BY Jeff Peek / ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED May 21, 2021 / HAGERTY / The National Historic Vehicle Register is devoted to recording and protecting America’s automotive…{"id":12074,"date":"2021-05-25T14:41:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T21:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/?p=12074"},"modified":"2021-05-25T14:41:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T21:41:09","slug":"back-to-the-future-delorean-is-the-newest-member-of-the-national-historic-vehicle-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/25\/back-to-the-future-delorean-is-the-newest-member-of-the-national-historic-vehicle-register\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Future DeLorean is the newest member of the National Historic Vehicle Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BY Jeff Peek \/ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED May 21, 2021 \/ <\/span>HAGERTY\u00a0\/<\/span><\/h5>\n
The National Historic Vehicle Register<\/a> is devoted to recording and protecting America\u2019s automotive past for future generations, and its newest member encompasses both in one fell swoop. The Hagerty Drivers Foundation<\/a> (formally the Historic Vehicle Association) has announced that the 29th car on the register is the 1981 DeLorean \u201chero car\u201d from Back to the Future<\/em>. Doc Brown would be so proud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The register was created in 2013 in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior to recognize and document the country\u2019s most historically significant automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, and commercial vehicles. The first class was introduced in January 2014.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Jonathan Klinger, Hagerty\u2019s vice president of car culture and executive director of the Hagerty Drivers Foundation, says the Back to the Future<\/em> DeLorean\u2019s lofty place in pop cultural made it an obvious choice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe DeLorean Time Machine is among the world\u2019s most recognizable and beloved automobiles,\u201d Klinger says. \u201cIt transcends borders and generations, and it appeals to an audience far beyond the car community.\u201d<\/p>\n
$\"Back$ <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Already an automotive legend, John Z. DeLorean launched his new automobile company in 1975. It would be six years before the DeLorean DMC-12<\/a> reached the public, but it was like nothing anyone had ever seen\u2014a stainless-steel sports car with gullwing doors. So even after the founder of the DeLorean Motor Company ran into financial and legal trouble<\/a> and shut down production in 1982, his car seemed like the ideal futuristic ride for time-traveling Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and inventor Emmett Lathrop \u201cDoc\u201d Brown (Christopher Lloyd).<\/p>\n
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Marty: \u201cWait a minute, Doc. Ah \u2026 Are you telling me that you built a time machine \u2026 out of a DeLorean<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Doc: \u201cThe way I see it, if you\u2019re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Indeed, Doc Brown\u2019s time machine had style. It also had unique capabilities. Backed by 1.21 gigawatts of nuclear power, it could be programmed to leap backward and forward in time as soon as it reached a speed of 88 mph.<\/p>\n
$\"Back$ \u00a0 \u00a0 $\"Back$ <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
$\"Back$ <\/p>\n
Screenwriters Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis actually conceived the basic premise for Back to the Future<\/em> in 1980, a year before DeLorean went into production. By the time the film went into production, the cowriters were all-in on the DeLorean. The 1985 movie was such a huge hit that the DMC-12 became increasingly more popular\u2014unfortunately, too late to save the automaker.<\/p>\n
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In the end, only 8500 DeLoreans were built. Without question, the most famous of all is the hero car from the Back to the Future<\/em> trilogy, which is a 1981 model<\/a>. After the BTTF<\/em> movies were shot, the car\u2014which is painstakingly detailed and was used for close-up shots\u2014was placed on display at Universal Studios Hollywood. Fans could get up close and take photos, and over time the DeLorean became damaged both by admirers, who took parts as souvenirs, and the elements.<\/p>\n
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In 2012, after Bob Gale saw the hero car in disrepair, he spearheaded a restoration of the time machine and enlisted a group of volunteers led by Joe Walser, a *Back to the Future<\/em> Time Machine replica expert. The restoration, documented in a film whose title played on the car\u2019s unique California license plate (**OUTATIME: Saving the DeLorean Time Machine<\/a>)<\/em>, was completed in 2013.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n*
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The Time Machine, which is still owned by Universal Studios, went on permanent display at the Petersen Automotive Museum<\/a> in Los Angeles in 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Visitors to this weekend\u2019s Amelia Island Concours d\u2019Elegance can see the DeLorean Time Machine in person. It\u2019ll be inside a huge plastic box, however, so people can\u2019t touch it. It was either that or send Biff Tannen to your house.<\/p>\n
$\"Back$ <\/p>\n
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This article has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder, Hagerty. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Click here for more\u00a0<\/em><\/span>automotive tips and stories<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, or here for more information on\u00a0<\/span>the next Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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