Delorean Time Machine Replica Up For Auction 431
PunkerTFC writes "I'm sure most of you remember the movie Back To The Future. Well, now you have a chance to own your very own 1982 Delorean, fully equipped for time travel. It has a "Flux Capacitor", "Time Circuits" and "exterior Flux Dispersion Banding". This thing is clearly a chick magnet, and if you can't get them on the first pass, you can always crank it up to 88 mph and go back in time to try it again! Seriously though, this car is amazing, definitely worth a look to see the details. Nothing has been missed, and my hat goes off to the builder."
Mr. Fusion? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:5, Funny)
Time to call the libyans. I'm going to send them a bomb full of pinball parts.
Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:5, Funny)
It means you can beg off giving rides through time because Homeland Security has made it impossible to obtain enough Plutonium!
With a Mr. Fusion you'd just have to give some lamer, cheap excuse....Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:3, Funny)
Like "I never thought ahead to convert my flying time machine to run on an electric engine instead of this antiquated internal combustion engine"? What kind of scientist was Doc Brown anyway.. he couldn't think of that? I imagine electric engines would be VERY common in a time when you can buy a little conversion kit called Mr. Fusion to supply gigawatts of electric power to a car. Even still, you'd think he could've built an electri
Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:4, Insightful)
My vechile is the soon to be out Ford Escape Hybrid. That way I can use Mr Fusion to bypass the gas engine when ever I want. Also the off-road is needed when travelling back to 1885.
An EV1 as no ground clearance for those old west dirt paths
Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:3, Interesting)
They then did the 3rd movie, and needed a way to have the car break down, so the combustion engine came back.
Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mr. Fusion? (Score:5, Funny)
The description says yes. (Score:4, Informative)
Unless those pictures are of the "real" one from the movie, then the one up for auction is a manual 5-speed, and someone goofed up the auction listing.
99% certainty the buyer is ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:99% certainty the buyer is ... (Score:3, Funny)
Aren't you trembling with excitement already? Doesn't matter if you're not. I know I am.
*sniffle*
Re:99% certainty the buyer is ... (Score:3, Funny)
http://achurch.org/media/ballmer.avi
Re:99% certainty the buyer is ... (Score:3, Informative)
good job. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:good job. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:good job. (Score:5, Funny)
Are you kidding? with that amount of neon, this is the ORIGINAL ricer!. All others are fakes!
Re:good job. (Score:5, Informative)
It's not that rare. You can buy a brand new DeLorean from the DMC [delorean.com]. Only runs about 30 grand -- not too bad for a "Rare" car, eh?
-JemRe:good job. (Score:5, Informative)
Do I have to do everything for you? Click on the "Sales" tab.
"All refurbished cars are "built to order" using only quality, rust-free (while the stainless bodies will never rust, the frames are prone to it, particularly in the Northeastern states) cars, using our years of expertise and our vast supply of original and correct DeLorean parts. By doing it the right way, we can offer a six month, six thousand mile limited warranty on our refurbished cars. It's as close as you can get to a brand new DeLorean, and for about the same price as you'd have paid for one when it was new!"
-JemRe:good job. (Score:3, Informative)
Otherwise I'd quickly agree with you. On the other hand, I think doing something like this would be the main idea behind me ever buying a Delorian anyway.
Re:Umm, it's a DeLorean you're talking about? (Score:3, Informative)
This proves exactly how much you don't know about what happened. John did back off. Once he found out drugs were involved, he told the guys - who were undercover FBI agents - "No deal."
Do you know how they responded? They told JZD that if he didn't follow through, they would murder his wife and his children. He didn't know they were FBI agents. He thought they were g
Try again? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Try again? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Try again? (Score:5, Funny)
Your place or mine?
Re:Try again? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Try again? (Score:5, Funny)
Ofcourse, if you could do that you most likely wouldnt be reading this. Best not to mess with the space time continueum I guess.
Re:Try again? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Try again? (Score:2)
Daniel
Re:Try again? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Try again? (Score:2, Funny)
Unless, he travels back in time to 5 minutes after the initial rejection. No wait, that would mean the girl would say 'But you just asked me out 5 minutes ago, can't you take no for an answer?'
So I guess he'd have to travel back to a point in time before the previous attempt to ask out the girl. The only trouble with tha
It has to be said,,, (Score:5, Funny)
There. Now I've gotten that out of my system.
Re:It has to be said,,, (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It has to be said,,, (Score:4, Funny)
Corrections (Score:5, Funny)
Please use phrases in the story outline the average slashdotter can understand. All this talk of "chicks" and making a "pass" is incomprehensible gobbledegook to the average Slashdot nerd. Though "you can always crank it" is perfectly OK.
P.S. The birds won't be impressed by a replica DeLorean, just like they were probably unimpressed with a glow in the dark TRON costume. Except that hacker goth chick Raven.
The good technology always dies (Score:5, Funny)
Stainless steel body that couldn't rust. Light, efficient and well designed midmount engine. Gullwing doors. Brilliant weighting and suspension that were 10 years ahead of what was in anything but supercars...
The fact that so many great ideas start off in this country and are killed before they can get the success they deserve is what's driving america down the drain
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:2, Interesting)
I would say "Welcome to the post-modern time", but it is supposed to be over.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
From Delorean Motors UK [delorean.co.uk]:
It's a Peugeot Renault Volvo V6 (PRV-6) 2849cc Bosch K-Jet fuel injected SOHC 90 degree V6. It's a US emission-controlled amalgum of the Renault 30 and Volvo B28 engines. It's often mistaken for a Renault engine due to the belts, pulleys, alternator and water pump using the Renault configuration, but the internals are common to the Volvo engine. The transmission is a slightly modified version of the R30's (both 3-speed auto and 5-speed manual). The gears are taller and the transaxle is rotated through 180 degrees for rear-mounting. The PRV-6 has been a popular choice among kit-car enthusiasts for years due to its flexibility and availability. The 3-litre 24 valve version of the PRV-6 was in new production cars up until only a few short years ago, for example in the Citroen Xantia V6 and Renault Espace V6.
Delorean Motors [delorean.com] offers upgrades for this engine.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
The DeLorean was a predominately British design, by Lotus and Colin Chapman, though there were other inputs too. The idea was American - DeLorean and Bill Collins, but the details and implementation were British.
More here [pistonheads.com].
Cheers,
Ian
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:3, Informative)
Like many things made for marketing I think. The name is a lot better than the reality. Titanium is COOL when it's on a blackbird (ok actually the stuff gets really hot) and the correct alloy is used for its purpose as an extreme exotic material. Use it on a Powerbook though and it's really just another metal, which dents easily and needs to be painted otherwise it too marks just by touch. But it still sounds cool.
Li
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:3, Funny)
Not on topic at all, but I had to jump in here and point out that a guy named "Amiga Lover" is posting to a thread named "The good technology always dies."
Just kinda struck me funny.
Weaselmancer
PS: I'm an Amiga fan too... I still have a working 500, and a 2000 with a working GVP 120 mb hard drive/8 mg mem card.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
Oxygen starvation happens anytime stainless steel is covered, so anywhere it's in constant contact with other materials the chromium oxide can wear off (admittedly it's tougher than rust there) and corrode. Grommet holes, contact points for suspension and plastic resin extras are all places that the deloreans that have until today are corroded.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:3, Informative)
Stainless steel corrodes instead of rusting.
> Light, efficient and well designed midmount engine.
Underpowered unreliable engine
> Gullwing doors.
Doors incompatible with 75% of parking spaces
> Brilliant weighting and suspension that were 10 years ahead of
> what was in anything but supercars...
Go drive one. They wallow like a boat.
I think you're a bit too influenced by the image of the car rather than the reality.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
> Stainless steel corrodes instead of rusting.
Only with certain chemicals
> Doors incompatible with 75% of parking spaces
You try opening up a normal car door with only 11 inches of space on the side of the car. Yes, 11 inches of space.
> Go drive one. They wallow like a boat.
You must have been in one with a poor suspension, mine is nice. Take some turns at high speed that other cars have to slowdown for due to how low it sits.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:5, Informative)
LOL... Another wannabe who doesn't know a damn thing about DeLoreans. A typical car door requires something like 40 inches of space to fully open. The DeLorean's gullwing doors, hinged near the center of the car, only swing out 11 inches.
Next time try some basic research before opening your mouth.
Re:The good technology always dies (Score:3, Informative)
Open wide [shada.com]
(Taken from a delorean thread [newbeetle.org] on newbeetle.org)
Yep (Score:5, Funny)
Replacement parts? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Replacement parts? (Score:2)
Yeah.... (Score:5, Funny)
But what they'll be wearing... (Score:4, Funny)
> new spandex Tron suite. The girls would be over
> you like bees on honey...!
