Six DeLorean chassis were used during the production, along with one manufactured out of fiberglass for scenes where a full-size DeLorean was needed to "fly" on-screen. A few of those “cars” are still in existence today!

The “A” Car or Hero Car

This was the main car used for filming and the car you are most used to seeing on film. After filming was over, Universal Studios kept the “A” car around at their Hollywood location. They used it for promotional purposes such as “Secrets of Back to the Future Trilogy”, Earth Day Special, Back to the Future THE RIDE footage, and the Back to the Future Cartoon Series. After that, the car was put out to pasture so to speak, as it was positioned beside several other BTTF cars so that visitors on the Universal Tour could see them. Over the years, the car was in pretty bad shape, with visitors just taking parts off the car and walking off with them. Hard to believe, I know! Thankfully, in 2011, Writer/Producer of BTTF Bob Gale recruited a team led up by Joe Walser to restore the car to museum quality. That they did! The car is now on permanent display at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.

The “B” Car or Wreckage Car

This car has a rather interesting backstory. In the end of BTTF, you’ll remember the car was hit by the train and destroyed! It was a real car, fully customized but was designated as the stunt car with special riggings for the fire trail effects. As you will remember, it was obliterated at the end of Part III. Movie car customizer Jay Ohrberg was contracted by Universal Studios to tour Back to the Future vehicles to promote the sequels and the Ride. Ohrberg built several DeLorean time machines and used the "B" car wreckage to build his fleet of cars. Many original screen used "B" car props can be seen on several of his official replicas. The actual "B" car's body panels were put together and sold to Planet Hollywood where one of the Part 3 hood boxes was mounted to it as dressing. That car hung on the ceiling of Planet Hollywood Hawaii until it closed in 2010. After that, many believed the car was either sold, put into storage, or was outright demolished. In 2018 Jason from Back to the Future HQ contacted Planet Hollywood and set out to find the remains. After many phone calls and days of going back and forth with PH execs….he was successful and the remains were found! That information was passed along to Joe Walser and Bob Gale with the hopes of having the car sold or brought out for public viewing. Well, it worked! In 2019 the “car” was put up for auction and sold to a very big BTTF collector, Bill and Patrick Shea. The “Car” is now on display in their ever growing Back to the Future garage which they share with fans from all over the world. If you’re ever in the Massachusetts area and want to see their AMAZING collection, including screen used items and cars, click here!

The “C” Car

This car was a cutaway car and used for close up shots inside the car. Sadly, this car was left to rot away at Universal Studios after they were done with it. Amazingly enough in the early 2000’s, a lot of the parts that were left over from that car were put on a Delorean that was modified by Tom Talmons for the Universal Studios Japan car. Universal Japan has since sold that car to a private company in Japan which now displays the car in the entry way of the company.

Fiberglass Car

This car was build for several scenes where the delorean was seen flying or landing. They used a forklift to lower and raise the car into shots. This car was also used in Universal Studios Hollywood Special Effects Stage, and then put in storage. Hollywood Parts then tried auctioning off the car, but to no avail, it was not sold and the car was sadly destroyed by Universal Studios.

The Oxnard Car (Universal Studios Orlando)

This was a stunt train car and has been on display since the early 1990’s at Universal Orlando. This car was also used in the filming of the ride. This was the car that Tom Wilson sat in for the ride footage, and this was the car that was crashed at the end into the Institute of Future Technology. The car has gone through some growing pains as in the last 5 years pictures surfaced online of the car really being neglected. Thankfully over the last year, it looks like Universal has put some time and money into some minor upgrades to at least keep the car presentable, as it does draw a large crowd daily. UPDATE 3/20/20 - Universal moved the screen used Oxnard car into storage and has now replaced the car with a Time Machine Replica. There are currently talks happening behind the scenes with Bob Gale, Amblin, Universal and several others which will hopefully lead to the car getting a full restoration! Universal Orlando Resorts may or may not restore it back to the Oxnard movie car. They have to get some legal paperwork taken care of first. They don't have a title, they don't know who legally owes it, they need to find a theme park department to assign the budget to in 2021 and most of all, they need to decide if it is worth the cost to completely restore it, frame off. Will update when we hear more! UPDATE 10/14/20 The car is still in storage, and likely won’t be restored or sold. Since it’s an asset, the ownership is in question right now as NBCU continues to litigate with Amblin. Obviously, they can’t sell it, but sadly there is no budget right now to restore it either. Currently, no one is authorized to touch the car so it looks like it will be in storage indefinitely.

UPDATE 7/13/2022 The car is still in storage, no plans to restore it. Sadly, it will likely stay in storage until a more permanent plan is put together.

The Desert Car #2

You all remember this car, Marty blasts back to 1885 and runs right into Indians and the Cavalry chasing them! No one can forget those White Wall tires! After filming this car was sent over to Japan for display, where some parts were taken off by workers, including the Flux Capacitor. This car was purchased by ScreenUsed which they then restored and put up for auction. Wouldn’t you know it, Bill and Patrick Shea ended up buying it. The only screen used Delorean in public hands. This was in 2011 and they have had the car ever since. One thing was missing though, the original hood box! That was put on the “B” car which was in PH hands and hung from the ceiling. As I mentioned that car was also purchased by the Shea’s in 2019, finally reuniting the hood box with it’s original car, the Desert Car!

The Desert Car #1

The off Roader #1 had more accurate parts on it than #2. Left over parts from Part 1 and the rear deck was built more accurate as well. During part 3, the filmmakers stripped this car’s outer panels off and interior pieces and put them on the “C” car during filming. After filming Universal put the new body panels on that car so they could put it on display at the Cinemagic stage show and then on the tram tour. When Universal Japan wanted to have a replica Time Machine, Universal hired Tom Talmon to build the car for them. He used the rear deck and some of the props from this car and some remaining stuff from the “C” car to build this car. The chassis of the Desert Car likely doesn’t remain anymore. These parts on the Japan car is how the off roader #1 and C car live on. This car was sold by Universal Japan and is now on display at a company in Japan. Further updates will be added when I find out which company and possibly get some pictures.

Pictured above is the Delorean at Universal Japan

Replica Delorean Time Machines

Ever since Back to the Future first hit the big screen, there have been people modifying their stock Delorean’s to look like the movie car. Early on it was much harder as there wasn’t as much information available. With that said, original parts they used on the cars were much easier to get in the 80’s and 90’s as well, much of which were old Military Aerospace parts. Some of these parts still exist today, but are harder and harder to find. Technology has come a long way as well, so casting parts or making parts that are nearly identical to those used on the actual cars is a bit easier now days as well. Don’t let that confuse you in to thinking easier is cheaper, because it’s not. People spend between $15,000 and $40,000 to modify their cars to look as close to the movie car as possible. As you read above, there were 6 cars used, and not all the cars were made the same, thus, you can never build a 100% accurate Delorean Time Machine replica, but you can get pretty darn close. Many people have paved the way for Delorean Builders now days, and there are several small communities that exist for Delorean Owners who are converting their cars. In total, there are over 100 Time Machine Replicas in the world, and that number is growing every month.