DMC DeLorean history
It's nearly 36 years since the first DeLorean DMC-12 was produced and about exactly 32 years since the first Back to the Future film arrived in cinemas featuring the famous car. Our Throwback Thursday today goes deep behind the scenes to reveal what you might not already know about it. Back to the Future is one of the most classic films ever, if you're old enough to remember it that is. The film was released on December 9th, 1985 and the Western world never looked back. But do you really know everything about the car and the film? The widely known facts about the DeLorean DMC-12 are muddled when I look over the Google search and I bet you lot don't know all the behind the scenes stuff about the movie either? Well for our Christmas-themed Throwback Thursday this is our focus.
I'll begin with the car as that came along first. In 1977 renegade ex-General Motors executive John DeLorean said he was hoping to go into business producing his own sports car, but even though he said it would be released a year later, it actually first went on sale on January 21st, 1981. The car was aimed directly at the festive season of 1980 with advertising schemes showing a 24-carat gold DeLorean DMC-12 with a price tag of $85,000, whereas the normal steel version of the car was on sale for just $20,000. Time magazine at the time reported on the new car, saying, "Shaped like a flying wedge, the DeLorean appears to exceed the 55mph speed limit while standing still. It is expected to get 22mpg, about the same as a diesel-powered 1981 Cadillac Brougham. Entry to its luxuriously appointed interior is through gull-wing doors that tilt up instead of swinging out." I find it so interesting to read bits of old car reviews, it gives you a great idea of what the initial reaction was to a new car back in the early 80s. Back then the car market itself wasn't really booming, but only 7 people in the whole country had put a deposit down on a gold DeLorean.
Trouble was brewing. Months later John DeLorean was accused of using the company's money to buy a ridiculous house that was said to be one of the largest real estate deals in New Jersey history. Not long after, in October 1982 DeLorean closed and John was arrested and charged with trying to save the company by selling cocaine. Luckily, he was later acquitted for that particular misgiving. The car and its creator don't have such a glamorous history really, which is a shame, but luckily for the car it had a reputation-saviour in the form of Steven Spielberg. However, the car's sales never recovered though and only 9,000 were ever produced, meaning that if you want one in good condition today you'll pay around £40,000. I'd rather have a Jaguar F-Pace Portfolio personally. But thanks to Back to the Future, the car became a worldwide sensation due to its cool time-hopping abilities and adventures with Marty and Doc. I've got some little-known treats for you about the film below. See how many of them you movie buffs already know.
Interesting DeLorean facts
Did you know?
The movie was almost called Spaceman From Pluto. Yeah, thank God for that. Apparently, Sid Sheinberg, the studio executive in charge, wrote Spielberg a little note suggesting changing the name to that because he was afraid it would fail like so many other futuristic movies of the time. Spielberg pretended he thought it was a joke and laughed it off. Today Sheinberg still maintains he was actually joking. Yeah right, Sid.
Did you know?
It was the first film to "nuke the fridge", a phrase coined after Indiana Jones shielded himself from a nuclear bomb by hiding inside a refrigerator, which is now a shorthand for a ridiculous, logic-defying plot device. This phrase was actually first carried out in Back to the Future, but we'd never know because Spielberg didn't want kids copying Marty by getting inside the family fridge at home so he axed the scene from the movie.
Did you know?
Crispin Glover, the guy who played George McFly in the film, apparently carved out a niche by making gruelling, semi-pornographic art films and touring the world with a weird PowerPoint presentation. So, unsurprisingly when Lea Thompson was invited to his apartment for some line-reading during filming, she found his home was painted completely black and devoid of all furniture apart from one stainless steel operating table in the living room. Interested to know what he's up to now? Well, apparently he lives alone in a 14-room mansion in Prague. Idyllic. The time-traveling DeLorean had to hit a certain speed to be able to travel through the wormhole, according to movie nerds, and a sample even goes into further detail saying, "If the wormhole stability was measured as lasting only 0.10717 seconds then to move a car 4.216 metres long through it before it closes you would need to be moving at 39.3395 metres per second, or 88mph." The truth is much simpler. The producers of the movie thought 88 looked cool on the digital speedometer and would be easy for the public to remember. Sorry movie nerds.
Did you know?
The DeLorean DMC-12 is actually going back into production in 2017, with 300 new cars based on the 1981 model to be produced, as long as they complete 'the process of determining the feasibility of moving forward' as a number of hurdles to do with being a small US carmaker have surfaced already. Fingers crossed they overcome them! I hope you've enjoyed today's Throwback Thursday topic. Even I learned something new and can now boast that I know more about the movie than other people. Christmas fun fact telling will be fruitful.
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