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Earlier this evening I attended an exclusive “Back to the Future” event at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The event was held in order to celebrate the unveiling of the original “Hero” or “Picture” car DeLorean Time Machine from “Back to the Future” now on permanent display at the museum. Before the unveiling the audience was treated to a brief presentation by Mattel Senior Sculptor for Hot Wheels Manson Cheung.
 
Manson went into great detail about the Hot Wheels sculpting process and his history with pitching the DeLorean Time Machine as part of the line for many years. His sculpt has been used in many scales and with many variations, but he also is involved in designing any deviations. Including the Ultimate DeLorean Time Machine car that was revealed at the event and will go on sale later this year.
   
The new car will feature lights, sounds, as well as various accessories in order to customize the car to your liking. So if your preference is the DeLorean from “Back to the Future III” you have all the accoutrements to display it proudly. The car was also displayed on the Hot Wheels Instagram page to celebrate last year’s “Back to the Future Day”.
 
After the presentation from Mattel/Hot Wheels the car was finally unveiled with the help of “Back to the Future” screenwriter Bob Gale, Universal Studios Creative Director John Murdy, Movie Reviewer Scott Mantz, DeLorean Restorer Joe Walser, and Documentarian Steve Concotelli.
   
After the big reveal there was a panel discussion moderated by Scott Mantz. During the panel the film and car itself were discussed at length, including a Q&A with the audience.
  
Also in the audience was one of the designers of the original DeLorean Time Machine and “Back the the Future” Construction Coordinator Michael Scheffe who was on hand to help out with a few audience questions:
Bob Gale shared his love of the fans and his love for the car itself. He also shared the oft-told story about Ford offering to replace the DeLorean in “Back to the Future” with a Mustang. Obviously we know how that went.
Universal Studios Creative Director John Murdy shared his history with “Back to the Future”, starting with the fact that he worked at the real “Twin Pines” mall and snuck onto the set. Then many years later was working as a Universal Studios tour guide during the filming of “Back to the Future II” and “III”.
Documentarian Steve Concotelli talked about how he came to document the restoration of the DeLorean by Joe Walser and his team.
The VIP of the evening had to be DeLorean Restoration Leader Joe Walser. He was handpicked by Bob Gale to lead the restoration project since he was aware of Joe’s obsession with detail in the DeLorean Time Machine customizing community. Joe was also lauded for adding features to the restored car that weren’t even on the car during filming including lights, sounds, and pretty much everything short of time travel.
I’ve seen this DeLorean before on display at Universal Studios. This car used to be on display in front of the now defunct “Back to the Future” Ride at the theme park, this was before it was restored. More recently it was featured prominently on display post-restoration in a part of the park that no longer exists, so the need for a permanent home created a great opportunity for the Petersen Museum.
   
The car will be featured prominently this month as part of a series of “Back to the Future” events, tickets available here: http://petersen.org/backtothefuture/
 
The museum itself is very cool and highly recommended if you live or are visiting the L.A. area. The DeLorean Time Machine is a work of art and an indelible part of film history so it is worthy of being displayed in a world class museum. I was happy to see it up close and personal and while I’ve crossed off seeing it on my bucket list, I’ll gladly go see it again.
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