This Updated DeLorean DMC-12 Celebrates ‘Back to the Future’ Car’s 40th Anniversary

The “Future” is here.

2021 will mark the 40th anniversary of the DeLorean DMC-12, perhaps the most famous gull-wing vehicle ever thanks to its starring role as a 1.21-gigawatt time machine in 1985’s Back to the Future. And while there have been rumblings about a limited run of DMC-12s in their original form, Spanish designer Angel Guerra decided create a totally contemporary version in his spare time. 

Guerra, who most recently completed a five-year stint at Croation super-EV maker Rimrac, became enamored with the time-hopping coupe featured in Robert Zemeckis’s 1985 blockbuster as a youngster.

“I do not exactly remember how old I was when I watched for the first time Back to the Future, maybe 6, 7 years old? But I can tell you that almost 40 years ago, that car and that movie overclocked my mindset forever,” he told Retrogeist. “Ever since that car rolled down the ramp of the truck in Back to the Future I knew that I will be a car designer.”

Despite its iconic movie car status, Guerra hasn’t been impressed by a single reimagining of the DMC-12 yet. 

“The reason behind it all was that I have failed to see any good proposal in recent years for a new, modern DeLorean, meanwhile the original car and the movie are still present in the collective memory of several generations.”

His renderings show a sleek, less-angular vehicle that maintains many of the DMC-12’s hallmarks. Car Scoops notes its turbine-style wheels, squared front end, triangular quarter glass, and, of course, gullwing doors. Meanwhile, the rear and front are equipped with modern LED light bars and beefy diffusers, and the retro “DeLorean” block-letter logo appears sparingly. As a callback to the movie’s final scene, one image even shows DMC-12 hovering above the road with wheels folded. 

“I have studied the designer Giorgetto Giuguaro, his design language and his models. But also, another Italian reference from that age as the Lancia Montecarlo (It looks quite similar to the DeLorean, don’t you think?).” Guerra said. “So I’ve tried to take the Italian design language from that age and mixed with the German Bauhaus’s rules. I gave the result a modern surface treatment and a minimalist graphic design (all the lights are in one plane).”

Given his resume, Guerra’s powertrain proposal of dual rear-mounted electric motors makes sense. He also would strive for a fully-autonomous driving system that runs off of cameras and sensors hidden the stainless steel body’s wrap-around black stripe.

While the Guerra’s DeLorean DMC-12 might not become a reality, he told Retrogeist that he’s interested in redesigning other legendary automobiles, including the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40, and McLaren F1. But for now, his Instagram feed is dedicated almost entirely to the DMC-12: 

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