The DeLorean DMC-12 drove its way into movie history in "Back to the Future," but there's
a lot about this iconic car that you may not know.
From its cramped interior to its souped-up engine, this is the history of everyone's
favorite two-door time machine.
The true story behind the DeLorean DMC-12 is a wild one, and the man behind the iconic
car is a huge part of it.
John DeLorean was the youngest division head in General Motors' history, responsible for
the GTO and the Firebird when he was head engineer at Pontiac.
After the success of the GTO, DeLorean's personality and lifestyle changed — and tensions between
him and other GM executives grew.
After leaving GM, the maverick engineer founded the DeLorean Motor Company in 1975, wanting
to disrupt the automotive industry with a sports car that was safe, sustainable, and fuel-efficient.
Despite its futuristic look and early interest, though, the DMC-12 wasn't everything DeLorean
had promised — and the new motor company experienced funding issues before the factory
in Northern Ireland began production.
Giorgetto Giugiaro, the lauded automotive designer, based the DMC-12 on his design for
the one-off concept car called the Porsche Tapiro.
Giugiaro also designed the Lotus Esprit, which became James Bond's underwater car in 1977's
"The Spy Who Loved Me," suggesting that the DeLorean was destined for the silver screen.
In October of 1982, John DeLorean was arrested for drug trafficking after meeting with agents
in an undercover sting operation.
DeLorean was charged with conspiracy to distribute 55 pounds of cocaine, in what most believed
was a desperate attempt to raise funds to save his fledgling motor company.
Weeks after DeLorean's arrest, the DeLorean Motor Company declared bankruptcy.
In 1984, DeLorean was acquitted by a jury when they ruled that Hoffman and the FBI had
entrapped the automotive innovator — but the damage had been done to both his company
and his public standing.
DeLorean's financial and legal troubles continued after DMC went belly-up.
DeLorean was accused of misappropriating funds and was sued by investors.
"I have no hostility, no, no desire for revenge, I'm not mad at anybody.
I just want to get on with my life."
The British government also investigated DeLorean, who faced trials for fraud and embezzlement.
Civil suits settled in the decades following the dissolution of his company drove DeLorean
to bankruptcy, and he was forced to sell his New Jersey estate to Donald Trump in 2000.
John DeLorean died in 2005 after suffering a stroke.
He was 80 years old.
The time machine for the "Back to the Future" trilogy wasn't always intended to be the iconic
DeLorean DMC-12.
In an early iteration of the script, the time machine was a refrigerator that Doc Brown
carted around in the back of a pickup.
Director and co-writer Robert Zemeckis told the Santa Barbara Film Festival,
"We actually had thought of putting a time machine in a refrigerator at one point.
But [...] we worried that kids would start locking themselves in refrigerators."
Not only was the time machine originally much colder, but an early version of the "Back
to the Future" script almost nuked the fridge 25 years before everyone's favorite archeologist
did so in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
In an early version of the script, the fridge is taken to a nuclear test site, where it
harnesses the power of the nuclear blast to send Marty McFly back to 1985.
After being told that the production needed to cut the budget by $1 million, Zemeckis
and writer-producer Bob Gale eventually realized that a lightning strike supplying 1.21 gigawatts
to the flux capacitor was a much more elegant solution.
Thus, "Back to the Future" was saved from the ridicule "Indiana Jones" experienced after
the fourth film in his franchise depicted a lead-lined fridge being used to survive
an atomic blast.
After Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale decided that Doc Brown's time travel device should
be mobile, Zemickis had an epiphany.
Gale told Box Office Mojo,
"Zemeckis came up with this idea that it would be cool to use a DeLorean because it could
be mistaken for a flying saucer."
"The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with
some style?"
The futuristic look of the DeLorean was an important reason for the decision.
Zemeckis told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,
"We chose the DeLorean basically because it was the only car that existed that had gull-wing
doors and would look kind of like a spaceship to someone in the '50s."
