Here Today... Gone To Hell!

For the DeLorean, it's back to the present

The iconic gull-winged sports car is once again hot, and there are plans afoot to place it back in production.
By Martin Zimmerman
Los Angeles Times

July 28, 2007

Danny Botkin's love affair with the DeLorean got off to an unpromising start.

It was the early '80s and a teen-age Botkin was tagging along while his father shopped for a new car. A Ford dealer had a rear-engined, gull-winged DeLorean on display, and the flash of stainless steel automotive skin caught Danny's eye.

"I was smitten," Botkin, now 40, recalls. "I said, 'Hey Dad, let's get this.'

"He got a Bronco instead."

Botkin had to grow up and buy his dream car himself. He drives a restored DeLorean modeled after the one that served as a time machine in the 1980s blockbuster "Back to the Future."

He also manages a repair and refurbishing shop in Garden Grove that's affiliated with DeLorean Motor Co. (Texas), a suburban Houston company that rebuilds DeLoreans and is laying plans to bring the car back into limited production.

The last DeLorean rolled off the assembly line in Northern Ireland in 1982. But like Duran Duran, the Rubik's Cube and other Reagan-era icons, the car retains a following.

Of the 9,000 built in 1981 and 1982, about 6,500 are still on the road, according to James Espey, vice president of DeLorean Motor. Enthusiasts gather at clubs from Cleveland to Norway. An event next week at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park is expected to attract more than a hundred DeLoreans.

"People of all ages are interested in this car," says Espey, a San Diego native. "Kids who can't tell you what a Camaro is come through here on tours because they've seen 'Back to the Future.' "

From the start, the DeLorean seemed destined for cult status. Its gull-wing doors and rakish lines stood out in an auto market that was still living down the AMC Pacer. And the stainless steel exterior looked like it belonged on a jet fighter.

Then there was the man himself. John DeLorean had been a rising star at General Motors Corp. in the 1960s ? he's credited with conceiving the GTO and the Firebird ? when he decided to chuck it all and start his own car company. (He'd already shed the button-down GM lifestyle, opting for flashy clothes, styled hair and celebutante girlfriends.)

Despite his attention-grabbing persona and product, DeLorean couldn't sell enough of the $25,000 cars to stay afloat. By 1982, his company was in receivership. He hit rock bottom that year when he was busted on charges of cocaine trafficking. He was acquitted, but the ordeal in effect ended his business career. He died in March 2005.

DeLorean's car would live on, thanks primarily to "Back to the Future," the top-grossing film of 1985. Ditching their original idea of using an old refrigerator as a time machine, the scriptwriters opted for a modified DeLorean because of its futuristic look, particularly the doors, according to co-writer Bob Gale.

The movie made Michael J. Fox a star ? and launched the DeLorean pop cult.

"John DeLorean wrote us a fan letter after the movie came out: 'Thank you for keeping my dream alive,' " Gale recalls. "Probably half of the people who own DeLoreans today own them because they saw 'Back to the Future.' "

The enduring appeal of the car keeps Espey's Texas shop and its affiliates busy.

Espey's company acquired the parts and engines that were left over after DeLorean's company went belly up; it also owns the trademarks and many of the engineering drawings.

Espey's 20-person operation handles a dozen or so rebuilds a year and has an eight-month waiting list. (Buying and restoring a used DeLorean will cost you about $25,000; they'll strip one to the frame and completely rebuild it for a base price of $42,500.)

At DeLorean Motor Co. (California) in Garden Grove, there are 15 cars in for service or refurbishing at any given time, Botkin says.

With 200 of the original 2.8-liter V-6 engines still in stock and facing a dwindling supply of cars suitable for rebuilding, Espey figures that within a year or so they'll start making the cars from scratch.

Their manufacturing plans are modest ? maybe 20 or so cars a year. But it would be quite a comeback for a car that was given up for dead more than a quarter of a century ago.

And based on the reaction Botkin gets when he takes his "BTTF" DeLorean out for a spin, there's a market out there.

