DeLorean sports cars going back into production

DETROIT — DeLorean Motor is resurrecting the past with plans to build replicas of the famed car from the Back to the Future movies of the 1980s.

News reports out of Humble, Texas, say the automaker plans to make about 300 replicas of the 1982 DeLorean that has not been in production for 34 years. The company has remained in business by refurbishing old DeLoreans — about 9,000 were originally sold — for enthusiasts.

“It’s fantastic. It is a game-changer for us. We’ve been wanting this to happen,” DeLorean CEO Stephen Wynne told TV station KPRC2 in Houston, saying it is possible under a new low-volume manufacturing bill approved by the federal government. “That was a green light to go back into production.”

Wynne said he wants to build about four cars a month.

Refurbished DeLoreans cost $45,000 to $55,000.  The replicas will cost closer to $100,000 when they go on sale in early 2017.

The original automaker was formed in 1975 by John DeLorean and was made famous by its one model: the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car with gull-wing doors. In the Back to the Future movies, it was able to travel through time via the flux capacitor.

The company went bankrupt in 1982, despite John DeLorean's attempt to save it with money from drug trafficking. The suspect transaction was caught on film, but DeLorean was acquitted of the charges.

In 1995, mechanic Stephen Wynne started a new company with the DeLorean Motor name, and he purchased the parts and logo of the original company. His company near Houston restores the original cars, and he has a small number of authorized dealerships.