Vintage&Classic – ViewMyGarage.com – The Ultimate Car and Motor Sports Blog

Photo: DeLorean Motor Company.

DeLorean Motor Company, the firm based in Humble, Texas, that currently owns the fabled DeLorean DMC automotive brand, stated this week that a final rule document released January 15 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) brings their promised production of a new DeLorean vehicle a big step closer to reality.

However, the automaker also noted that the new DeLorean may be built with an electric rather than an internal combustion powertrain.

The regulation, an outgrowth of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (a.k.a. The FAST Act), signed into law by President Obama in 2015, allows exemption from certain federal motor vehicle safety standards for low-volume manufacturers of replica vehicles.

“Low volume” is defined as production of up to 325 units, and the replicas must resemble conventionally manufactured vehicles from more than 25 years ago.

SEMA (the Specialty Equipment Market Association), an aftermarket automotive equipment trade group that has lobbied tirelessly for this regulation for years, applauded the final ruling this week.

“The roadblocks have been eliminated,” said SEMA President and CEO Christopher J. Kersting, in a statement. “Companies will be able to hire workers, start making necessary parts and components, and produce and sell cars.”

In a January 20 blog post, the DeLorean Motor Company, which acquired rights to the brand as well as unsold parts inventory from the original DeLorean automaker in 1995, reacted with a similar level of enthusiasm about the impact of the final ruling on making the dream of building new DeLoreans a reality, stating that “Companies like DeLorean will now be able to apply for authorization to produce and sell vehicles under this program.”

According to Road and Track, the company’s original plan was to sell a modest number of new DeLorean vehicles—about 50 per year—at a price of around $100,000.

However, in a disclosure that may irk some of the more traditionally minded DeLorean enthusiasts, the company also noted that “we’ve been considering switching to an all-electric as the future,” citing concerns about their ability to maintain emissions compliance with an internal-combustion platform for vehicles that they had originally planned to begin building in 2017.

How the market may react to the idea of an electric DeLorean seems tough to predict, although the idea of finding 50 customers per year for a limited-production vehicle does not, intuitively, seem daunting.

In fact, an electric powertrain may be a no-brainer way to breathe new excitement into a vehicle that, in its original incarnation, was notoriously underpowered.

A strong electric motor might be just what the DeLorean needs to finally deliver performance that matches the sleek lines and stainless-steel finish of the exterior.

About The Author

Bill Hayward

Bill Hayward, a writer, marketer, and car enthusiast, is editor and publisher of AutoNewsblaster. Originally a native of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., he currently resides in South Central Pennsylvania. Contact: auto.enthusiasts.news@gmail.com or 717-968-0883.

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A classic Chevrolet hot rod. According to SEMA, an active hot rodding community points to a bright future for the old-car hobby. — **A classic Chevrolet hot rod in on display at SEMA 2019.**

As manufacturers continue to abandon sedans and coupes in favor of trucks and SUVs, and as automaker lineups continue to trend more toward homogenization and disposability, it’s easy to see how car enthusiasts could grow anxious about what the old-car hobby is going to look like a decade or two from now—or if it will even exist at all.

But if you include hot rodding as an important segment of the old-car hobby, there could be compelling reasons for optimism, according to industry sources, particularly the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA).

SEMA, of course, is an organization whose very existence centers on the industry of modifying stock vehicles for better performance and generally equipping existing cars and trucks with aftermarket parts that can keep them on the road longer.

And as the sponsor of the annual Battle of the Builders competition, now in its seventh year, SEMA is exceptionally well positioned to have a finger on the pulse of what’s happening with the old-car hobby.

In a recent conversation with AutoNewsblaster about Battle of the Builders 2020, SEMA spokesman Ira Gabriel noted that hot rodding is among the key trends in what’s engaging automotive hobbyists and professional builders—especially among many who are newer in the field.

“Right now a lot of the young builders that I’m seeing are building more trucks and hot rod domestic cars,” Gabriel said.

While that was an anecdotal observation, SEMA’s official reports back up the assertion that hot rodding is alive and well. According to a hot rod market trends report that SEMA issued earlier this year, hot rodding today is “a global industry boasting thousands of builders who comprise a $1.26-billion market.”

That bodes well for the future of the old-car hobby. Nevertheless, it’s only inevitable as time marches on that the definition of what qualifies as “an old car” will evolve.

Granted, traditional hot rod platforms like pre-WWII American iron—1940 Fords and the like—still embody the classic understanding of what a hot rod is. Interest in these platforms does continue, particularly with the trend, as noted by SEMA, of Baby Boomers “handing down their [more traditional] hot rods to sons or daughters.”

But many in this same generation that is currently receiving these hot rod hand-me-downs are also creatively applying the spirit of the hot rodding concept to newer or even late-model cars and trucks.

One reflection of this was the 2018 move by Goodguys Rod & Custom to include models up to 1987 on their list of eligible vehicles to compete in their nationwide series of hot rod shows.

Purists of the old-car hobby might raise their eyebrows at the idea of a 1987 hot rod. But it’s important to keep the perspective in mind of where we are in time. In 2020, a 1987 vehicle is equivalent in age to a 1957 vehicle in 1990. And, in 1990, it’s clear that few would have questioned that a ’57 Chevy Bel Air or Nomad would have qualified as a legitimate platform for the old-car hobby.

Time keeps moving, and change is inevitable. Today’s new cars are tomorrow’s old cars. Sure, we want to see the “oldest of the old” preserved. Thankfully, we still have dedicated hobbyists in a variety of age groups doing that.

But the answer to the question of what vehicles in each generation will emerge as the treasured classics becomes clear only through the lens of time. So openness to fluidity in how we define what qualifies as “an old car” is essential to maintaining a vibrant old-car hobby.

Tag: Vintage&Classic

Regulatory ruling brings new DeLorean closer to reality, current brand owner says—but the reincarnated 80s classic may go electric