Stop! Don’t buy a car. You have to wait. It’s coming back from the future. Yes, the 1981 DeLorean will be on sale again in 2017.
“Putting all else aside,” Road & Track’s John Lamm said in a 1982 review, “John Z. DeLorean has done a remarkable thing: He has built an honest-to-goodness sports/GT car from scratch … and it works.”
Maybe “it works” is a bit strong. One hint was when Johnny D was arrested eight months after the review for trying to sell an FBI agent 20kg of cocaine while shouting, “It’s as good as gold.” Facing 67 years in the slammer, he got lucky: the FBI was found to have entrapped him, and he was cleared.
Jury
DeLorean Cars was less lucky. It failed the same year he tried that new-high margin business. Which is a pity when you name a car company after yourself. And when it leads to the joke: “How do you find a DeLorean? Just follow the white line down the road.”
DeLorean
Nine thousand Northern Ireland DeLoreans, including three gold-plated models, were sold. About 6000 remain. The chassis was to be made out of a revolutionary plastic but that didn’t work out, so Lotus’s Colin Chapman was called in to rework the whole thing. The result was a Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed stainless-steel body over fibreglass.
Nine thousand DeLoreans, including three gold-plated models, were sold. About 6000 remain.
Nine thousand DeLoreans, including three gold-plated models, were sold. About 6000 remain.
The car is still a beautiful head turner. While most fans love the original unburnished stainless steel look, I have to say they are a knockout in red.
Lucky for us we have Steve Wynne. A Liverpool (England) boy, Steve moved to California in 1980 to work on foreign cars. Along with Renaults and Peugeots, DeLorean owners began coming in. Steve liked working on them so much, he bought the remains of the factory and last year acquired the rights to the name.
Ironically, Steve set up the new DeLorean Motor Company in Humble, Texas. He sells parts, renovated cars, luggage, holiday ornaments (the $45 glass “Happy 2011” tree hanger is my favourite), apparel (the 100 per cent polyester jacket is a steal at $150) and from next year, new DeLoreans.
I don’t want to be cynical but Steve did announce in 2007 he would launch a new stainless-steel number for $82,000. Next year’s car will cost $142,000. The price of good original DeLoreans lifted 15 per cent last year.
Today you can buy a fair average car for $35,000. A serious car from Steve will cost $83,000 and for a concourse quality original you’ll pay the same price as for Steve’s new model.
Like the original Mini the DeLorean is forever linked with the Back to the Future movie series. Most of you remember Martin Seamus McFly, Marty to his friends, who set fire to the living room rug when he was eight and flew a plutonium powered DeLorean through the years. In Back to the Future 2, Marty sped from 1989 to October 21, 2015.
