DeLoreans heading back to a new future

"After working on these cars practically every day for 25 years, we've identified most of the issues and replaced them," Wynne said. "If there's a better part available, we'll use it. If there's a better way to install it, we'll do it."

The base price of a new DeLorean is expected to be $57,500 — roughly the same price a 1981 DeLorean would have cost in today's dollars. The company will sell the cars from its shop in Humble and affiliate shops in Bonita Springs, Fla., Crystal Lake, Ill., Bellevue, Wash., and Orange County, Calif. DMC also has a shop in the Netherlands for European owners.

"It's taken years to get the wheels moving, and they're moving slowly, but we've got motion," Wynne said.

Ken Baker likes the company's direction — so much so that the Bentley and Rolls Royce sales executive in Fort Lauderdale drives his own original DeLorean and heads that region's DeLorean owners group.

A car guy to the core, Baker says he became enamored with John DeLorean in high school after reading DeLorean's book, "On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors," the author's critical look inside his former employer.

DeLorean was the antithesis of the buttoned-down auto executive of his day, sporting designer suits, dating models and moving in celebrity circles. While at GM in the 1960s, he created what some consider the first "muscle car," putting a V-8 engine into a Pontiac Tempest and calling it the GTO.

When DeLorean began making his own car in Northern Ireland in 1981, Baker says he fell in love with it. Of course, as a teenager, he wasn't able to shell out $25,000. Now, at 41, Baker is a proud DeLorean owner.

"You have to understand it's a car that never got to its full development because it was gone before it really hit its prime," Baker said. "And you have to realize it's 25 years old. But understanding that, it's fun to drive and very comfortable."

DeLorean couldn't sell enough of the cars to sustain the business. The company folded in 1983, a year after DeLorean was busted in a drug trafficking sting and accused of conspiring to sell $24 million worth of cocaine to salvage the venture. He used an entrapment defense to win acquittal, but legal entanglements plagued him for years. He died in 2005 at age 80.

Kevin Smith, editorial director for automotive Web site Edmunds.com, said he's interested to see if the Humble effort fares better than the Irish debacle. He said quality control is often an issue with limited production, "but I'm always optimistic for people who want to make new and interesting cars."

The newest version of the DeLorean will certainly be interesting and exclusive, Smith said, "and for some people with means, that's enough."

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