Car and Driver: No Assembly Required: A New Kit-Car Law Could Spawn a Repli-Mod Industry

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From the July 2016 issue

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Wouldn’t it be great if the coolest cars in history could go back into production? The currently finite supplies of fragile vintage metal could be augmented by reproductions updated with modern engines and technology. Well, fantasize no longer; a provision in last year’s FAST Act highway-funding law lays the groundwork for such a reality.

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300:

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Today the DeLorean motor company is just a restoration shop specializing in the iconic gullwinged sports car. By next year, it could be building the first of 300 replicas with modern mechanicals.

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Originally introduced as the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, the law allows manufacturers to apply for an exemption from NHTSA safety and crash-test standards for up to 325 “replica motor vehicles” annually. These repli-mods still will have to meet current-year emissions standards, which will require new EPA-certified production engines and emissions controls. NHTSA will grant a waiver only to companies building fewer than 5000 vehicles worldwide annually, and the replicas will need to be licensed from the original manufacturer. That last detail is exciting, as it ­creates a potential profit motive for carmakers to sanction revivals of their most memorable designs.

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The immediate beneficiary is today’s kit-car industry, which will be able to sell turnkey Shelby Cobra clones and Ford hot rods with engines already installed. While that intent is clear, the language concerning what constitutes a replica opens further possibilities. Apart from requiring a new engine, the law merely states that a replica be “intended to resemble the body of another motor vehicle that was manufactured not less than 25 years before.”

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“That definition is a gray area,” admits Stuart Gosswein, senior director, federal government affairs at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), which helped draft the legislation. Another issue that remains unresolved by the federal law is how states might change their registration processes for these cars. While SEMA is officially focused on shepherding the law through its initial implementation, others hope the new legislation leads to a cottage industry of specialty-car builders similar to that in Great Britain.

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One of the first ventures announced in the wake of the law is a plan to build new DeLoreans. Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company intends to use its cache of millions of new old-stock DMC-12 parts to build 300 copies of the iconic gullwing coupe, with prices in the $80,000-to-$100,000 range. The cars will be upgraded with modern instrumentation and larger wheels and brakes to handle up to 375 horsepower. Vice president James Espey says his company will start production in the spring of 2017, “assuming the EPA and NHTSA stay on point.”

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• Great Scott! This Is the Awesome Jacket We Got on the 1981 DeLorean Press Trip-
• Movie-Car Comparo: Batmobile vs. Starsky & Hutch, De Lorean, Mad Max, General Lee-
• Lego Introduces 1167-Piece Classic Volkswagen Beetle Kit-

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The agencies have a December deadline for finalizing rules related to the law, though the industry is still cautious of possible bureaucratic delays. “As we know, NHTSA has a lot of things on its plate,” says SEMA’s Gosswein.

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CHROMECASTING

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-John Fox, the former body-shop owner behind Your Car in Diecast, defines his business succinctly: “I am a restoration shop in 1/18-scale cars.” Send him a die-cast model plus detailed photos of your collector car, and he will transform the toy into an exact miniature reproduction of the real thing. Fox uses resin and polyester body filler to create details such as hood scoops and vinyl roofs. A paint job includes authentic factory formulations, wet sanding, and clear-coat. The cost? About $250. For more-complex projects, go ahead and add another digit to the price–just like a real restoration.

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