DeLorean DMC 12 – The Car’s The Star

“Wait a minute, Doc, are you telling me you built a TIME MACHINE… OUT OF A DeLOREAN?!” Marty yelled in utter bafflement and disbelief. But Doc Brown had indeed done exactly that, after all, if he was going to do it, why not do it with some style? And Doc was spot on, because the DeLorean DMC 12 was dripping with style. It was also usually dripping oil and electricity, but it had style. Interestingly, Ford actually approached Universal pictures and offered a big bag of money if the time machine could be a Mustang. One of the franchise’s creators, Bob Gale, simply replied with “Doc Brown doesn’t drive a f**king Mustang.” And Bob wasn’t wrong.

The DeLorean DMC 12 just… worked. It was cool, it was futuristic and due to some, ahem, legal proceedings, there was no longer a DeLorean motor company, meaning Universal could do what it wanted. Though it was a double-edged sword, as the lack of an actual manufacturer meant the cars had to be sourced privately. This mean that Universal didn’t have the option to go through dozens of them for filming. It had to be frugal, and as such, so few were used, you could fit them all on one car transporter and still have space. Or, you could if they all still existed. So, here’s a run through of what cars were used, and what happened to them after the film.

The ‘A’ Car

For the filming of the first Back to the Future three cars were bought from a private seller. They would go on to be A, B and C cars. The A car is what the movies refer to as the hero car. On this one, everything worked (visually), it could be used for close up and detail shots, and whenever the car was prominent in frame. This is the one we see roll out of the back of Doc’s truck through a cloud of theatrical steam, it’s the car we see in detail and it’s the main car for all the key shots. It’s also one of only two complete DeLorean DMC 12 cars to survive the production of the trilogy. After the films had wrapped, the A car was put on display at Universal, but people kept… well, they kept nicking bits off it. It ended up in a sorry state. Happily though, Universal bosses removed it and restored it. It’s still owned by Universal, but it resides today, in screen accurate condition, within the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The ‘A’ car today – Credit to the Petersen Museum 

MOVIE CAR TRIVIA: All the movie cars used the original PRV engine, however, they were dubbed over in post production with the engine sounds of a Porsche 928, and the Star Wars Landspeeder.

The ‘B’ Car

The B car was, again, a fully functional DeLorean DMC 12. However, it had no ‘time machine’ interior parts, as this was the stunt car used for driving and exterior action sequences. So the speeding scene at the Twin Pines Mall, the skidding, the return trip home, all the action driving stuff. It was a car that caused the movie mechanics a great deal of stress, as it frequently broke down, but in the end it delivered the shots. Just about. There was probably a cheer, then, when the car was destroyed at the end of BTTF3. Yes, we all want to believe that was a replica being hit by the train, but it wasn’t. It was B car. Parts were used on other replicas, and the body panels were on display at Planet Hollywood in Hawaii until it closed in 2010. Parts were then sold – after much searching – to Patrick and Bill Shea.

MOVIE CAR TRIVIA: Patrick and Bill Shea own not only parts of B car, but also a complete and running sand rail car, the Hilux (not screen used, but given away as part of a competition) and Biff Tannen’s ’46 Ford. 

The ‘C’ Car

The C car wasn’t really even a car. It started as one, granted, but in reality the car was cut up so access could be gained by cameras for interior and close up shots. The rest of the car was used to repair the A and B cars. After the films had wrapped, the C car was left in a corner and forgotten. Happily though, a renowned special effects and prop builder, Tom Talmons, used it and some of the parts to build a replica for Universal Studios Tour Japan. It was later sold, but still exists and is apparently on display in Japan at the buying company’s headquarters.

MOVIE CAR TRIVIA: The speedometer in the factory DeLorean only went to 85mph. Special dial covers were made for the movie so it could display 88mph. Why? Because 88 ‘looked cool’!

The Fibreglass Car

We hate to be the one to tell you this, but as clever as John Z. DeLorean was, his cars didn’t actually fly. Yes, devastating news, we know. To overcome this, Universal built an amazing full scale fibreglass version that the film crew could put on wires or lifts to give the illusion of flying or landing. So, when the car lands behind Cafe ’80s in the second film, that’s the fibreglass one. When it’s seen landing in 2015 Hill Valley outside Marty’s future home, that was the fibreglass car. It was beautifully detailed and dimensionally perfect, and would have made for a great museum piece. However, Universal shredded it after production. Shame.

MOVIE CAR TRIVIA: Given the Time Machine featured a manual transmission, Doc wouldn’t have been able to have the car do a brake-stand burnout at Twin Pines. Unless Einstein (the dog) was on the clutch or his RC system was really, really advanced!

The Sand Rails

For the final film, two additional cars were built, but they weren’t really DeLoreans. The were in fact Volkswagen-based ‘sand rail’ buggies, with jacked up suspension allowing the ‘DeLorean’ to plough through the rough terrain of the desert. Two were built, but one was used to keep the other running in reality. The screen-used car was partially restored and was sold at auction to Patrick and Bill Shea for over half a million dollars. It’s the only screen-used DeLorean to be in private hands. As for the other one, parts were used on the C car, and by Tom Talmon to build the car we mentioned above that now resided in Japan.

MOVIE CAR TRIVIA: BTTF is set in 1985. The car is a 1982 model, ergo three years old. However, it goes back to 1885 where it’s stored in a mine until 1955 when Doc and Marty dig it out as per 1885 Doc’s instructions. As such, when it gets back to 1985 for the final time, it is technically a seventy-three year-old car. 

The ‘Oxnard Car’

Finally, we have the Oxnard car, as it was known, due to where it was filmed – Oxnard, California. This car was purchased, dressed up as the Time Machine externally, and then modified to run on train tracks as per the scenes in BTTF3. Scale models were used too, but yes, they did have a real DeLoretrain, too. After production wrapped, the car was used for filming scenes used in the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios, and was then put on display. However, it was later replaced by a replica and put into storage where it has remained ever since. Rumour has it that there is conjecture over the legal ownership of the car, hence its current, hidden status. In fact, from what we believe, nobody is even allowed to touch it, despite Bob Gale himself being keen to have the car restored. A shame, and somewhat ironic given that now, this remaining car in its mothballed state is, when you think about it… timeless.