When filling up at a busy gas station, this exchange (or something like it) is not implausible for most DeLorean owners:
“Hey, look; a DeLorean. Wow, you don’t see many of them any more do you? Looks pretty good…considering. What are you doin’ there – putting gas straight into the engine?”
“Well the engine is in the back and the fuel tank is in the front, so you fill it from here”
“Back to the Future, eh? B A C K T O T H E F U T U R E !!!!! Marty McFly wasn’t that his name? Marty McFly. So how does it drive?”
“It’s nice. It’s got a five speed transmission. It’s a nice car to drive.”
“Oh yeah? Well I guess. These things had a V8 right? A Ford V8. Should be pretty fast”.
“No, it’s got a V6, a PRV V6”.
“A what? A Pee-orr what?
“A PRV: It’s a joint collaboration between Peugeot, Renault and Volvo.”
“No they had a V8. My uncle worked in the factory in Newfoundland. He worked on the hood section. They only made the hoods in his department. I remember. I’ll tell ya, he had some crazy stories about how badly these things were made.”
“No you are mistaken; these cars were built in Northern Ireland”.
“No, no, no… they were built in Newfoundland. They are a heap of junk aren’t they? Yeah, built outta aluminum. Heap of junk alright”.
“Whaat? OK, the DeLorean was built with a PRV V6 in Northern Ireland from 1981 to 83. It is not a heap of junk. You may be thinking of the Bricklin which was built in New Brunswick not Newfoundland around 1975 or so, and it also is not a heap of junk. Yes both cars have gull wing doors, but the DeLorean is built with stainless steel body panels whereas the Bricklin was made of fibreglass”.
“Oh… well everyone said they were underpowered and a heap of garbage, so they can’t all be wrong. So they are stainless steel? Well that explains it, doesn’t it? No wonder whey were underpowered, they must weigh a ton if they are made of stainless steel.”
“Actually they do not weigh a ton. They are 2700lbs. A Corvette from the same era was 3200lbs and a Mustang was almost 2700 lbs. And if you are interested in power, you might like to know that the DeLorean has more horsepower than the Mustang of the same year”.
“Well I dunno… but even the doors were hysterical. How do you get into those cars if you are in a tight spot in a parking lot? I guess they didn’t think of that did they? Ha ha. Another failure for sure”.
“Actually all you need is 14 inches of clearance. Because the hinges are closer to the center of the car, they need less room to swing open than a regular car door. You can easily get into this car in a tight spot whereas you would not be able to get into a regular car with regular doors in a similar tight spot”.
“ Delorean sure was in a tight spot with that suitcase full of coke. Talk about a scandal!”
“He was actually acquitted as the jury felt he was entrapped. By the way, speaking of scandals… Is that YOUR Volkswagen Diesel” ?
Written by Shecky Moriale
Cover photo by Grant Thomas