New DeLoreans Will Soon Be Back in Production

Most people now recognize the DeLorean DMC-12 as the time machine from the Back to the Future films, but in the early 1980s, the model had a different claim to fame: the car with gull-wing doors that virtually no one bought. After a few years of poor sales and legal troubles for the company's founder, the DMC-12 and the DeLorean Motor Company all but faded away. Hardcore fans of the car and the films know how to track down parts for their DMC-12s, but according to a recent announcement, getting your hands on a replica is about to become a lot easier.

The Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company has been supplying vintage parts for the cars for years. And according to Ars Technica, a change to legislation will now allow the company to produce new parts:

"The 2015 Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 rolled up a lot of different transportation-related bills, including one that now allows companies to build replica vehicles without having to satisfy modern safety regulations, as long as fewer than 325 are made each year."

While 325 may not sound like a lot of DeLoreans, considering the very small number that were produced 35 years ago and the even smaller number of original DMC-12s believed to still be on the road, this is welcome news to those who have dreamed of sitting behind the wheel of the unique ride.

Currently able to build one car per month, DMC CEO Stephen Wynne hopes to soon get production up to one per week by early 2017. Today, a refurbished DMC-12 costs between $45,000 and $55,000. While Wynne says that the price for a new replicas will depend on the type of modern engine the company chooses, he hopes to sell them for less than $100,000.

[h/t: Ars Technica]