Unfortunately, if you look closely, you'll see that the girls are all dressed in white and are carrying syringes. You probably won't have much time to conteplate it.
VMax (Score:4, Informative)
you can always crank it up to 88 mph
...if you can get it to 88mph. Those things were heavy (1200kg/2700lb) and underpowered (130bhp), and the build quality was pretty poor. And yes, I have seen one in the flesh.
Re:VMax (Score:4, Informative)
There were problems with some of the original 1981 run that caused them to need extensive work. The kinks got very quickly worked out, however. While you are correct that the vehicle, from a sports car point of view, were overpowered, don't think for a second that the car is on the level of say, Toyota Tercel. The vehicle has a V6 built by Renault-Volvo, and my old Saturn weighed just shy of 2700 lbs. The Saturn also had equal horsepower. It could do 120mph without a problem (so I hear.... cough cough), and Saturns don't have gull wing doors, or a flux capacitor.
Re:VMax (Score:3, Informative)
I've driven two different DeLoreans in the past, and no, they're not speed demons. However, they DO look cool as heck.
You can find a LOT of information on the car at http://delorean.com [delorean.com]. Go
Re:VMax (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:VMax (Score:3, Informative)
If there is anyone in NZ wanting to see one, there was one in the auto-museam north of Wellington (well there was one last time I looked anyway)
Re:VMax (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not sure how many people really get it, especially on
So of course it was (dripping with sarcasm) a big deal for a car to get to 88!
Re:VMax (Score:5, Informative)
In 1980 the US government restricted speedometers to 85mph. That lasted until 1985/1986. The majority of cars sold in the US went from 0-85mph on the speedometers. In some cases the manufacturer skirted the law in creative ways, for example Ford I believe had speedometers on their Thunderbirds or maybe it was the Mustang that went to 120mph, but the numbers stopped at 85mph, to stay within the letter of the law.
Thats why early 80's 911's originally had 85mph speedometers even though my 1968 goes up to 250kph, although most had them replaced by their owners at some point after the law was removed.
Re:VMax (Score:5, Funny)
Weight has nothing to do with it!
Re:VMax (Score:3, Insightful)
Must have for a geek my age (Score:2)
Re:Must have for a geek my age (Score:2, Funny)
old or new? (Score:5, Funny)
To put it in different words do I have to feed it plutonium or bananas?
If it's plutonium then it has too be overpriced, really difficult to get at your local gas station.
But seriously, nice job man!
Re:old or new? (Score:2)
If it's plutonium then it has too be overpriced, really difficult to get at your local gas station.
You could try asking any local Libyans - but don't rip them off. I knew this Professor that tried that...
The 80's .. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The 80's .. (Score:5, Funny)
The 80's are calling. It wants its fanboy back.
I couldn't help but notice your sig:
"Wait till they get a load of me!" - Joker, Batman the Movie (1989)
My goodness (Score:4, Funny)
Chick Magnet (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe if you filled the cup holders full of chicken feed.
Why can't this crap stay in the past? (Score:3, Funny)
That's the trouble with time travel, the probable development of a predestination paradox to irritate with outdated hype.
Bah! I'll be impressed when a replica of.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Sheer
Brutal
Horsepower
Low Bidding? (Score:2, Funny)
It's just a shame (Score:2)
worst car... ever (Score:2)
if it weren't for Back to the Future, i swear they would have all been melted down. i heard the manager of the plant was skimping on materials to finance white powder for his nose at the time... but thats just all rumour.
WARNING: not for drag racing (Score:5, Funny)
At inopportune moments, the engine might not start. Especially at around 10:04pm on dark stormy nights.
BTTF trivia (Score:5, Informative)
# The time machine has been through several variations. In the first draft of the screenplay the time machine was a laser device that was housed in a room. At the end of the first draft the device was attached to a refrigerator and taken to an atomic bomb test. In the third draft of the film the time machine was a DeLorean, but in order to send Marty back to the future the vehicle had to drive the DeLorean into an atomic bomb test.
# The device originally considered for use as the time travel machine was a refrigerator. Director Robert Zemeckis said in an interview that the idea was scrapped because he and Steven Spielberg did not want children to start climbing into refrigerators and getting trapped inside.
