DeLorean goes Back to the Future and back into production

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The DeLorean, a car made famous when Doc Brown made it fly and time travel in Back to the Future, is making a comeback – in limited production anyway.The company began production on the famous gullwing sports car in 1981, but only made 9,000 before going bankrupt in 1983. The movie that made the car famous came out in 1985.

1982 DeLorean DMC-12:Made famous by the hit 1985 flick, Back to the Future, the DeLorean DMC-12 was chosen for its unique looks. It had gull-wing doors, a manual transmission, and a fibreglass underbody with stainless steel panels. About 9,200 were made before the company went bankrupt in 1982. Some of the last models produced were for the Canadian market. Eighty-eight coupes with metric instrumentation were made for Canada including this one, which was donated to the museum in 2011 by Dr. David and June Sugden, who purchased it in Oshawa, ON. for The Globe and Mail Petrina Gentile for The Globe and Mail

Since the bankruptcy, the DeLorean Motor Company in Texas, which isn't affiliated with the original company, has been restoring and servicing DeLoreans. The company owns the rights to the logo and the name and amassed a large sum of parts.

Last month, The United States passed the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufactures Act, which will allow the company to make a limited number of replica versions of the car. Vehicles still have to meet EPA regulations, but can be built in a new regulatory system and with engines from other vehicles.

"The new law provides common-sense regulatory relief for small businesses that would otherwise be treated as if they were producing millions of cars," reads the company website. "The new law allows the low volume vehicle manufacturer to meet the standards by installing an engine and emissions equipment produced by another auto maker ... This reasonable regulatory reform will also spur innovation, including advances in alternative-fuel and green vehicle technologies."

The company says it is working "to identify a supplier for engines and other parts that must be reproduced to allow production for 2017."

DeLorean is in talks with GM and another unnamed company.

It plans to make 300 cars, which will be more powerful and more fuel efficient. The original stainless steel-bodied car had 130 horsepower. The new one will reportedly have an engine that pumps out between 300-400 horsepower plus bigger wheels, brakes and shocks.

But the price won't be cheap. To fully restore an old one it costs about $90,000. The company hopes to sell the new replicas for between $112,000 and $141,000.

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