The DeLorean is back! (DeLorean Motor Company)
Back To The Future is one of sci-fi's most timeless films. The 1985 blockbuster about a teenager, a wacky inventor, and a time-travelling car has remained a pop culture favourite.
At the centre of the movie is the DeLorean. This stainless steel sports car was only manufactured for a couple years in the early 1980s by the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC), but it left quite the impression. With its sleek style and gull-wing doors the opened upward instead of outward, it was billed as the car of the future!
Instead, the company soon went bankrupt. But the DeLorean was then selected as the car to be used by the movie's Doctor Emmett Brown to build his amazing time machine. As he says to Marty McFly in the film, "If you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"
The DeLorean Time Machine from Back To The Future. (Wikimedia Commons)
Now, here in the actual future (at least compared to the 1980s), the DeLorean is back! Meet the Alpha5—a limited electric car that pays tribute to both the original DeLorean and the movie that made it famous.
The future, today ... again!
In a way, it makes a lot of sense to bring back the DeLorean now. When the original was made, it was pitched as a super modern car. And today, new car companies like Tesla and Canada's own Daymak Avvenire are making electric vehicles that challenge how we think of cars.
Just like how DeLorean wanted to do four decades ago.
But the new DeLorean Alpha5 is less of an everyday game changer and more of an updated nod to the cult classic car and film. For example, there will only be 88 Alpha5's made. Why? Because 88 miles per hour was the speed that Doc's car needed to hit to time travel! (Incidentally, the Alpha5 will be able to reach that speed in just 4.3 seconds—Zoom!)
Yes, it has those doors!
The new Alpha5 HAD to have the original's gull-wing doors. (DeLorean Motor Company)
As for the rest of the car, it is a mix between the classic and the modern. Inside, the car is loaded with touchscreens, room for four passengers, and is fully electric.
But it also has similar sleek look to the original car, including those famous doors. The car is not expected to be finished until 2024—and even then, seeing one in person will be pretty rare since so few will be made. But it's a fun example of how technology and pop culture can sometimes come together to make a pretty neat machine!
