{"id":6241,"date":"2015-10-20T06:11:05","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T20:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=6241"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:01:26","slug":"back-to-the-future-the-delorean-dmc-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/makes-models\/back-to-the-future-the-delorean-dmc-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Back To The Future: The DeLorean DMC-12"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DeLorean_DMC-12_with_doors_open\"<\/a>I\u2019m writing this on 20th<\/sup> October 2015, which means that tomorrow is Back To The Future day. For those of you who managed to miss out on watching Back To The Future II and don\u2019t quite get what\u2019s the big deal about tomorrow, the date 21st<\/sup> October 2015 is the date to which the time-travelling De Lorean hops forward to.<\/p>\n

In honour of the occasion, it\u2019s time to take a little look at the car that this movie series pushed into the limelight: the DeLorean. To be more specific, the DeLorean DMC-12.<\/p>\n

The Back To The Future movie series is about the only place you\u2019re really likely to see the DeLorean DMC-12. The company wasn\u2019t a success, in spite of the sort of \u201cproduct placement\u201d that many manufacturers would pay vast amounts of money for. It didn\u2019t flop simply because it was a small and obscure company \u2013 similar product placement of an obscure brand in a sci-fi movie during the mid-1980s worked for Reece\u2019s Pieces in the E.T. movie. It flopped for a number of reasons, including a massive slump in the US car market, the fact that the main DeLorean factory was located in Belfast, Northern Ireland smack-dab in the middle of the notorious Troubles and the arrest of the company\u2019s head, John DeLorean, for drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pity that the DeLorean didn\u2019t get more widespread, because this two-door sports coup\u00e9 had a lot going for it, really. The body styling was innovative and futuristic (which was why it was chosen for the starring role in the movie).\u00a0 It featured a fair amount of fibreglass, a very streamlined rocket-like shape and those \u00fcber-cool gullwing doors, which also graced the Mercedes-Benz <\/a>300SL.\u00a0 Another innovative styling feature of the DeLorean DMC-12 was the decision to leave the metal unpainted but to let the brushed stainless steel speak for itself. Rumour has it that a small, select group of DeLoreans were plated with gold. I hope that last one is a rumour, as it sounds extremely tacky and gag-worthily ostentatious.<\/p>\n

The engine \u2013 which was mounted in the rear like an old-fashioned VW <\/a>\u00a0Beetle \u2013 was a 2.9-L V6 PRV job, with PRV standing for Peugeot <\/a>, Renault <\/a>\u00a0and Volvo<\/a>.\u00a0 The initial plan was to have a centrally mounted Wankel engine, but this sounds like a mechanic\u2019s nightmare, so it\u2019s just as well that this idea never made it past the drawing board or the DMC (DeLorean Motor Company) might have flopped a whole lot sooner. The transmission came in two types: a five-speed manual or a three-speed automatic. It could do the 0\u201360 mph sprint (American equivalent of the 0\u2013100 km\/h time) in 8.8 seconds for the manual and 10.5 seconds for the automatic version.\u00a0 The suspension was a four-wheel independent job (double wishbones at the front, multi-link in the rear) that worked alongside coil springs, and telescopic shock absorbers.\u00a0 Power-assisted disk brakes completed the performance and handling package.<\/p>\n

The DeLorean came reasonably well equipped with bells and whistles for a mid-1980s vehicle, featuring a cassette player, a clock built into the gearshift knob, leather seats, air conditioning, electric windows and power (central) locking.\u00a0 Most DeLoreans were left-hand drive jobs but a few right-hand drives were produced for the UK and Australian market.\u00a0 They never took off.<\/p>\n

There were a few teething problems with the radio antenna, which had rotten reception with its first location on the front roof, and with the battery, which went flat horribly easily.<\/p>\n

The DMC company folded in 1983 after having made about 8000\u20139000 units since production began in 1981, including the right-hand drive models.<\/p>\n

A few years ago (in 2013), there were a few rumours out there that the DeLorean was going to make a comeback as an electric vehicle with the iconic body style, including the brushed stainless steel with no paint and the gull-wing doors.\u00a0 Although a prototype has been put around a test track and there was a bit of a buzz about it, this project also seems to have fizzled.\u00a0 Or do I speak too soon?\u00a0 A news report from Belfast, Northern Ireland, yesterday hints that an all-electric high-tech version made by the engineering department of Queen\u2019s University Belfast is going to be unveiled tomorrow for Back To The Future Day (OK, make a few adjustments for time-zone differences!).<\/p>\n

Today, DeLoreans are mostly found in the United States in the hands of enthusiasts. You are unlikely to see one on Australian roads. If, however, you have been lucky enough to spot a real one, tell the world!<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

Megan http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/offers-zaim\/4slovo-bystrye-zaymi-online.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing this on 20th October 2015, which means that tomorrow is Back To The Future day. For those of you who managed to miss out on watching Back To The Future II and don\u2019t quite get what\u2019s the big deal about tomorrow, the date 21st October 2015 is the date to which the time-travelling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-makes-models"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6241"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11634,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6241\/revisions\/11634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}