When Marty crashes into a barn on Mr. Peabody's farm after arriving in 1955, Peabody's son
is quick to make the connection between the DMC-12 and a spaceship, showing his family
the cover of the comic book he was reading about aliens from outer space.
After Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale decided that their time machine should be a car, automotive
giants courted the studio.
Ford reportedly offered the studio $75,000 if they used a Mustang in "Back to the Future."
This wasn't an unreasonable request, considering how the liberal use of product placement helped
display the time periods Marty and Doc visit during the three films.
Still, Gale was quick to shoot the offer down by saying,
"Doc Brown doesn't drive a f---ing Mustang!"
The studio handled much of the movie's product placement without input from Zemeckis and
Gale, but the co-creators of "Back to the Future" had their hearts set on the DeLorean.
They made a licensing deal with John DeLorean in 1989, giving Universal Studios merchandising
and commercial use of the car's design for 5% of the revenue.
Universal Pictures used six DMC-12s and one fiberglass replica for the "Back to the Future" trilogy.
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale gave their designers little guidance, but insisted that the machine
look homemade, as the eccentric Doc Brown had constructed it in the privacy of his garage.
Artist Ron Cobb, illustrator Andy Probert and production designer Larry Paull worked
on renderings for the time machine.
Mike Scheffe, the vehicle construction coordinator, along with special effects supervisor Kevin
Pike and his team, gave multiple DeLoreans a makeover for the "Back to the Future" trilogy.
Keeping the DMC-12s in tip-top shape during production was a constant struggle, as the
cars were quite fragile and broke down often during filming.
There were three cars modified for the first film: car "A" was the big star, while car
"B" did stunt work and car "C" was used for interior shots.
For the second and third films, more DeLoreans joined the fleet.
The fiberglass replica was used for flying scenes, and the "B car" was modified to fit
on the railroad tracks for the third film.
Finally, "desert car #1" and "desert car #2" were used for the last movie in the trilogy,
when Marty travels to the Old West to save Doc Brown.
During his time running his company, John DeLorean had plans to make a turbocharged
version of the DMC-12.
He even had a contract with Legend Industries, a U.S.-based company that would handle the conversion.
Sadly, his plans for a turbocharged DMC-12 were scrapped before the DeLorean Motor Company
went bankrupt, as Legend Industries itself went bankrupt while waiting for DMC to fix
their production and funding issues.
The DMC-12 had 130 horsepower and accelerated from zero to 60 miles per hour in just over
10 seconds, which wasn't as good as its contemporary competition.
In 1981, one of these competitors was the Porsche 911, another rear-engine sports car
that was lighter and faster.
Therefore, Universal Studios decided to replace the DMC-12's original V6 engine with one from
a Porsche instead.
This alteration essentially created a supercharged version of the DMC-12, similar to what DeLorean
planned on offering in response to complaints about the car's speed and power.
"Does it run, like, on regular unleaded gasoline?"
"Unfortunately no, it requires something with a little more kick.
Plutonium!"
The original speedometer of the DMC-12 only reached 85 miles per hour, as a 1979 mandate
signed into law by President Jimmy Carter capped them at that number to deter speeding.
The effects department of "Back to the Future" had to swap out the DeLorean's original speedometer
with one that reached 95mph, and they also added a digital one to the dashboard for accuracy
and dramatic effect.
While this might seem like a minor detail, Doc Brown's DeLorean must hit 88 miles an
hour to enter the past or future, making the enhancement absolutely necessary.
But why was 88 miles per hour the number Zemickis and Gale decided on?
There are some scientific theories about rates of speed and wormholes in the "Back to the
Future" universe, but the truth is apparently much more simple.
Gale reportedly told ComicBook,
"First of all we wanted it to be a speed that somebody wouldn't accidentally drive at.
The other thing is, it's easy to remember."
"When this baby hits 88 miles per hour… you're gonna see some serious s---.”