"I can't park it without attracting a pile of people," he says. "We like to cruise up and down PCH just to get people's reactions.

"It's a smile maker."

(http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-07/31497349.jpg)

(http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-07/31496557.jpg)

I guess a purchase would be based completely on emotion. Everything I have read about these things say that they are pieces of crap.

That's probably why the company went out of business, I guess.  I'd buy one if I had money to burn, better than coming home to this

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/112666851_2fd67662d8.jpg)

Very possible.

But I still want one because of the vertical doors.

Vertical doors are cool, until you park and remember no car can be around  you when you exit/enter.  ;D

Sweet ride-but it's no time machine!

I think DeLorean had many issues that contributed to his demise, including (if I remember) a cocaine bust-so 80's....

On a side note, I saw a guy in an older Jaguar delivering pizzas the other day in Tampa. I tried to snap a pic with my cell, but only managed to get the tail end of the thing. Nothing like seeing a jag with a "Poppa Johns" on top of it, totally hilarious.

maybe he got laid off from a dot-com bust, so now he's delivering pizzas, it could happen  ;D

I see a lot of crazy cars where I work.  I took a photo of this amazing 1976 Dodge caravan outside the astronomy building:

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/19/121607394_db06d44639.jpg)

Now that looks like a time machine doesnt it? I was so tempted to take it for a joy ride, but I'm afraid of big dogs...

These days, it probably was a realtor.... :o

Where do you work, where you see such things?

The moon.  :)

But yeah, where?

haha, he's probably living out of his car now

I work at USGS  (you know, earthquakes, etc).  Geologists and astronomers are a funny bunch.

Here's one who's got a thing for the Wizard of Oz...  apologies for the bad pic, it was all I could do with a crappy lens

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/87/250142828_44adf986a3.jpg)

That's painted on the front hood.  The rear has the Witch in some weird torture act...it's freaky.



I can only dream  ;)

If you mean the creator of the DeLorean is living out of his car, he's not. The article said he died in March 2005.

delorean is a cool car. but it had some issues, because the design was so ahead of its time, and technology was not there to back it up.

amongst other things, the batteries discharge really fast, and if you leave the door open for a few minutes, the light in them sucks all the energy out,... and then youd have to walk.

the car is not painted, it's bare metal. which is a dirt magnet...

etc...etc...

I like doors that open that way and lamberginis (sp?) are too expensive, i'd buy one just because i think there cool i like wing doors and back to the future is a timeless classic : ok:

How come the article doesn't say anything about the flux capaciter? Weird. If I had the money I would totally get one. I don't care how nerdy it is. I would pull up to gas stations and ask them if they had any plutonium or if they knew how I  could get 1.21 gigawatts.

He was not.




Funny bunch? I'd fit right in then....

I'm not much for paintings on autos, but that is pretty cool.




That would be fun, but personally I'd opt for a "Mr Fusion" if it were my time machine.

(http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/4180/mrfusionqa4.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Funny, I can see myself in that car! ^

The first photo of the DeLorean in full flight is cool (McFly numberplates - can you buy those?)

Whilst on the topic of movie cars - anyone got a picture of the beautiful Wayne's World AMC?

(http://www.retrojunk.com/img/art-images/mirthmobile.jpg)

oh, you don't have doors on your car then?

Would you be working on the AMANDA ll project?

I don't know why I am wasting my time explaining this to you, but...

Many early gull-wing doors were not practical compared to "normal" doors. However, it appears that DeLorean had addressed that issue. One of the few designs that were not flawed on the vehicle.

It's on a lift.



Schwing!!!!


(http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9621/waynesworldpacerstillxa6.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Many science type academics are not that ... shall we say observant.

Before you go off, my back ground is Geology.

Mine was in mixology...took me ten years.

Hell ... it took me 10 years to figure out I did not want to work for the Pigs.

I guess I'm slow.

Not as slow as the AMC....  : ok: