It has been 40 years since Marty McFly stepped inside Doc Brown’s time-travelling DeLorean, but the pop culture allure of the ‘Back to the 1980s’ DMC-12 remains as strong as ever. 

Words Kim Newth  Photos Jono Townsend

Few cult cars are as memorable as the DeLorean DMC-12. With its gull-wing doors and stainless-steel body, the DeLorean was an inspired choice for the 1985 sci-fi comedy classic Back to the Future. The man behind the marque, John DeLorean, was a visionary American auto engineer who quit General Motors in 1973 to launch his own car company. Legendary Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro was entrusted with the job of creating DMC’s sporty futuristic look. A factory was established in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but production problems meant the first release didn’t come off the line until 1981 and, amidst a global recession, sales were sluggish. By 1982, the company was in receivership and DeLorean was also facing drug trafficking charges. While he was later cleared, the DMC dream was over.

Just a few short years later though, thanks to Back to the Future, the DeLorean DMC-12 had secured its place as a cult classic. The ‘12’ in DMC-12 comes from the original target price of $12,000, but today’s buyers can expect to pay at least 10 times that for an early 1980s DeLorean in good condition.

Canterbury country singer-songwriter Miranda Easten was born a few years after the film’s 1985 release, but watching it on VHS as a girl, she was instantly captivated by the charismatic wedge-shaped DeLorean. Her desire to own one started there and then.

By the time she was old enough to drive, all she could afford was a 1992 Honda Civic hatchback, which proved uninspiring – ‘it was terrible, non-responsive and so slow!’ Her big chance finally came in 2016, when a rare 1983 DeLorean with a $25,000 price tag came up on Trade Me.

‘I’d been looking for so long, but was panicking because I didn’t have enough money to pay for it. I sold everything to get it including my existing car, a Toyota Caldina turbo station wagon. Fortunately, the owner took pity on me and said, “Pay what you can now and pay the rest later.” It was an incredible feeling to finally own a DeLorean. It’s a high that has not gone away. I’m now onto my third DeLorean, but still get that same rush every time I see it in the garage. I have suffered from anxiety, depression and panic attacks my whole life. It’s better now than it was, but any time I’m not feeling good all I need to do is go and look at the DeLorean; sitting in it makes me feel so much better.’

Miranda says the car draws an incredible level of interest everywhere she goes. People follow her home, take pictures, ask where the flux capacitor is and love to see the hoverboard (featured in Back to the Future II) that she keeps in the car. She’s been invited to numerous eighties-themed parties and Santa parades, and expects a flurry of interest this year for the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future.

Around the same time that Miranda was adjusting to life with her first DeLorean, she was also a young mother and studying music at Ara. Miranda started singing from a young age and acquired a taste for country music that she has since turned into a flourishing career as a singer-songwriter.

A lucky break for her was being introduced to renowned music producer Greg Haver. She recorded her debut album Behind Unbroken Strings, released in 2021, with Greg at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. Singles from the album charted well in Australia and earned her a growing fanbase here and in America too.

Watching Back to the Future on VHS as a girl, she was instantly captivated by the charismatic wedge-shaped DeLorean. Her desire to own one started there and then.

Just as her music career was starting to blossom, Miranda had sold her first DeLorean having been made ‘a ridiculous offer’. She then purchased a second one, sight unseen, from California that proved to be in terrible shape and completely undrivable. Too expensive for her to fix, she sold it on at a knockdown price and then went four years DeLorean-free, driving a Toyota Avensis station wagon. ‘It was a useful workhorse that I ran into the ground.’

Her third and final 1981 DeLorean is a keeper that Miranda says she’ll never sell. She bought it for $130,000 from a friend who had looked after it very well. ‘It’s in museum condition.’ Featured in her recent music video, Home Again, cruising the wide-open country by Lake Ōhau, the DeLorean looks just right: part-time machine, a futuristic vehicle from the past, evoking memories and a sense of a nostalgia.

Miranda’s music career, meanwhile, continues to gain momentum. Her second album Concrete & Honey, recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and released in July 2024, rose to number six on the official NZ Albums Chart. Miranda has a regular show on New Zealand’s only mainstream country station, Southern Cross Country, and is currently busy working on album number three.