetrain goodies will be similarly updated on the car, according to Jalopnik.

While this is all very exciting for DeLorean and BTTF fans, the law’s reach is fairly limited — only “replicas” of cars 25 years old or older can qualify for the small volume manufacturing exemption. And only crate engines installed to manufacturers’ specifications will be allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

For the best of 1980s moviemaking and the worst of 1980s Irish car building, you’ll pay $80,000 to $100,000 for a shining example.


Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • IronEagle IronEagle on Jan 29, 2016

    Hmm. GM 3.6 DOHC V6 would be a fine choice. Even though it may be sacrilege to use a GM engine in this car. I wonder if ol' John would have liked that idea or not.

  • Bball40dtw Bball40dtw on Jan 29, 2016

    From what I have heard from the company there will be a number of engine options. Someone on another site mentioned there would be a 3.7L V6, so that is either Nissan or Ford. The Ford engine is probably cheaper, is in mid-engine vehicles already, and has better support.

    • 28-Cars-Later 28-Cars-Later on Jan 29, 2016

      I read that article last night, it actually may have been on Jalponik. From what I remember, the Ford seemed a more likely candidate.

  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Jan 29, 2016

    By the by, The Delorean Story documentary from BBC is pretty good, and chronicles the whole affair from inception to his arrest. Well worth a watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMUXZaROJKM

  • CincyDavid CincyDavid on Jan 31, 2016

    I wonder what the VIN will look like...will it reflect DeLorean somehow or just a 17 digit code assigned by the state like they would if you built a '32 Ford kit. I have never found this car compelling but perhaps there is a market for a dribble of new ones. If the guys in TX do restorations anyway and have parts laying around, they could just sit back and build them as ordered, not like it would incur a bunch of new overhead for the company. I think it would be interesting to build a fiberglass,or even carbon steel body skin that would accept paint more readily, and could be restyled in some fashion...like adding wheel flares, like the 70s era Pantera. In my opinion the stainless skin was a novelty anyway...

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