
DeLoreans Coming Back to Production - chewymouse
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/27/luxury/delorean-coming-back-to-the-future/
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Gustomaximus
> new regulations are going into effect later this year that will allow the
> production of replica cars without requiring them to meet safety guidelines
> involving air bags and crash tests.

This regulation may need some tweaking to stop abuse.

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mikeash
According to this, the new regulations limit such replicas to 325 cars per
year per company:

[http://www.autoblog.com/2015/12/08/new-law-vintage-
cars/](http://www.autoblog.com/2015/12/08/new-law-vintage-cars/)

Doesn't sound like much room for abuse.

~~~
Avshalom
So you set up a factory that "leases" it's manufacturing capacity to any
paying company then start 10-100 corps that are all just coincidently making
replicas of the same car and all "leasing" the factory in sequence.

I mean I don't know why you'd do that but it is the obvious work around

~~~
mikeash
I doubt the law is that stupid, and judges tend to frown on shenanigans like
this.

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Avshalom
Well the law says[1]:

Except as provided in this section, sections 30113 and 30114 of this title,
and subchapter III of this chapter, a person may not manufacture for sale,
sell, offer for sale, introduce or deliver for introduction in interstate
commerce ... unless the vehicle or equipment complies with the standard and is
covered by a certification issued under section 30115 of this title.

which according to [2] has been ammended with:

(A) LOW-VOLUME MANUFACTURER- The term `low-volume manufacturer' means a motor
vehicle manufacturer, other than a person who is registered as an importer
under section 30141 of this title, whose annual worldwide production,
including by a parent or subsidiary of the manufacturer, if applicable, is not
more than 5,000 motor vehicles.

So assuming the various shell companies aren't owned by each other it just
depends on whether the factory's owner is manufacturing the car or the company
leasing the factory. The definition[3] of manufacturer says "person -- (A)
manufacturing or assembling motor vehicles" which doesn't give a lot of
guidance on that because these laws are clearly aimed at the corporate person
not the individual assembly line workers (who would of course be employed by a
temp-agency).

I mean not that it matters much. They still have to be 25 year old models and
any IP has to be correctly licensed (which would mean getting the companies to
sign off on a deal with a probably very high dodginess/profit ratio) I don't
see any one trying to make or succeeding to sell 10000 '89 Ford Ranger clones.

That said you're absolutely right that if it ever got to court the judges
would pierce the veil like * that *

[1]
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/30112](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/30112)

[2][http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp114&refer=&...](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp114&refer=&r_n=hr357.114&item=&&&sel=TOC_1393421&)

[3][https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/30102](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/30102)

~~~
mikeash
Thanks for looking up the actual law. Does the inclusion of "by a parent" mean
that the companies would all need to have separate ownership, so you'd have to
go recruit a bunch of friends into the scheme?

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dogma1138
Tesla should've fund a way to license the design people would've paid much
more than 100k for that one.

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the_unknown
One of my neighbours a few doors down actually has an original DeLorean. He
only gets it out on the road 3 or 4 times a summer and is constantly working
on it although fixing it up is more of a hobby for him than anything else so I
don't think he considers that to be a negative.

It is quite exciting to see it go.

Unfortunately the doors locked in the open position last summer which took him
quite a bit of fiddling to get fixed. I suppose that was better than having it
locked with users inside though.

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addled
"The price is about $100,000, and unfortunately hover conversions and flux
capacitors aren't included."

Sad that the original manufacturer options are somewhat lacking, but luckily
there are always after market add-ons:
[http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/EB00/121G.oap](http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/EB00/121G.oap)

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nereus
This same type of article about the DeLoreans comes up at least once a year.
Vaporware.

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FussyZeus
$100k for one? Holy cow. If I'm spending that I'll get a Tesla. I get the
novelty and I'm genuinely happy to see them doing it but that seems sky high
for a V6 coupe.

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jaytaylor
I was so excited!!! Then I was left sad after reading they're only going to
produce 300 of them at a rate of 1 per week out of old spare parts, except for
an updated engine.

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gbin
So you can take an old car design, you make new ones but triple the power of
the engine and... You don't need to recertify it ?

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JoeAltmaier
...but it was a terrible car! Just stylish; and now that style is dated.

~~~
SwellJoe
Still stylish.

But, I wouldn't buy one, because I like living, and I don't really want a car
that "luckily" doesn't have to meet safety standards. Also, $100k will buy a
lot of modern sports car, including a Tesla or a Nissan GT-R (depending on the
kind of supercar you like), which also happen to meet modern safety standards.
DeLorean's are beautiful, but not $100,000 worth of beautiful, to me, when
they also suffer from most of the usual failings of cars designed 40 years
ago.

~~~
mikeash
I'm sure they're aiming for the nostalgia factor. Their target market is
probably people who grew up with Back to the Future and always wanted one of
these cars but don't want to deal with finding and maintaining an old, old
used one with no manufacturer support. That demographic is getting to an age
and point in life where a decent number of them (small, but perhaps enough)
can afford this sort of price. "Dated" is exactly what you want, here. Just
the right kind of "dated."

I wouldn't buy one either. I'm in the right demographic, and nostalgic for
them, but not that nostalgic. But I think enough of my fellows are that this
will enjoy some success. It won't be a mass market item, but that's OK.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
> _I 'm sure they're aiming for the nostalgia factor._

That's a polite way of putting it. They're aiming for the kind of geek whose
money-to-sense ratio is so high that they'll pay any amount of money for a
thing that reminds them of a thing they liked when they were kids, no matter
the quality.

Granted, replacing the engine fixes the #1 problem, which was that some
dipshit thought 130 horsepower was enough for a status-symbol sports car. But
somebody that silly isn't going to stop at one mistake.

~~~
mikeash
Wasn't the engine due to tougher emissions regulations? I thought that it was
supposed to have something better, but ended up stuck with what it got because
the original plans wouldn't have passed emissions by the time they actually
started producing the car.

As for being polite, if the buyers have the disposable cash for it, who am I
to judge what they buy? Most cars are luxury purchases to an extent. Almost
nobody buys the minimum necessary. It's just a matter of how _much_
unnecessary spending you do.

