This beloved car and ‘icon of pop culture’ has almost vanished from UK roads
21 April 2025, 07:05 | Updated: 21 April 2025, 10:07
Just 303 DeLorean cars immortalised by Back To The Future remain on UK roads 40 years on from the film’s release, figures show.
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The cars – known for their gullwing doors and unpainted stainless steel bodywork – have become a collector’s item.
Around 9,000 DeLorean DMC-12s rolled off the DeLorean Motor Company assembly line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, in 1981.
The company collapsed into insolvency the following year.
Some 303 DeLoreans are taxed for use on public roads in the UK, according to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures obtained by online auction platform Collecting Cars.
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A further 114 have a statutory off road notification, meaning they are likely to be gathering dust in garages.
Collecting Cars estimates a fully restored version could fetch more than £80,000 at auction.
It has sold just two DeLoreans since it began trading in 2019.
The most recent sold for £56,000 in 2022.
Collecting Cars chief executive Edward Lovett said: “The DeLorean is an icon of pop culture which is still turning heads after all these years.
“A combination of their scarcity and the Back To The Future phenomenon has pushed prices higher than people might imagine.
“Back in 1981, the sticker price was around £18,000, making it more expensive than a Porsche 911.
“Today, a fully restored model treated to a film car replica conversion could attract bids in excess of £80,000.”
Back To The Future – which opened in cinemas in the summer of 1985 – catapulted DeLoreans into the public consciousness.
In the film, eccentric scientist Dr Emmett “Doc” Brown creates a time machine from a modified DeLorean, using plutonium to power a fictional gadget called a flux capacitor which allows time travel once the car reaches 88mph.
His comment, “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”, is a popular quote from the film.
