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The time machine in Back to the Future was built around a real 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, but its nuclear reactor, time-travel controls and fire effects were movie inventions. The film arrived in 1985. Here are 11 details that separate the production car from the machine created for the screen.
What year is the Back to the Future DeLorean?
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It was a 1981 DMC-12
The car at the heart of the time machine was a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12. The film was released four years later, in 1985. Universal’s film page identifies the movie; the production notes and DeLorean Motor Company’s buyer guide identify the car. [Universal Pictures; Classic DeLorean Motor Company]
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The movie’s writers wanted a mobile time machine
The writers initially considered making the time machine a refrigerator. They decided it needed to move, then considered putting it in a sports car. Co-writer Bob Gale said the gull-wing DeLorean’s comic potential helped settle the choice. The screenplay was drafted beginning in fall 1980, according to the official production notes. [Official production notes]
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The production car’s doors helped make it memorable
The DMC-12’s distinctive gull-wing doors were part of its real design, not a movie modification. Haynes Motor Museum says the doors use preset torsion bars and nitrogen-charged struts. Their unusual shape also gave the filmmakers a visual feature with comic possibilities. [Haynes Motor Museum; Official production notes]
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What was real, and what was added for the movie?
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The time-travel equipment was fictional dressing
The production wanted the machine to look homemade, as if an eccentric inventor had assembled it in a garage, while also housing a nuclear reactor. Artists and special-effects staff developed its look; Michael Scheffe sourced unusual components for details including the flux capacitor, dashboard, vents and side coils. None of that equipment was part of a stock DMC-12. [Official production notes]
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The real car had a conventional V6 engine
Classic DeLorean Motor Company describes the production DMC-12’s engine as a 2.8-liter, all-aluminum PRV V6 rated at 130 hp. Peugeot, Renault and Volvo jointly manufactured the engine. The car’s real powertrain was a conventional road-car setup, not a nuclear system. [Classic DeLorean Motor Company buyer guide]
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There were three DeLoreans for the first film
Universal’s production notes say the filmmakers purchased and modified three DeLoreans for the movie. MotorTrend describes them as used 1981 DMC-12s: an A-car used as the hero car, a B-car for stunts and a C-car adapted for interior filming with cameras. That division of roles comes from MotorTrend’s reporting, while the official notes establish the number purchased. [Official production notes; MotorTrend]
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Fire effects came from added equipment
The streaks of flame the time machine leaves behind were effects created for the film. The official production notes say four firejets were added to shoot flames as the vehicle accelerated and prepared to travel through time. They were not a feature of the road-going DeLorean. [Official production notes]
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What was the production DeLorean like?
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Its stainless-steel body was made in bonded sections
Haynes Motor Museum describes the body shell as upper and lower sections bonded together and covered with brushed stainless-steel panels. That finish, along with the gull-wing doors, made the production car visually distinctive even before the film’s added machinery. [Haynes Motor Museum]
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More than 9,000 were made
Classic DeLorean Motor Company says more than 9,000 DMC-12s were built from 1981 through 1983, just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland. The company is separate from the original DeLorean Motor Company, but says it holds the rights to the DeLorean name and logo, along with remaining parts, tooling and drawings. [Classic DeLorean Motor Company buyer guide]
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Aoshima Back to The Future: Time Machine Detail Up Parts 1:24 Scale Model Kit- An import from Aoshima
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The factory offered two transmissions and two interior colors
Classic DeLorean Motor Company’s buyer guide lists black or gray interiors and a choice of three-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission. These were factory options for the production car, separate from the movie-specific control panels fitted to the time machine. [Classic DeLorean Motor Company buyer guide]
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Museum-listed performance figures describe a displayed example
For the 1981 DeLorean in its collection, Haynes Motor Museum lists a 2,850cc V6, 130 bhp, 0–60 mph in 9.6 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph. These are the museum’s specifications for its displayed car, not results from independent testing in this article. [Haynes Motor Museum]
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How did the movie use 88 mph?
The time machine’s famous 88-mph threshold is a story detail, not a stock-car specification. MotorTrend reports that the production made a fake speedometer template reaching 95 mph because the stock DMC-12 speedometer, like many speedometers of its period, stopped at 85 mph. That account concerns the film prop; it does not mean the production car’s actual speedometer showed the movie’s fictional threshold. [MotorTrend]
Who designed and built the screen machine?
In a later clarification on the official franchise site, Bob Gale credited Ron Cobb and Andrew Probert with the paper design, Kevin Pike’s special-effects team with construction, and Michael Scheffe with artistic supervision. The 1985 production notes describe Scheffe as vehicle construction coordinator. Gale explicitly said George Barris was not involved. [Official production notes; Bob Gale clarification]
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