Wednesday 21st October 2015

Back to the Future day: PH Blog

Lusting after DeLoreans on the day the film made famous

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October 21 2015 is the day. At approximately 4:29pm, Marty McFly and Doc fly to the future in 'Back to the Future: part II'. Thanks to the film, the Delorean DMC-12 has of course acquired quite a following. Back in the 80s the car had the ingredients to be something really special: gullwing doors, fibreglass chassis, brushed stainless steel body and a rotary engine. Unfortunately, most of those plans had to be scrapped including the chassis and engine, the production models using a Peugeot-Renault-Volvo fue- injected V6. Colin Chapman was brought in to work on the DeLorean chassis. Then it all sort of went rather wrong, what with the bankruptcy and the drug trafficking charges...

Anyway, that's a story for another time. Today is about celebrating the car and the film it made famous because the DMC-12 remains such an icon to many. See the Petrolicious film from earlier this year for further proof. If you do fancy a DeLorean today, 6,500 of the 9,000 produced are believed to have survived; there are even a couple on PH, albeit both priced at POA. In Florida. I'll be waiting a while yet then. Apparently the dealer has 15 available...

But if Marty and Doc were to make a trip back to the future in 2015, what would they use? Surely the Tesla Model S P85D with Ludicrous mode would be the obvious choice. Not only does it look to the future with its innovative interior and battery power, a 0-60mph time of 2.8 seconds should mean it gets to 88mph very swiftly indeed...

And what about the other innovations? Nike has patented a self-lacing trainer and Lexus has tested a hoverboard. We're getting there! But in all that hope and optimism, we will now have to accept that Back to the Future is about the past. Oh dear.

Nik

[Alias218]

Great Scott!* IMO the Tesla Model S is a poor choice. It is far too conventional looking, which I concede in the realms of EV marketing is spot on. However, as a vehicle analogous to the DMC-12, I feel the BMW i8 pips the Model S. It looks outlandish, has a suitably modern powertrain, has a composite chassis and gullwing doors! I'm sure I read somewhere that it can be spec'd with a flux capacitor too.




*I make no apologies for this.

Edited by Alias218 on Wednesday 21st October 16:13

[ajprice]

A DeLorean EV? http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/motoring-iss...

[98elise]

ocallen said:

I had the misfortune of driving one of these twenty odd years ago, it was the worse car I have ever driven despite the poor owner spending a fortune on it.

You need to drive more cars!

They were not good by any measure, but there were far worse cars to drive

[Tomatogti]

he'll actually arrive tomorrow (4.29 Pacific time is 29mins past midnight for us!)

[heisthegaffer]

Fibreglass chassis? Are we sure about this?

[anonymous-user]

98elise said:

ocallen said:

I had the misfortune of driving one of these twenty odd years ago, it was the worse car I have ever driven despite the poor owner spending a fortune on it.

You need to drive more cars!

They were not good by any measure, but there were far worse cars to drive

I would use the words "underwhelming" and "disappointing" but you only need to work through British Leylands back catalogue for some much more pitiful cars, let alone sampling some delights from the other side of the Iron Curtain.

I still want one though. Really, really badly.

[MiseryStreak]

heisthegaffer said:

Fibreglass chassis? Are we sure about this?

article said:

Back in the 80s the car had the ingredients to be something really special: gullwing doors, fibreglass chassis, brushed stainless steel body and a rotary engine. Unfortunately, most of those plans had to be scrapped including the chassis and engine

Such a great film. You notice new things every time you watch it, last night I thought I recognised one of the kids playing the arcade machine, it's Elijah Wood, AKA Frodo Baggins. Who could have predicted he'd be a multi-millionaire star of one of the biggest film franchises ever back in 1987?

[crofty1984]

My Mrs hated it. Tough.

[MiseryStreak]

crofty1984 said:

My Mrs hated it. Tough.

I think you had to have grown up with it, I can understand someone watching it now and thinking it a bit pony. Still divorce them pronto though.