Driving a DeLorean is unlike anything else.
That’s according to Kevin Rudolfi, 52, a fan who knows a thing or two about these machines tied so closely to the “Back to the Future” movies.
“I mean come on, if you’re from the ‘80s, everybody wants a DeLorean,” Rudolfi said. “It’s like driving around in a movie star.”
Stopping at the gas station to fuel up, for instance, is like a show all by itself, he said.
“Everybody loves the car, and it makes me happy to see people enjoy it so much,” he said.
That love affair is why on this Friday evening in October years after Kevin and his wife, Marcia, bought their first DeLorean DMC-12, they had a second one, recently purchased, in their Sterling Heights garage. They plan to convert it into a “time machine,”
just like they remember from the movies.
It’s also why other owners with their own DeLoreans and their own stories about this stainless steel-paneled sports car with the gull-wing doors had gathered here.
The DeLorean faithful had come to compare notes and maybe do a little work on what most of them described as their dream car.
Friday nights are often when members in the loosely organized DMC DOOM (DeLorean Owners of Michigan) gather. It’s what they call Flux Fridays (That would be “flux” as in flux capacitor, the box with the flashing lights inside the car that’s crucial for time traveling in the DeLoreans from the movies).
On the Friday I visited, I counted seven or eight DeLoreans, some of which were already on-site or that arrived while I was there, including a red 1982 model that Corey and Nicole Young brought from their home in downtown Detroit.
The evening was more a time to get together and discuss all things DeLorean than to tinker on the cars, but work does happen (One of the cars, notably, needed a jump start before it could leave that night. I was told DeLoreans have a penchant for draining car batteries). Kevin Rudolfi is considered the mechanical expert, helping to keep many of the cars running or updating barn-find DeLoreans, doing everything from engine work to audio upgrades.
Many of the new parts are actually original stock from a company that acquired them after DeLorean’s closure in 1982.
But some parts come from other more recent vehicles.
Rudolfi isn’t a purist, preferring updates like power steering over the original rack and pinion, for instance.The front brakes of his first DeLorean are from a 2007 Mazda Miata. It’s powered by a Corvette engine, replacing the engine that used to be in that car. That engine, incidentally, has found its way, after a major overhaul, into a different DeLorean he’s been helping rehabilitate for a year.
The addition the Rudolfis just purchased is a 1982 DeLorean bought from the son of a cop in New York who died. It was one of two the man owned. It carries the mildewy odor of a car that “sat for 25 years” but one that’s in good condition. Rudolfi has the original sticker showing a total suggested retail price of $29,825.
The time machine conversion planned for that vehicle will likely call on the expertise of another member of the group, Dave Holmes, 54, of Plymouth Township.
He’s got a Facebook page, Michigan Time Machine, dedicated to the ongoing work on his own DeLorean. He makes props himself, using a 3D printer and other methods, to create replicas of parts seen on the movie DeLoreans.Like others in the group. Holmes came dressed for the event, wearing a gray shirt with various patches, “DMC DE LOREAN” and “TIME MACHINE RESTORATION TEAM.”
Holmes said he liked the cars before the movie. He remembers seeing them at a Don Massey Cadillac dealership when he was a kid.
“I thought they were beautiful cars,” Holmes said. “After seeing the movie, it cemented it as my No. 1 movie vehicle of all times.”
Byron Cancelmo, 58, of West Bloomfield, is clear that the movie wasn’t what drew him to the DeLorean, either. The particularly pristine model he’s driving is the one his father bought when Cancelmo was 12 years old.
“I stood in the showroom when this car was in the showroom,” he said.
His father had gotten rid of a Cadillac to buy it. Then a year later, he bought a second DeLorean.
That was in 1981, before the movie, when he’d see DeLorean commercials. After DeLorean fell into legal troubles and the movie was released, the car became more of a movie prop or associated with drugs. Many people, he said, didn’t appreciate the car for what it was “architecturally.”
Perceptions have changed in more recent years, he said.
“Now people don’t just give you ‘Back to the Future’ comments all the time. They kind of actually respect the car for what it is,” Cancelmo said.
The DMC-12, the only model created by the DeLorean Motor Co., became the ultimate movie car with the release of that first film in 1985, with its status as a pop culture icon further cemented by two subsequent films that follow the adventures of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd).
The strange journey of John DeLorean himself adds additional cinematic storylines. An automotive industry maverick credited with birthing the famed Pontiac GTO muscle car, John DeLorean, who was once considered a contender to lead it, left General Motors instead to launch his own car company.
Although DeLorean, who died in 2005, did manage to build more than 9,000 cars at a factory in Northern Ireland, he was caught in an FBI cocaine sting that effectively ended the dream (he’d reportedly been trying to save his business). He beat the charges in a highly publicized trial, but the sordid tale, along with vehicle quality issues, added less savory threads to the car’s story.
Joe Vitale, 54, of Shelby Township said DeLorean owners appreciate dignified stories about the car, which has existed with a sort of checkered history.
“To some people, this car’s a joke. To some people, this is a dream car,” he said, comparing the experience of seeing one to meeting your hero, one that can travel through time when it hits 88 mph.
For Vitale, the 19 years he’s had with his DeLorean have been remarkable. He’s made connections that he’s sure he otherwise wouldn’t have. That was on display both at the recent meetup and when I saw him at this year’s Woodward Dream Cruise, with random people stopping by to ask questions.
The car functions as a kind of magnet to the curious and the nostalgic.
“I’ve had more memories with my car than miles,” he said, noting the many types of events he’s done with the car, from weddings to birthdays and movie showings.
Vitale brings the car to the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade every year, where he dresses like Doc Brown from the movie. People see him in the car with a flux capacitor, and they just get excited.
“To say this car has changed my life would be an understatement,” he said.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press, and he also writes about recreational vehicles, boats and bikes. Send your tips and suggestions to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: DeLorean fans love their automotive movie stars
