4 Fantastically Futuristic Back To The Future Cars That Aren't The DeLorean DMC-12

Today is October 21, 2015. That can only mean one thing. Right now, in the modest town of Hill Valley, California, a flying DeLorean driven by a white-haired scientist and a high-school kid is about to make a long-anticipated appearance.

That’s right—the future date that Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled to in the beginning of Back to the Future II is today, and though not everyone might recognise the date, pretty much everyone recognises the time-travelling 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 that became not just a star of the movie franchise, but a motoring icon.

Pages and pages have been devoted to the DeLorean, and today you’ll see everyone jumping on the DMC-12 bandwagon, but we don’t like to travel down the path most travelled. Instead of looking at the big screen’s favourite time travelling ****box, let’s take a look at some of the other cars of the future as portrayed in the second film.

Most were static mockups in the background, and if you look closely you can spot a few ‘80s concept cars from Pontiac, notably the Trans Sport and Banshee IV, pictured above. They must not have paid as much sponsorship money as Ford, because many of the cars seen in Hill Valley 2015 are of the Blue Oval variety.

So here’s a roundup of our favourite automotive creations from Back to the Future II. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from putting this piece together, it’s that people in the 80s envisaged a rice-tastic automotive future…

1. 1989 Ford Tempo

This is one that I honestly don’t understand. Even Robocop had the foresight to use the rounded, futuristic-looking (for that time anyway) Ford Taurus for their take on things to come. If we’re talking other slick Fords, the flattened out Thunderbird would’ve been better, or how about giving some love to the sleek Dodge Daytona or the then-new 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix? I don’t mean to sound like I’m hating on the Tempo, but I did own one of these cars once, so yeah, I’m hating on the Tempo.

Not only is it ugly and poorly disguised (with what appears to be some kind of off-road engine snorkel no less), but it’s the first legitimate future car we see in the film. At least things could only get better…

2. 1989 Ford Probe

Look closely throughout the first half-hour of the film and you’ll actually see Ford Probes everywhere. Admittedly the Probe had very futuristic styling when the second film was made back in the late 1980s, so affixing fender skirts and absurd amounts of plastic to the Probe’s rounded edges gave what could pass for a futuristic-looking car.

At risk of revealing my age, I remember seeing this film in the theatre as a kid, and I freely admit to thinking these cars looked awesome and totally like something from the future. Now, I just kind-of laugh at all the add-ons, though owning a first-generation Probe GT turbo is still on my bucket list. And this movie has something to do with that.

3. 1989 Ford Mustang GT

Oh this hurts, because I’m something of a Mustang fan. In fact, I’ve actually seen 1980s 5.0-litre Mustang GTs that looked similar to this, and they weren’t trying to copy the movie.

Still, the cool thing about this riced ‘Stang is that if you wanted a replica car from the film, this is probably going to be your best choice in terms of cost, ease-of-construction, and available performance. You can source out a late 1980s Mustang GT with the 225bhp 5.0-litre V8 and a five-speed manual for $3000. At that price it’ll be a bit rough around the edges, but still in decent running and driving condition. I’m willing to bet you can actually buy that very spoiler somewhere in the world, and the rest is just fabbing up some wheel covers to mimic the hover conversion kit.

4. 1976 BMW 633 CSi

Next to the DeLorean, I think this is the coolest of all the future cars in the second film. Maybe that’s because you never, ever see a BMW turned into some kind of crazy Americanised hot rod adorned with a Pro-Stock dragster hood scoop. Or maybe it’s because I think this car looks surprisingly good as a convertible.

What’s really exciting about this flying BMW is that the original car used in the movie goes up for auction on October 24, with a starting bid of $10,000. Why it didn’t start today I have no idea, but per the description, the car is said to run and drive, but it “runs rough” as apparently it was never designed to actually drive in the film. It’s located in Connecticut, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the bidding on this car won’t actually get too high. Then again, one of the original DeLoreans went for over half a million bucks a few years ago, and I also thought laser discs would win out over DVDs, so I could be mistaken.

In 30 years, who knows how valuable it could be. If only we had a flying, time traveling DeLorean to find out…