# The "Mr. Fusion Home Energy Converter", which is sitting on the DeLorean when Doc returns from the future, is made from (among other things) a Krups coffee grinder.
# The script never called for Marty to repeatedly bang his head on the gull-wing door of the DeLorean; this was improvised during filming as the door mechanism became faulty.
The DeLorean time machine is a licensed, registered vehicle in the state of California. While the vanity license plate used in the film says "OUTATIME", the DeLorean's actual license plate reads 3CZV657
When Marty is trying to re-start the DeLorean in 1955 as he prepares to return to 1985, the car's headlights flash the Morse Code for "SOS".
# The DeLorean used in the trilogy is 1981 model with 6-cylinder PRV engine, and the base for the nuclear reactor was made with hubcap from a Dodge Polaris. It is incorrectly quoted as being a 4 cylinder on the 2002 special edition DVD.
Re:BTTF trivia (Score:4, Interesting)
watching BTTF (Score:4, Funny)
Forget that, I want a Buckaroo's Jet Car! (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, it's a modified F-350 with a GE jet turbine.
More information [figmentfly.com]
As cool as the DMC-based Time Machine is (and I have to admit, the original B-T-T-F movie is a good memory of my teenage years), the whole BB stuff just rocked. Soooo much more wacked, and so much more fun.
Now, if I can just get Kaneda's Bike [neo-fukuoka.com] from Akira...
-Erik
Not *quite* a replica... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not *quite* a replica... (Score:3, Interesting)
However, that car lacks the grooved hood (need a 1981 model for that), and the metal plate where the window switches are is improper for the car (suppose to be 5 switches across, 2 are dummies, with the cigarette lighter located elsewhere).
Buttons on the steering wheel is also improper.
I'll stop glancing at photos and nit-picking. i k
Some factual information (Score:5, Informative)
The frame is badly rusted, and little mechanical work was done to it to ensure its reliability as a driver's car. Not to mention, the electronics were in a large part fabricated by someone without an electronics degree (stainless steel incinerator, anyone?).
As far as movie accuracy, it's very close, but far from perfect. Many details were left out since this car was built to generate income rather than be accurate to the films.
There's actually some legal dispute going on right now between the seller and the builder, being that the seller is using the builder's own photos to promote the item, i.e., copyright infringement.
Most of the comments I've seen so far here about the DeLorean as a car have been pretty misinformed. Stainless does corrode, but only in an environment that lacks oxygen. The chromium forms a protective oxide that protects the carbon steel component from rusting away. Gull-wing doors on it only take about 1 foot of clearance. The engine is heavily based on the Volvo B27 and B28F and was used for many years by them. It has a reliable track record seeing as there are real timing chains, not timing belts, that are used on it, as well as a very accurate, albeit, primitive, mechanical fuel injection.
While the car itself is not necessarily practical, the concepts behind it are. Can you imagine the reduction in paint fumes released into the environment if every car built was stainless steel? Not to mention, when some jerk comes and keys your car, not only will he destroy his key, but with some sandpaper, you yourself can remove the scratch. I'll admit the car has its flaws, but nothing that can't be corrected by someone knowledgeable about DeLoreans.
no way (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously though, everyone knows that magnets have two poles...and this one is definitely on the repelling side. Chicks will run away so fast that not even a time machine can catch up with them.
Delorean factoid (Score:4, Funny)
Time travel to the futuristic time of 2015 (Score:5, Funny)
Then again, Buck Rogers was supposed to leave on the last of NASA's deep space probes in 1987, the moon was to hurtle out of Earth's orbit in 1999, and the exploration of Jupiter's moons began in 2001.
Of course, we still have 11 years left. But even if we get Mr. Fusion, who will control the world's supply of banana peels and Old Milwaukee cans that supply its fuel? I say to you now: No Blood for Banana Peels.
Re:I love that car... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, he wasn't a junkie, he was accused of dealing cocain but was aquitted on all charges because he was entrapped.
IMHO, the real shame is that such a great designer didn't pair up with a great business manager who could make his ideas successful rather than a footnote in automotive history.
Re:I love that car... (Score:5, Informative)
This guy is right. John DeLorean got teamed up with someone who he thought was going to fuse a large amount of cash into his company in order to save it (after his original loans by the royal family were spontaneously and unfairly called.) He had no idea that this guys plan was for him to sell coke in order to get the money.
