BB: So let's go for a ride.
JS: Yeah, absolutely.
I have never ridden in a DeLorean in my life.
I've never really touched one
but now I've been able to get my fingerprints
all over the stainless steel.
And I knew that I would have that opportunity
if I came to Milton.
And also I knew that Justin
was very passionate about these cars
and I wanted to find out more
about where that passion comes from.
BB: Justin.
JS: Hey Brent!
BB: Hi, it looks beautiful!
JS: Oh, thank you.
BB: Yeah, lots of hard work.
How many DeLoreans in the shop today?
JS: I've got about 12 in here today.
BB: Is any of them for sale?
JS: Yeah, we've got three or four for sale.
BB: What's the price tag?
JS: They start at about $55,000 Canadian.
BB: So they're on sale.
JS: Absolutely.
BB: Let's take a look.
BB: So the cars that come here for work
how far are they coming from?
JS: All across Canada.
I mean this one here is about 2600 kilometres
BB: Wow. And what's being done to it?
JS: It was involved in a minor collision
so we're doing some stainless repair
as well as having
some of the mechanical side of it
having to be addressed
the cooling system and so on.
BB: Stainless steel bodies must need a lot of care.
JS: Yeah, it's a completely different process
on how you end up repairing it
than a conventional steel car.
BB: This is your specialized work.
JS: Yeah, yeah.
BB: How much of the work do you do yourself?
JS: Oh, most of it.
Yeah, there's only so much we could
outsource when it comes to this
and it's not a heck of a lot.
BB: And how much of it is done by hand?
JS: Oh, most of it, as well.
We have a machine—I'll show you later
that we use to put the grain back into it
but the rest is
you know, filing and hammering, and stuff like that.
BB: So you're like a jeweller for these cars.
JS: [laughs] Of sorts, I guess.
I mean, the sense that the work is fairly specialized.
It takes time to get used to it
and how the metal works.
So it's a bit of an art.
It's unreal to be surrounded
by all of these rare cars
and each one of them
look kind of the same
but each one of them is distinct
and each one of them is remarkable.
And you know that each one of them
is the product of a lot of love and care.
BB: Justin, these look like frames.
Are they original DeLoreans?
JS: Yes. This is the original steel chassis of the vehicles.
BB: And how often do you do frame repairs?
JS: Fairly often.
Unfortunately, it is an epoxy-coated steel
and when that epoxy cracks
especially in Canadian winters
it had been exposed to salt once
that's all it took to start the rusting process
from the inside out.
BB: Usually frame damage is something
that I associate with an old car.
You consider these cars old?
JS: Absolutely. I mean they're approaching 40 years old
and in the automotive world that's quite old.
BB: Were they built to last this long?
JS: Yeah, you know, John DeLorean
engineered the car to last a minimum 25 years.
That was an ethical sports car in his mind.
So we've passed that.
BB: This is great, but I've never been in a DeLorean
or gone for a ride in one.
JS: Oh, we can make that happen.
BB: That'd be great.
JS: Awesome. Let's go.
BB: Let's do it.
BB: So this is your car?
JS: It is.
BB: It looks like a chisel.
JS: Yeah, it's pretty cool, eh?
BB: It is beautiful.
So these gull-wing doors
are they actually practical?
JS: Yeah. They take about 13 inches
of clearance to open.
BB: So let's go for a ride.
JS: Absolutely.
BB: This is low to the ground.
JS: It is.
BB: Why is it so low?
JS: Well, this one's been lowered to
European spec, per se
what the car was originally designed to.
This car is low to the ground
and Justin's car is even lower.
So my first thought was
if I smoked cigarettes I could put the
cigarettes out on the ground
without moving in my seat.
JS: Of course the car did launch during
the fuel crisis, so it was important
to have a car that passed emissions.
They got reasonably good gas mileage
for a sports car too.
So this vehicle does that
but it did come at the cost
of some of the horsepower
it was originally planned for.
BB: So Justin, what is it about this car
that has a hold on you?
JS: You know, it's a stainless steel gull-wing car.
It's incredibly cool
as far as its appearance goes.
But also with the history behind it.
I mean the John DeLorean story—
everything that you could...
need to do that same story today
couldn't happen.
It was a story
of the period, really.
I grew up in New Brunswick
and when I was a little kid in New Brunswick
we had the Bricklin
which turned out to be one of the worst cars ever made.
But it had gull-wing doors.
So there's a similarity between
the Bricklin and the DeLorean.
But having seen the DeLorean
I can see how the DeLorean
far, far outclasses the Bricklin
in almost every single way.
BB: When did you first get involved with the car?
What was your first contact?
JS: Well the first time I saw one in the flesh
was when I was nine years old
and that was when I saw
one at a used car dealership on
I believe it was, Queen and Dovercourt.
And from that moment onwards
when I realized it was a real car
and not a movie prop
that made a big difference
as to what I wanted to do.
Are you telling me you built a time machine
out of a DeLorean?
BB: Do you think this is how they get the shots
in 'Back to the Future'?
JS: You know what?
We saw some of way that was shot and
they had some test mules, or rather
movie mules, where they took out the
windshield to get some of those
shots of cut up DeLoreans.
Because there was, I believe, seven DeLoreans
used in the trilogy.
So it depends on what shot they were taking
They had one with the whole
shebang behind you
but there was nothing in front.
I wasn't a kid when 'Back to the Future' came out.
I was already grown up.
But I remember thinking
that they used the DeLorean
I knew what the DeLorean was
And I remember thinking they used the DeLorean
because it looks cool.
And it looks like it's connected to
another time.
And that's how it looks today.
BB: Does the car have the same appeal to kids
that it did when you were nine years old?
JS: You know what?
I would say so, in the sense that
I guess some of them still see it in the movie
when it's... you know, it's on Netflix now and so on.
But others who don't even know the movie
just know that it looks like a
giant Transformer of sorts.
I mean, you see this metal thing with doors open
and it doesn't look like a regular car.
You know, kids of all ages sort of
sort of look at it and be like
'What is that? That is not a car!'
Or at least a car that I'm used to.
So it does transcend generations
a little bit in that context.
BB: Justin, that was great.
I'm in love with this car!
JS: It's a loveable car.
BB: Thank you for showing it to me.
JS: You're very welcome.
Thank you for coming.
John DeLorean...
wherever you are
you got it right.