Dad Recreates the 'Back to the Future' DeLorean to Give His Kids the Coolest School Pickup Ever
A dad in the U.K. might be raising eyebrows for spending a fortune to turn a car into a time machine, but his ride is also the envy of fellow Back to the Future fans around the globe. James Napier, who works as a a website designer from Wickford, Essex, bought an '80s DeLorean for £55,000 (approx. $72,251) and then spent the past five months transforming it into the time machine that appeared in Robert Zemeckis' trilogy.
The BTTF superfan told the Good News Network that the decades-old auto "was quite run down." A previous owner had tried to turn it into the time machine created by Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown and driven 88 miles per hour by Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly (oh, and don't forget Old Biff!), but it had turned out looking like a total mess.
"I thought maybe I could salvage some of it, but in the end I needed to get rid of everything and start from scratch,” Napier added. “I probably spent around 1,200 hours working on the car and it was quite expensive to do. It was a seven days a week job. It might have took a while, but it’s definitely worth it."
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One of the coolest features: A smoke machine to make smoke come out when the doors open, just like in the film when the DeLorean has traveled through time. "A lot of the props inside makes the exact same noises," Napier explained. "We’ve got the iconic car doors and lights too."
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Now, the proud dad uses it to pick up his three kids—16-year-old Paige, 13-year-old Devon, and 8-year-old Daisy—from school every day.
“I take it out on weekends and I drop my kids off at school or football sometimes. They like it and their friends find it quite amusing!” Napier told the Good News Network. “You see other people’s jaws drop when we drive past. The family adores it—although my wife Emma probably doesn’t want to know how much it has cost me in total to restore! We drive it everywhere we go—you’ve got to make the most of it."
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He's also taken it to charity events across south Essex. "People love to see it and constantly want a picture with it," the 37-year-old told the outlet. "When we posted on Facebook that we had bought it, loads of people messaged me and asked me to take their kids out in it."
While his kids may not be growing up watching the film over and over again on VHS, Napier's daughter Daisy told Good News Network that the car is "really cool," and she loves when people beep at them as they pass by.
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What does her father like best about his jaw-dropping DeLorean? The fact that it reminds people of their childhood, of course. Napier summed it up, "I love the film, and I’m glad I’ve brought it to life for people."
