delorean dmc 12 back to the future 3 restored
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Restored! DeLorean DMC-12 from 'Back to the Future III'

When the scriptwriters Robert Zemeckis y Bob gale they began to write the plot of 'Return to the future', they had several ideas about what was going to embody to the time machine. Among them was a futuristic laser beam, and even a simple refrigerator. However, the visual power of a car accelerating towards another era, disappearing behind a trail of fire heading to the future, or to the past… is a winning frame. But concretely What car to choose?

Well, that machine could only be the DeLorean. A coupe with one of motorsport's most exciting stories. Futuristic, with a unique design, extremely rare, even in its birth and production ... it was probably the perfect car for the movie. About seven copies were used throughout the three installments of the saga; and the three that were not destroyed in the filming, were lost in a warehouse in Los Angeles. Three generational icons, three symbols of cinema from the '80 condemned to oblivion ...

Fortunately, two have been recovered by Universal Pictures for display in their theme parks -one of them by Bob Gale himself-, while the remainder is safely in the hands of a private individual: exactly, is the DeLorean that in Back to the Future III He goes to 1885 to find Doc and that here you can see surrounded by Indians in the middle of Monument Valley ...

FROM THE BIG SCREEN TO ABANDONMENT AND REBIRTH

Whether on the big or small screen, millions of viewers - especially those born in the '80s - have the scenes in which the DeLorean jumps from period to period in the saga engraved on our retina Return to the future. We have all fantasized about putting a number on your marker and going to explore other times. However, despite being an icon of mass culture, the three Delorean survivors of the filming were left for years abandoned in a warehouse.

In fact, this one that we bring you today The Escudería, had for years a fallen tree on its back. Fortunately, all three are in good health today, being able to see them in many exhibitions. This is the only one in the hands of an individual: Bill Shea, who acquired it at auction in 2011 for $ 541.000!

How could a car that barely started, battered and equipped with a simple engine from a Volkswagen Beetle cost so much? Well, it's the DeLorean from Back to the Future III, the one that tens of millions of viewers have seen on the big screen, the car reproduced in thousands of thumbnails with which they have played entire generations.

The restoration has taken six years, but the results are spectacular. Everyone wants to be photographed with one of the most recognizable cars in the history of cinema and, for this reason, its current owners walk it in many events in order to raise funds for the Fox Foundation, promoted by Michel J. Fox -protagonist of the saga- for the fight against Parkinson's. The passion of an individual at the service of a good cause.

delorean back to the future III
The legendary indicators of the interior. What year are we going?

MONEY, FAME, BANKRUPTCY AND DRUGS: THE DELOREAN MOTOR COMPANY

The history of the DeLorean is one of the most cinematic in the automotive world, And not just because their only produced model became the time machine. No, the story of the DeLorean Motor Company itself is a movie script worth shooting: counterinsurgency schemes in Northern Ireland, drug dealing, successful drunken young executives, daring miscalculated designs, bankruptcy all over the place. overhead… Seriously, we'd love to see this shot on Martin Scorsese's camera.

In the mid-70s John DeLorean was one of the most recognized executives in the American motor industry. He became one of the strong men of General Motors, becoming its youngest executive thanks to the development of projects such as the Pontiac GTO. However, at the peak of his career, he decides to drop everything to build his own car. And for this he founded the DeLorean Motor Company in 1975, thanks to credits from the Bank of America and investments from artists such as Sammy Davir Jr or Roy Clark. In a big way.

delorean back to the future III
The white profile rims and wheels give this unit away like the one from the third movie.

A FACTORY WITH TWO DOORS

After negotiating with various governments seeking incentives for the installation of his factory, John DeLorean installs the factory in Northern Ireland. He was about to do it in Puerto Rico, but the British gave him interesting tax and financing advantages since, in the hard years of IRA terrorism, they wanted to create jobs in the most depressed - and therefore potentially more revolutionary - areas of Ulster .

In 1981 production began in a factory that, being in a conflict zone, had two entrances: one for Catholics and the other for Protestants. In addition, the project quickly began to accrue cost overruns due to major changes to the original design. To these were added those caused by the workers of the new company, still in shooting; DeLoreans had to be 'polished' at dealerships to fix manufacturing errors.

Despite Giugiaro's superb design, the Lotus Esprit-based chassis and the somewhat lazy but sufficient mechanics of PRV's Douvrin 6-cylinder… the future of the DMC-12 was turning a bit black due to politics. And it is that, as years later would end up recognizing the British government, the pacts between the United Kingdom and the DeLorean Motor Company were broken due to pressure from the jealous English manufacturers, the economic crisis and, above all, the new neoliberal government of Margaret Thatcher.

delorean back to the future III
In the middle of filming.

TEXAS, DRUGS, BANKRUPTCY: THE END OF THE FIRST DELOREAN

Like an accounting roller coaster, sales increased in the second year of production; however, it was not enough to pay the debts. In these difficult circumstances our stubborn businessman did not give up. If the banks no longer believed in his project, if the sales did not follow ... he would finance the company thanks to sporadic drug trafficking. Although years later he was innocent at trial (they incriminated him), the truth is that in 1982 he was arrested and accused of trying to place 25 million dollars worth of cocaine on the streets.

After the trial he converted to the evangelism of the Born Again Christians. Debts haunted him for life, with more than 40 cases related to them until 1999 and, finally, the one who gave up everything to fulfill the dream of having his own car brand, died in 2005 at the age of 80. In 1982 the DeLorean factory closed, but, as if it were a mirage John DeLorean could see theback from its mark in 1997, when a Texan businessman resurrected her to service and remanufacture the DMC-12s.

As you've seen, the history of the DeLorean is incredible both on and off the big screen. And that many things have been left out. As with Back to the Future ... This makes for a trilogy! Ours began in 2015, when Gustavo showed us the charm of his superb DeLorean through the streets of Madrid;)…

What do you think?

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Written by Miguel Sánchez

Through the news from La Escudería, we will travel the winding roads of Maranello listening to the roar of the Italian V12; We will travel Route66 in search of the power of the great American engines; we will get lost in the narrow English lanes tracking the elegance of their sports cars; We will speed up the braking in the curves of the Monte Carlo Rally and we will even get dusty in a garage while rescuing lost jewels.

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