DeLorean attempted to back out, but the man threatened his daughters life. With this in mind, he agreed to go through with the deal. Only at this point did the true facts come out. This gentlman was ACTUALLY a very over zealous cop who did all of this deliberately.
Entrapment.
DeLorean was (very appropriately) acquited of all charges.
Re:I love that car... (Score:2)
Re:I love that car... (Score:5, Informative)
The Delorean had so many problems with tariffs and shipping and just a mess that many of the 9,000 cars they made sat in parking lots waiting to come to America.
To call John Delorean a thieving bastard is to not understand everything that happened. John DeLorean has stayed out of the limelight. He's been entangled in about 40 legal cases stemming from his company's bankruptcy. He personally declared bankruptcy in September 1999. He was evicted from his house in 2000.
So much for the "thieving bastard".
Re:I love that car... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I love that car... (Score:3, Interesting)
He went to school at Lawrence Tech, where my ex just happened to have gone and shared with me stories that have been passed down about the man.
One such story is that he typed up letters claiming to be from the power company, saying that the company had underpaid by $5 and to remit payment to a PO Box.
He sent these letters to a number of companies -- the PO box being his own personal box.
He was tried for it and levied a fine... ironically the fine was LESS
The other car in Back to the Future... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The other car in Back to the Future... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I love that car... (Score:3, Informative)
John Z DeLorean, Ireland, Flux Capacitors (Score:5, Interesting)
He was neither Irish, nor a junkie. He was an American of French decent, and was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, and aquitted due to the cop's obvious attempt to entrap him.
That's right. I used to have a DeLorean (rare, 1983 model, note the fuel fill door on the hood) [glowingplate.com] and still have a driver's side gull wing door kicking around my garage. Lemme tell you, they're already a pain in the ass to work on - the engine is in the back and there are the little "sail windows" which give it the rough profile of a hatchback when it isn't. I can't imagine how it is to try to get at the motor with all the BTTF props on it!
Anyway, I read a lot about DeLorean. Here's the problem. DeLorean was a former Pontiac executive, and one of the creators of the Pontiac GTO.
Angered with GM, he wrote a scathing book, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors" in which he detailed how the first Chevy Vega tore itself in half after only 8 miles on the test track [canadiandriver.com].
(The Vega and its twin the Pontiac (dis)Astre, [carguyart.com] was the predecessor to the Chevette, produced from 1971-1977, and is probably the single worst car ever made by Detroit - still not so bad compared to lots of early Japanese and Eastern European cars, though... Renault Beep-Beep Dauphine!)
DeLorean decided to make his own personal luxury car, the ethical luxury car. Stainless steel body that would never rust, best of the best materials (yeah, as a former DeLorean owner, tell me how to fix dents in the stainless steel!). By the time he'd arranged for the production (factory in Ireland for the tax breaks), it was 1981.
When the Guigaro (same styling house that did most VW, Hyundai, Audi) styled the DeLorean, it was the mid-1970s. Such a simple rectangular, clean car was unheard of.
In 1978 Ford introduced the Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr, also the restyled "Fox-body" Mustang. GM introduced the super-square Impala about this time - all of these are things that we associate with 1980s cars, versus the rounded and skirted shapes of 1970s cars. All of a sudden, the DeLorean's simple clean angular body wasn't so cutting-edge.
In 1981, inflation was rampant, and the economy was doing poorly. Chrysler was on the verge of bankruptcy. When you factor in inflation, gasoline was more expensive then than it is now. People were not in the mood to buy luxury cars; people were buying Chevettes and Ford Escorts and Plymouth Reliants. DeLorean's nascent car company launched at the wrong time.
By 1983, he was running out of money. The cars were already looking dated as the simple early 1980s angular shape was giving way to the "Aerobird" shapes of the new 1984 Thunderbird, Cougar and Tempo, all premiering in the 1983 car show circuit. There was no money to restyle and retool, and DeLorean started to look for other ways of keeping the company afloat, at least for a little while.
The car had been produced with massive subsidies from the (North/South - can't remember which) Irish government. When the company finally folded (with a little over 2,000 DeLorean DMC-12 sports cars produced), the government destroyed all the stamping dies and tooling to ensure that no more DeLoreans would ever be made.
Re:Hahahahah (Score:5, Funny)
So in some contexts, and dependig on what babes you are looking for...
Guigiaro... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:just last night... (Score:3, Interesting)