Return of another automotive legend
 

San Antonio Express-News 8-24-07:

Automaker bringing back the DeLorean

Houstonian has the drive – and the doors – to revive production.

JOHN PORRETTO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HUMBLE — In a nondescript warehouse in East Texas, mechanic and entrepreneur Stephen Wynne is bringing a rare sports car back to life. If he succeeds, he almost certainly has Michael J. Fox to thank.
A quarter-century after DeLorean Motor Co. began making its glitzy, $25,000 two-seater — an operation that collapsed after two years — Wynne's small automotive outfit plans to bring the vehicle back into limited production at a 40,000-square-foot factory in this Houston suburb.
The creation of renowned automotive engineer John DeLorean, DMC eventually made fewer than 9,000 cars, distinctive for their gull-wing doors, stainless-steel exterior and rear-engine design. An estimated 6,500 remain on the road.
Despite DMC's flop, the car has persevered, gaining notoriety largely as the time machine Fox drove in the blockbuster 1985 movie “Back to the Future” and its two sequels.
The trilogy's enduring popularity on cable TV has exposed countless viewers — and potential customers — to a souped-up version of the DeLorean.
“There isn't a day somewhere in the world that ‘Back to the Future' isn't playing as a rerun,” said Wynne, president of the new, privately held DeLorean Motor Co.
Wynne formed the company in 1995, when the bulk of his business was working on original DeLoreans at a Houston garage. Still, he needed a name, and because there was nothing legally preventing him from using the original, he decided to give it a shot. He even called John DeLorean, who wished him luck.
A dozen years later, Wynne hopes to parlay the car's celebrity — along with the world's biggest stash of DeLorean parts and engines — into a niche production business that will begin hand-making two DeLoreans a month sometime next year. They've just started taking orders.
Already, the Humble operation will take an existing DeLorean, strip it to the frame and rebuild it for a base price of $42,500. Wynne's staff can rebuild one every couple of months.
The company also handles routine maintenance, such as oil changes and tuneups, and ships between 20 and 50 parts orders a day to mechanics and individual owners worldwide.
But because the original models are roughly 25 years old, finding suitable candidates to refurbish has become increasingly difficult.
So Wynne figured: Why not use the thousands of parts and hundreds of engines sitting in his massive warehouse and build the cars from scratch?
“Everything seems to evolve around here, and that seemed to be the next logical step,” said Wynne, a Briton who began working on DeLoreans in the 1980s in Los Angeles, becoming expert in their mechanics and equipment. He eventually expanded to suburban Houston and opted to make his base here, in part because of the lower cost of living.
Like other DeLorean mechanics at the time, Wynne bought replacement parts from an Ohio company, Kapac Co., which had acquired the original inventory when DeLorean failed. In 1997, when Kapac wanted out of the parts business, Wynne bought the supply for himself, though he declined to say how much he paid.
A decade later, he's decided to take the company to the next level: niche automaker.
The handmade cars will feature about 80 percent original parts. The other 20 percent will be new, supplier-made parts from companies such Valeo SA and the Bosch Group, said James Espey, DeLorean vice president.
The one limiting factor is the doors. The company has enough for about 500 cars, though it's important to keep some in stock for repairs and such. Beyond that, Espey said, the company is studying its options.
Enhancements to the new cars will include an improved stainless-steel frame, a stronger but lighter fiberglass underbody and electronics upgraded from the disastrous systems in the early DeLoreans. A peppier engine

RE: Return of another automotive legend
 

i saw a special about this on the history channel the other day...

RE: Return of another automotive legend
 

Always loved the looks of them.... hopefully the recreations will correct the gross power deficiency, as they couldn't get out of their own way when new....:eek:

RE: Return of another automotive legend
 

I remember on of the issues they had was water spots on stainless steel and the fact it was difficult to paint stainless steel if you wanted a different color.

But they were cool looking cars and I have always loved the gullwing door over lambo doors but are difficult to engineer.

At the time I also had a fascination with the Bricklin? Remember that car? I loved the looks of that car also back in th day.

RE: Return of another automotive legend
 

I heard about this. I wonder what this will do to the value of the 81-83 models? I hope they use something better this time than that junko PRV V6. Anyways, I'm glad they decided to bring that back before they were "OUTATIM."

RE: Return of another automotive legend
 

These cars look pretty good painted. We had a Conquest meet in Pigeon Forge a few years ago and the Delorean National Gathering was the same weekend. I saw a few painted and they looked a lot better. Those Deloreans look nice... but boy are they weak.:eek: I put so many down that weekend I should of had little Deloreans with an X through them on my TSIs door. The owners were a friendly lot. One even went through one of the Hotel rooms we were staying at. I don't think he reached the 80 mph minimum speed needed to fire that flux capacitor.:D

RE: Return of another automotive legend
 

I think I heard a RUMOR that the PRV V6 was unable to reach the 88 mph so they dropped in another engine, possibly a Porsche engine (remember this was just a rumor that I heard on the internet; therefore, it could be false). The top speed I think was supposively just barely over 100mph on stardard DMC-12s, considering all the extra junk they had to add to that DMC-12 in the movies and considering how much older electronics weighed and the drag of the external parts they added like say Mr. Fusion (even though that was first introduced at the end of the first movie), it is definitely logical to assume they had to at least modify it to reach that speed.

For the sake of discussion, if you were the company that was going to build these new Deloreans, what engine would you use? Let's assume that only a V6 would work. I would order 3800s from GM and add direct-injection and twin-turbocharge them for the base level then top it off with a twin-turbocharged 3.6L Porsche engine from the new 911. That way 88.8 mpg is achieved in second gear so then the Doc doesn't have worry about his authoritus (forgive my spelling).