'This was like no car I'd ever seen before. It was love at first sight'
I've wanted a DeLorean since the first time I saw one in person, when I was 10 years old. In 1982 my class took a field trip to a science museum in Columbus, Ohio and I was confronted by the coolest-looking automobile I had ever seen: a 1981 DeLorean motor car, the DMC-12.
I was a nerdy kid and had always been more interested in computers than cars. But this was like no car I'd ever seen before. It had a stainless steel finish that gleamed under the lights, and its sleek, futuristic design made it look like a spacecraft about to lift off. Its gull-wing doors opened straight up, like the hatch on a UFO.
My friends weren't very interested, but for me it was love at first sight. If I'd been able to drive, I would have jumped over the velvet rope, climbed inside and roared out of that building. Instead I just spent the next few hours staring at it until it was time to go home.
Three years later, Back To The Future came out. Watching Dr Emmett Brown convert his DeLorean into a jerry-rigged, do-it-yourself time machine transformed my crush into a full-blown obsession. At the tender age of 13, I knew I had to own one someday. Of course by then the DeLorean Motor Company had gone out of business and the DMC-12 was already on its way to becoming a collector's item.
Twenty-five years later, I was a middle-aged husband, father to a toddler, and struggling writer. I'd had a lot of used Toyotas and Hondas over the years, but I'd never managed to save enough money to buy my dream. And besides, I knew that a 30-year-old, two-seater Irish sports car was not a practical replacement for our wheezing family sedan. Instead, I spent a lot of time looking at DeLoreans online (usually during desk jobs) and talking about their many quirks and features to my long-suffering wife who would instantly change the subject.
Last year I finished writing my first novel, and 80s pop culture and nostalgia played a key role in the story. It seemed perfect to have my protagonist drive the most iconic vehicle of that decade. And in a strange twist of fate, selling the book later that year is what finally allowed me to make it happen. I realised I could purchase the DeLorean and pose with it for my author photo. Then I could drive it to conventions and book signings, thereby justifying its cost, since I would clearly be using the vehicle as a promotional tool. My wife didn't buy this, but I'm hoping my tax accountant will.
I found a perfectly maintained 1982 DeLorean – one of the last to be made before the factory closed – for $37,000 from a dealership in Houston, Texas. Driving that car back home was one of the most enjoyable moments of my life. Although the DeLorean handles like a 30-year old car – no power steering and somewhat lacking in speed – I felt as though I was in the cockpit of a spaceship.
It gets double takes wherever I go. Other motorists honk at me and give me the thumbs up. Even police officers smile and offer a friendly nod. I don't mind when I have to run an errand to the supermarket because I get to drive there in my DeLorean, and when I walk back to my car there's usually a crowd of people gathered around it, snapping photos and peeking inside.
My wife was pretty uninterested in my purchase until I got her to ride around with me one day. When a man stopped in the middle of the road to actually kneel down and worship at the DeLorean's bonnet, she finally seemed to understand what all the fuss is about. Now the DeLorean is what we take out on date night.
I've started making some additions to the vehicle. Everyone kept looking for the flux capacitor – the device used to make the DeLorean travel through time – so I ordered a screen-accurate replica from a prop builder. It sits at the back of the car, and when you plug it into the cigarette lighter it lights up and hums just like the one in the movie. And its number plate – ECTO88 – refers to the speed of 88mph that the car needs for time travel.
With all the other movie-inspired modifications I have planned, I'm not really sure if it will still be legal to drive on the road when I'm done. But who cares? As Doc Brown put it, "Where we're going, we don't need roads."
• Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@guardian.co.uk
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/29/experience-back-to-the-future-car
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