Although "Back to the Future" secured the DeLorean DMC-12 a place in cinematic history,
the filmmakers admitted it wasn't always a cooperative star.
Bob Gale told Esquire,
"As cool as it looks on film, it's by no means a performance car.
It broke down a lot, and little things on the car would break during a scene, and we'd
have to wait for the FX guys to repair it."
The gull-wing doors on the DMC-12 ruined multiple takes during one exceptionally chilly night
while filming the lightning strike scene.
The doors of the DMC-12 are supposed to remain up thanks to gas-filled cylinders, but the
doors wouldn't stay open in the frigid conditions.
The crew resorted to warming the cylinders with hair dryers between takes to keep the
doors open while filming.
Although Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd became close friends over the years, Fox never
expressed kind words about his automotive co-star.
Fox joked to Nerdist,
"I wish I had a video, a gag reel of how many times I was hit by that freakin' door, the
DeLorean door.
Take after take, it would go, WHACK!"
Despite not enjoying working with the DMC-12, Fox must have recognized they made a dynamic
duo on-screen.
One of the DMC-12s used in "Back to the Future," known as the "C" car, was cut apart in order
to film interior shots of the time machine.
The cabin of a DeLorean, especially with all the stylistic modifications, was simply too
cramped for a 35-millimeter Panaflex camera and an actor to fit inside.
That's why the scenes filmed in the "C" car were shot on the backlot of Universal Studios,
and the background outside the cabin of the DMC-12 was projected.
The "C" car ended up being used for interior shots in all three films.
Michael J. Fox reportedly hated working with the DeLorean while filming the sci-fi trilogy,
and the cramped interior was a source of his hatred.
He told Nerdist,
"It was the worst thing to drive.
It had two gears, and I slammed the gears, and my hand would smash into the flux capacitor.
My hand would be bleeding, my head would be bleeding [...] and I had to clean it off to
get to the 'Family Ties' set."
"Let's land on him, we'll cripple his car."
"Marty, he's in a '46 Ford, we're in a DeLorean.
He'd rip through us like we were tin foil."
The "hero car," or car "A" — which was featured in most scenes and beauty shots from the "Back
to the Future" trilogy — was used by Universal Pictures and Universal Studios for promotional
purposes for years.
The "Back to the Future" theme park ride was filmed with the "A" car, but after years of
use, it was left to the elements in the park and began to deteriorate.
Fans took pieces of the car home, and it was in sorry shape.
The "hero car" was given a museum-quality restoration by Terry Matalas and Joe Walser,
who had already made a couple of replicas before convincing Universal to allow a team
to take on the restoration.
The 20-person team spent over a year restoring the DeLorean to its pristine film-star condition
— and after the restoration was completed in 2013, the "hero car" was displayed at the
Universal Experience.
In 2016, the hero car was loaned to Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and it's
been on display there ever since.
In 2021, the "hero car" became the 29th car added to the National Historic Vehicle Register
because of its cultural significance.
The fiberglass replica that was used for the flying scenes in the sequel was put on display
at Universal Studios, but was destroyed years later.
The "B" car, nicknamed the "wreckage car," did all the stunts and was destroyed by a
train after it was retrofitted with train wheels for the third film.
Parts of the "B" car were used in replicas, and some panels were hung from the ceiling
of Planet Hollywood in Hawaii.
The car later became part of a private collection owned by father-son duo Bill and Patrick Shea.
Many parts from the "C" car, which had already been cut apart, were used to build a replica
for Universal Studios in Japan.
A private company ultimately purchased this replica, and they displayed it at their entrance.
The "Oxnard car," which was used during filming of "Back to the Future Part III" in Oxnard,
California, was displayed at Universal Studios Florida before being put in storage, where
it still languishes.
Two "desert" cars were also used while filming the third movie in Monument Valley.
One was restored for a private collection, and the other was initially used for parts.
What remained was later combined with parts from the "C" car to make the replica for display in Japan.