page_title: DeLorean time machine
section_title: Other elements
hierarchical_section_title: DeLorean time machine / Fictional timeline / Other elements
caption_attribution_description: English: Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine
context_page_description: In the Back to the Future franchise, the DeLorean time machine is a time travel device made by retrofitting a DMC DeLorean vehicle with a flux capacitor. The car requires 1.21 gigawatts of power and needs to travel 88 miles per hour to initiate time travel. Universal Studios special effects department built three main DeLorean time machines for the movie Back to the Future. The film's producers characterized the DeLoreans with three names: the A car, B car, and C car. The "A" car, also known as the Hero car, was the most detailed and utilized vehicle during production. After filming was over, the "A" car was delivered to Universal Studios Hollywood as an attraction piece. As time passed, visitors started taking parts off the vehicle and wandering off with them. Bob Gale selected a team to repair the car so it could be in a perfect condition. The vehicle is currently being displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
  The "B" car, also known as Wreckage Car used in all three movies, was mainly used for stunts. After purposely being struck by a train during production, the car was left as a pile of rubble.
context_section_description: In the films, the DeLorean time machine is a licensed, registered vehicle in the state of California, where the films take place. The vanity license plate used in the film reads "OUTATIME", a deliberate anomaly, as the maximum number of symbols on California plates is seven characters. When Doc returns from 2015, it is a barcode license plate, which implies that by that year license plates have moved to other more sophisticated means of tracking and registering. There is also an alarm clock that sits in the cockpit (having been placed there by 1955 Doc in the first movie), which is set to ring when it is time for Marty to speed towards the clock tower to return to 1985. The clock remains in the DeLorean for the rest of the series.
  In The Animated Series, Doc builds another DeLorean into a time machine, restoring most of its features, including Mr. Fusion and the hover conversion (Doc either rebuilds the one destroyed at the end of Part III or he simply builds a new one). He also seemingly adds the capability to travel through space in addition to time (i.e., appear at a different location from the one it departed), similar to the TARDIS from Doctor Who. The cartoon DeLorean time machine has many add-ons, including a back seat in normal two-door mode, the ability to transform into a four-door, a pop-out covered wagon top, a blimp, a rear video screen, and a voice activated time input.
  Back to the Future: The Game features a chronal duplicate of the original DeLorean, which Doc Brown recovered from the timestream after the destruction of the original. This DeLorean is created at the end of Back to the Future Part II, when the original time machine was struck by lightning: while the DeLorean itself is sent to 1885, a fully functional duplicate appears (apparently unmanned and undamaged) in 2025, where Doc retrieves it with the Time Train. He later traveled to 1931 and sent the Clone DeLorean to 1986 to get Marty to rescue him from 1931 before he can be killed. This Clone DeLorean is effectively the same as the Part II one, including the occasional glitches in the time circuits (mostly affecting the last time departed time display), but with a new automatic retrieval feature that automatically brings the Clone DeLorean to a set time and location of Doc's choosing every time Doc Brown doesn't return to the car in a fixed amount of time.
  This DeLorean is later badly damaged (after returning to 1986, Marty crashes the Clone DeLorean into a billboard and after Marty gets out, the Clone DeLorean falls through the billboard and crashes onto the ground) and then restored by an alternate version of Doc Brown who has never developed time travel technology, having access to limited notes about the flux capacitor. As such, the time circuits of the alternate Clone DeLorean become even more glitchy following their return to 1931, accumulating errors as severe as the interval of time traveled, with increasing damage with every attempt: as such, Citizen Brown, the alternate version of Doc, has to install a diagnostic console made of materials available in 1931 (appearing as a plywood box with a lightbulb and three similar bulbs placed on the coils on the outer body).
  Apparently, part of the problem is chromium parts becoming unstable during time travel, according to Citizen Brown. This DeLorean is later stolen by Edna Strickland, one of the game's main villains. The original Doc arrives in the original Clone DeLorean as Citizen Brown disappears from existence due to earlier events in the game; i.e., because Marty restored the original timeline, the original Clone DeLorean was brought back into existence. Officer Danny Parker nearly arrests Marty and Doc for allegedly having the car that Edna got away in. After they explain to him that there is more than one DeLorean, Marty explains to Doc that the alternate Clone DeLorean had malfunctioning time circuits. To make matters worse, the entire town of Hill Valley disappears around them; Edna had unwillingly time traveled to 1876. They go to "Mary Pickford's" house and see that the alternate Clo
caption: The time circuits in a replica time machine
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