History/Design

Given his experience and his effort already put in, Andrew Probert was then brought BACK onto the Delorean project having the Cobb designs as reference for what the Bobs had in mind. And it was Andrew who came up with the familiar shape that we all recognize today.

As more and more approvals were made by Bob, Bob and Steven, Probert’s design began to take shape and eventually became the a final product that Michael Scheffe (vehicle construction coordinator), and Kevin Pike (special effects supervisor) could actually start to build.

The original idea for the time machine and the film’s climactic ended was a refrigerator being blown up at a nuclear test facility... a plot line that was eventually dropped due to budgetary concerns and for the impracticality of having the the time machine be immobile.

The fact the time machine was originally a refrigerator is about as well a kept secret as Eric Stoltz being the original Marty McFly. After many script changes and the need for the the time machine to be mobile, the design was ultimately decided to be that of a car.

Even though Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale ultimately decided against the fridge @ the test site gag, that didn’t stop Steven Spielberg from lifting the rejected scene and transplanting it directly into his latest Indiana Jones film, “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

One deciding factor in dropping the fridge for an automobile was the barn scene in 1955. Thanks to the help of a period comic book, the Peabody family confuses Marty and the car as an alien and space craft having crash landed onto their farm.

“The gull wing doors were a real important idea.” said Bob Gale, “It looks like a spaceship. There’s a scene where the car lands in a field and a farmer in the' 50s thinks its a flying saucer. The gull wing are also our homage to The Day the Earth Stood Still.” (from a 1985 Popular Mechanics article.)

Once it was decided that the time machine would have gullwing doors, two cars were considered. The 1955 Mercedes SL coupe and the more contemporary DeLorean DMC-12. Given the appearance of the sleek stainless steel of the DeLorean coupled with the cost of buying and destroying three half million dollar Mercedes collectables... the DeLorean won the role.

1955 Mercedes SL Gullwing coupe

1981 DeLorean DMC-12

Now that it would be the DeLorean to adorn time machine’s clothing, Andrew Probert, (Star Trek, Airwolf, Battlestar Galactica) who was already hired to storyboard Back to the Future was tapped to design what the time machine would look like. Given his Sci Fi background, Andy came up with some spectacular drawings and spacey looking ideas... that, although very sleek and Sci Fi, were a tad too polished and modern for what was really supposed to look like something Doc Brown built in his garage... so the producers thought to take what he had done and go to someone else... (Andrew Probert’s conceptual sketches below)

Ron Cobb (Legendary conceptual artist who’s worked on Star Wars, Alien, Raiders of the Lost Ark to name a few) was then brought in to put his spin on things. Ron came up with several blueprints and conceptual drawings that included the coils all around the car as well as the nuclear reactor and cooling vents on the back. Bob and Bob thought Ron’s design more conveyed the Doc Brown, "homemade look" they were going for and very much liked the direction Ron had taken the concept. Ron, however always busy, already had another production in the works and had to leave the project before the plans were fully developed. (Ron Cobb’s conceptual drawings below)

This area is still under construction. Content will be updated frequently.

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