Back To The Future Via A De Lorean DMC-12

As we listen to Enya singing, Who can say where the road goes, where the day flows, only time? And who can say if your love grows, as your heart chose, only time? isn’t it true that we can’t keep ourselves from thinking that these days, we’re becoming slaves of time - servants of time.

Only time, aside from God, and of course, our alter-ego knows us completely. When we talk about complete - that means everything - all about our past, present and future. So it wasn’t a surprise that people before us were also fascinated with the concept of a time machine. Ya know, the thrill of controlling TIME - one of our ultimate masters.

In Back to the Future, a 1985 film directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by no other than the legendary Stephen Spielberg, a time machine was conceived in the silver screen.

According to Wikipedia, using a De Lorean DMC-12, 17-year-old Marty explored the arduous life journey via a time machine invented by scientist Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown. The car travels in a programmed date and time upon reaching 88 miles per hour through a nuclear reaction of plutonium that produces 1.21 gigawatts required to power the machine. A flux capacitor allows the car to travel through time from November 5, 1955 to 2015 and then back to 1985.

Originally, the De Lorean DMC-12, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, is a two-door sports car available in the American market from 1981 to 1983. It was manufactured in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland by the De Lorean Motor Company. So what does this car have that makes it the time machine car concept that film makers fantasize about? Well, Wikipedia identified the following features: gull-wing doors with a fiberglass underbody, stainless steel panels and a fiberglass “underbody.”

The De Lorean DMC-12 was powered by a 2.8-liter PRV V6 engine, 166 inches in length, 73.1 inches width and a height that reaches up to 44.9 inches (doors closed) or 77.2 inches (doors open). Sad to say, only 6,500 De Lorean Motor Cars, including this DMC-12 exist today. On the lighter side, I wonder if the car came with a wiper blade in the movie. Ya know, time traveling requires clearer road vision than modern car driving. One wrong move and you might find yourself in a gladiator arena. Scary.

The film was considered as one of the top-grosser films in 1985 pouring over $210 million in the United States box office. Two sequels of the same title followed in 1989 and in 1990.

Back to the Future validates humans’ inner desire to overcome time - to repair the past and see the future - in search for certainty. But as Doc puts it in the movie, “Where we’re going we don’t need roads,” as the time machine disappears into the sky.