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Back to the future DeLorean time machine
There are many movie cars that have become icons of the cinema over the years.
The James Bond Aston Martin DB5.
The Batmobile.
Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls Royce – FAB 1.
The Nissan Skyline GTR from The Fast and the Furious, and many more.
In that list should be added the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future. Some would argue it belongs at the top of the list.
Strangely enough, the time machine began life as a refrigerator but it was decided to be too risky as children might try climbing inside a real one!
The DeLorean was chosen as the producers thought it ‘looked cool’ with the gullwing doors – like a spaceship in 1955.
At the time the movie was being made, Ford offered the producers $75,000 and several free Ford Mustangs to use instead.
Robert Zemekis (one of the producers) apparently replied ‘Doc Brown doesn’t drive a **** Mustang!’
Three DeLoreans were used in the movie.
A full-detail ‘Hero’ car used in most shots, a lightened and stripped out ‘stunt’ car for the speed shots, and a ‘half-car’ with literally no front end, for close up interior shots.
The stunt car was destroyed at the end of BTTF 3, when it was wrecked by a train.
Unbelievably, the wreckage was retrieved and a Japanese team rebuilt the car and it was eventually sold to a collector to be displayed at Hubbardston, Massachusetts.
The Hero car underwent a total restoration a few years ago after fans continually stole small parts from it when it was on show at the Universal Studios park.
The car is now behind glass at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
Numerous fans have also built their own replicas and many of them are as detailed as the movie car.
As a few small points of interest, 88 mph was chosen as the speed needed for time displacement, as it ‘looked good’ on the display readout. Unbelievably, the real DeLorean speedometer only actually went up to 85 mph due to a restrictive law in the USA at that time.
The sound effect used for the DeLorean engine is the one from Luke Skywalker’s Land speeder in Star Wars!
The famous ‘Mr Fusion’ reactor was actually made from a Krupps coffee grinder with virtually no alterations other than the 'Mr Fusion' decals.
The coffee grinders are no longer made and originals now fetch large sums of money.
So – Buckle up, pull your baseball cap down, accelerate to 88mph and go back to 1985 with your own build of this incredible model.
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