Alleged son of John DeLorean sued for building three-wheel DMC knockoffs

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A man who claims to be the son of the late John DeLorean is in legal trouble for attempting to use the family name on a three-wheeled recreation of the Back-to-the-Future DMC-12. 

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Ty DeLorean, the alleged son, was displaying one of his custom made gullwing-door ‘DeLorean DMC 21’ three-wheelers at the British Motor Show recently when he was served trademark infringement papers from a Texas company that owns the rights to the DeLorean Motor Company brand. 

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Delorean.com restores and ships parts for the original DMC-12s, and they apparently do not appreciate anybody messing with their good name, no matter how closely related to the late founder they may be.

The car in legal question is based on the iconic three-wheel Reliant Rialto, which itself is related to the even more well-known and laughed-at Robin. But the junior DeLorean modifies the vehicle’s body, installs remote gullwing doors, a faux flux capacitor, and even adds DMC and DeLorean badges. So there’s no mistaking the image he’s going for. 

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The £20,000 ($34,300) three-wheeled knockoff runs an 850-cc four-cylinder engine, but its creator apparently has plans for an electrified model to be called the DMC 1.21 after the 1.21 gigawatt time-travel requirement in the Back to the Future films. He doesn’t intend on letting a little old lawsuit prevent him from carrying out his plans. 

Here’s what he told Cornwall Live in a recent interview:  

“While I was at the show I was hand-served papers by the DeLorean Motor Company from Texas stating that they were pursuing me in court for trademark infringement. Now me and the car are at the centre of a billion-dollar legal case which I have full intention of fighting and winning the trademark.

“Due to the success of the movies, the trademark is worth billions of dollars. There has been a lot of contested history with this trademark. Despite that I took the car out around the track with the badges on – I thought, ‘I’ll see you in court.'”

The case is reminiscent of the Gemballa controversy, which also involves the direct descendant of a late automotive giant in a battle to use the family name.