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According to wikipedia, the movie makers decided

The specific choice of vehicle was a DeLorean DMC-12 for the purposes of it looking like an alien spaceship due to its characteristic gullwing doors.

Is there a reason from within the storyline (comic books, cartoons, video games, deleted scenes) that explains why Emmett Brown choose that particular make and model?

Major Stackings
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2 Answers2

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I believe the storyline reason is that Doc thought that DeLoreans were stylish:

Marty McFly: Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?

Dr. Emmett Brown: The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?

Besides, the stainless steel construction made the flux disperal... Watch out!

NikolaiDante
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    Don't forget the line just after than. It was for more than just looks: Besides, the stainless, steel construction made the flux dispersal- – Xantec Dec 27 '12 at 12:39
  • Thanks. IMDB didn't go that far and I didn't want to misquote. Added now. – NikolaiDante Dec 27 '12 at 12:47
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    This was of course a joke, the DeLorean failed miserably at market because people though the design was silly. This was supposed to show Docs eccentric nature. – Ashterothi Dec 27 '12 at 17:46
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    @Pyrodante - I don't know about popular taste but I'm with Doc on this one, that is one helluva stylish car. – System Down Dec 27 '12 at 20:42
  • Upon further evaluation, I have found nothing to back up what I said, and it may in fact be unfounded. The company that produced the car went out of business for other reasons besides the car itself it would seem. Although, it could still be a reference to the companies failure. – Ashterothi Dec 27 '12 at 20:50
  • I remember reading there's a company trying to relaunch the Delorean. I don't know where that stands in terms of how far along they are. – Bart Silverstrim Jan 01 '13 at 22:28
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    I wish I could remember where I read it, but supposedly the movie was going to use something like a time-traveling fridge or something, but that idea was ditched because of safety concerns (encouraging kids to play in fridges...) Maybe that was a joke? – Bart Silverstrim Jan 01 '13 at 22:28
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    @Pyrodante - the company was in trouble already when the owner got busted for being involved in a fairly large scale cocaine-selling operation, if I'm not mistaken. The car was meh. Everyone thought it looked cool, but apparently it wasn't much fun to drive. – Wad Cheber Jun 15 '15 at 04:32
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According to this article at backtothefuture.com:

Thanks to the stainless steel construction of the DeLorean, flux dispersal is generated at an optimum level from the Flux Capacitor, providing the entire vehicle and its passengers a smooth passage through the space-time continuum during temporal displacement.

Valorum
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Eric
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