QOTD: Would The DeLorean Be Famous Without Back To The Future?

by Tim Healey

Published: December 15th, 2025

qotd would the delorean be famous without back to the future

Matthew Guy had some fun today with a list of cars that, in his view, might not be famous if not for their use in a movie or TV show.

The only choice I disagree with is the Trans Am -- I think it was a hot enough car that it didn't need Smokey And The Bandit to get famous -- and I definitely agree with Matthew that the DeLorean is an obvious choice for the list.

That said, I do wonder if the car might still have been famous without the movie. It looks like nothing else, not even the other wedge-shaped sportsters of the 1980s. It had gullwing doors, which have always been rare. And it wasn't nearly as fast as it looked -- imagine the attention it got for not delivering on its visual promise.

So, I ask of you, the car enthusiast with a sense of history, does the DeLorean still get famous if not for the Back To The Future franchise?

You know what to do. Sound off below.

[Image: DeLorean/Classic DMC]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 10 comments

CanadaCraig 9 hours ago

It would be no more remembered than the Bricklin if it were not for BTTF. That said... I sat in one once, a brand new one at a dealership. I quickly discovered that it was the ideal car for Billy Barty. So that was that.

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Azmtns 53 minutes ago

When I was little, the Scottsdale, AZ police had a couple of them. All 9-year olds thought they were cool.

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Azmtns When I was little, the Scottsdale, AZ police had a couple of them. All 9-year olds thought they were cool.
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CanadaCraig It would be no more remembered than the Bricklin if it were not for BTTF. That said... I sat in one once, a brand new one at a dealership. I quickly discovered that it was the ideal car for Billy Barty. So that was that.