Stuff - UK (2020-11)

DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE! ON SALE 29 OCT

oooh, 88mph! Flux capacitor!

1.21 gigawatts of power! What

an amazing car! I want one!

Steady on. Yes, we get that the

DeLorean is an iconic movie car — and set to

get another injection of popularity-fuel from

the Back to the Future 35th anniversary 4K

Blu-ray. But the time machine version... well,

it’s not real. What’s real is that a car designed

as a relatively affordable luxury ended up an

overpriced, underpowered catastrophe that

helped bankrupt a company, before it got all

mixed up in myth and legend. Still, we admit

driving around in one would be pretty cool.

Until you have to park, right? How did Doc

Brown manage when he went shopping?

This might come as a surprise, but that’s one

of the myths. A benefit rather than a problem,

the gull-wings actually need less clearance

space than conventional car doors. Another

perceived drawback that has real-world

advantages is the stainless steel panelling

bolted to the carbon fibre frame. Had a prang?

Replace the panel! Spotted a stain? Clean

it off with petrol! Try doing that with your

brand new BMW! (Actually, don’t — we don’t

want to be responsible for you wrecking your

car’s otherwise spotless finish.)

So... I should buy one for easier parking and

clean it with the same stuff that fuels it?

That depends. Do you like hype? Do you like

to think different? Are you keen on creaky

old hardware you’ll spend countless hours

maintaining? If so, have at it. You’ll marvel at

this car’s forward-thinking components... but

cry out in pain at its lack of power assistance

when stuck in traffic. Still, if you do invest,

it turns out these old cars are durable: of

the roughly 9000 originally made, two thirds

are still on the road. Although it is of course

possible they all time-travelled here from

21 October 1985.

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DMC DeLorean

O

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES 1981

Bucks to

the future

The car’s original name was

DMC-12, referring to how

many thousands of dollars it’d

cost – a bit of a snag when

the final price turned out

to be over twice that.