Within a year, the DeLorean could go “Back to the Future” and into production.

We first saw the “Time Machine” nearly four decades ago.

The first one rolled off an assembly line overseas 37 years ago Sunday. When production stopped, Stephen Wynne, the CEO of DeLorean Motors said his company focused on overhauling existing cars.

But a little more than a year ago, the federal government gave companies like his approval for limited production.

That led to lots of inquiries from possible customers.

“As we stand now, the list is some 5,000 strong. And we’ve done no marketing whatsoever,” Wynne said.

Wynne hopes to begin production in his Houston-area facility in about a year on the 38th anniversary of the first DeLorean.

#delorean plans to start building cars in #houston KPRC2 / Click2Houston Posted by KPRC2 Ryan Korsgard on Monday, January 22, 2018

It would be the first manufactured on American soil.

“You could not believe the interest to the degree that we’ve been trying to be a little bit more low profile with the press because at the moment we don’t want to make the expectations too high until we know the final specifications of the car,” Wynne said.

He said his company is now waiting for the final federal guidelines before beginning production. Wynne said he would start with about 20 cars a year and graduate to about 100 a year with more than double the horsepower of the original and the latest technology.

“It’s going to be really exciting to see all of this come together and take the DeLorean to where we think it should be,” he said.