Almost anyone could identify a DeLorean, whether they're a big car person or not. The iconic sports car became ingrained in pop culture when Doc Brown and Marty McFly used a DeLorean DMC 12 to travel back in time in the 1985 film Back to the Future. The car was originally designed by Georgetto Giugiaro and manufactured for release in the U.S. from 1981 to 1983. Its design made it a great choice for a futuristic film about time travel as the gullwing doors frame its boxy steel body. Rumors of an official reboot have been around for a long time, but no solid plans had been announced since the DeLorean Motor Company’s announcement in 2016. Now, car designer Ángel Guerra has decided to redesign the car himself to honor the iconic car before its 40th anniversary in 2021.
“In 2021, I will be a father for the first time,” Guerra says, “and it will be the 40th anniversary of the manufacture of that car, the DeLorean DMC12, as a thank you to that 1981 vehicle, as a tribute to the machine that somehow brought me to the professional future I fantasized about as a child, I have decided to honor it with a project done in my spare time: I have professionally redesigned the DeLorean adapting it to the automotive world four decades later. This is a thank you to an icon and a movie that marked my childhood. This is also a new DeLorean for my son’s generation.”
Guerra designed this conceptual project with careful attention to the original design, but modified the form to modern standards. The profile is not as boxy as we remember and the iconic front headlights and rear lights are replaced with more modern strips of LEDs—just to name a few changes. Guerra blends his favorite elements of the classic car with sleek modern contours of the sports cars of this new generation.
“What has pushed me to get into this story has been—in addition to wanting to flee in a time machine of this damn 2020—that throughout all these years I have never seen a single design proposal based on that original DeLorean again 1981 despite the fact that both the car and the film that made it world-famous are still present in the collective imagination of the entire generation,” he explains.
Guerra used the design as a creative opportunity to work on the car that inspired him to pursue his current career. “Of course, this project is personal and is not commercially related to either the DeLorean motor company brand or the back to the future movie,” Guerra admits. “This is just a tribute to design.” We will have to wait to hear from DMC for more news on that plan.
You can find more examples of Guerra’s car designs and realistic renderings on his Instagram.
Car designer Ángel Guerra redesigned the iconic DeLorean in anticipation of its 40th anniversary in 2021.
The sports car became ingrained in pop culture when Doc Brown and Marty McFly used a DeLorean to travel back in time in the 1985 film Back to the Future.
Guerra used this project as a creative opportunity to work on the car that inspired him to become a car designer as he modified the DeLorean for his son's generation.
