Estimated $6M required annually to get Doc Brown’s Back to the Future DeLorean road-ready
- Experts have figured out just how much it would cost to get the DeLorean running today
- The endeavor would involve a surprising amount of tedious admin
- The fuel costs alone would be in the millions
Published on Jul 18, 2024 at 6:51 PM (UTC+4)
by Andie Reeves
Last updated on Jul 19, 2024 at 4:08 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
The iconic Back to the Future DeLorean would cost an absolute fortune to run.
And that’s not even taking time-traveling technology into consideration.
Experts have run the numbers and it would take around $6 million to get the screen star road-worthy.
This is taking into account special licenses, insurance, maintenance bills and, of course, the plutonium needed to run it.
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Getting the DeLorean road-ready
Since Back to the Future was released in 1985, countless people have fantasized about owning their own DeLorean like the one in the film.
Stuart Masson, editor of The Car Expert, has done the important work of figuring out how financially viable this would be.
For a car so fun-sounding, it would involve a lot of boring admin to get going.
In fact, it’s estimated that it would take about 45 days of admin, including signing contracts and NDAs, involving lawyers, and filing paperwork.
Then, there’s the insurance, which Masson says would be around $50,000 a year.
Because this isn’t an ordinary car, the driver would need a pilot’s license to operate it, which costs $15,000 to obtain.
Lastly, and most devastatingly, would be filling the car up with its fuel of choice – plutonium.
The lucky driver would have to spend $5 million a year just filling up.
On the plus side, thanks to Doc Brown’s expert craftsmanship, the maintenance costs would be pleasantly low at $6,490 a year.
The next gen of the gullwinged icon
And if close to $6 million is a bit out of your price range, the DeLorean just got an reasonably priced EV option.
Electrogenic launched a drop-in kit that converts any DeLorean DMC-12 into an all-electric model.
Drivers will have to say goodbye to the V6 powertrain, but otherwise the car can remain totally unchanged by the installation.
And it’s worth the upgrade, with the electric powertrain producing 215 horsepower compared to the stock 130 horsepower.
The conversion, which is totally reversible, costs around $110,000.
Not cheap, but not quite a tank full of plutonium either.
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Andie is a content writer from South Africa with a background in broadcasting and journalism. Starting her career in the glossy pages of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, Andie has a broad portfolio, covering everything from sustainability solutions to celebrity car collections. When not at her laptop Andie can be found sewing, recording her podcast, taking board games too seriously or road-tripping in her bright green Kia.
