Flux Capacitor Day: November 5 Celebrates Doc Brown's Discovery

It will be cool to watch the show again  in 2015.

Haha, John Delorean is obviously thrilled the appearance of his "sports car" in that movie gave would be owners a reason to restore or preserve the lemons that were his legacy. The car's French powerplant (a Peugeot Renault Volvo or PRV V-6, not the originally proposed citroen wankel rotary) was woefully inadequate (it's a wonder it could reach 88 mph for the movie's supposed minimum time travel speed, 130hp US, 170hp elsewhere) and the best thing most auto journalists could say of it is that the sumptuous leather interior could keep you in comfort while you waited for the tow truck to arrive. The weak alternator produced a net negative charge state with most accessories on, leaving famous investor Johnny Carson  stuck on the freeway in a well publicized incident. At the end of the first model year's  production most languished unsold on the dealer's sales floor, prompting JD to plan his now famous hapless cocaine scheme which federal agents posing laughably as foreign nationals were more than happy to participate in a level many would call outright entrapment.  (Delorean was found NOT guilty) The publicity surrounding the bust did have the unintentional consequence of selling out all remaining cars as speculators expected them to become prized collectors items- though the prices remained modest over the years.

The car's most touted attribute, the stainless steel body, is actually becoming its most problematic for many owners. Most popular auto polishes will permanently stain the finish, as they were not meant for stainless steel. The panels are bonded with adhesive to underpanels made of fiberglass like composite, with plain steel hardware impregnented to facilitate mounting to the frame structure. The adhesive failed on many cars from the start, resulting in stainless parts flying off at speed. Those whose glue held tight have seen rust eat away the mounting hardware and it can't be easily reached to prevent this or replace the corroded parts.

The car was known as the DMC-12, 12 as in thousand, the projected sales price when the car was first announced. Sales price was over $25,000 when it finally debuted, ($62k in current dollars) at that time its main competitor, the Chevrolet Corvette, was priced thousands less, positively trounced its performance (0-60 in 10.5 seconds, some contemporary minivans can beat that now) and was positively reliable in comparison.  Of the 9,100 produced, some 6,500 are believed to still exist.  

(sorry I know this was about Doc Brown but I saw the Delorean pics and thought I'd share a few dismal facts about one of history's most bitter lemons)