Latest news with #DeLoreanDMC-12
Fashion Network
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fashion Network
Anti Social Social Club SS25 installation wraps Selfridges' DeLorean in signature rose print
Raising awareness of a brand is about more than simply opening a pop-up and high-profile, attention-grabbing moves are key as well. That's why Anti Social Social Club (ASSC) has returned to Selfridges London with a new in-store installation, wrapping the department store's DeLorean DMC -12 in the brand's signature rose print. ASSC said that the rose is long associated with 'themes of beauty, detachment and lost love, [and] remains a recurring symbol' across its collections since the brand's beginnings. But as well as that, the DeLorean serves as a nod by ASSC to its ongoing performance car links 'tying together speed, nostalgia and the brand's unique worldview'. The brand's 'affinity with motors continues following most recently their 2024 collaboration with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, merging its visual language with one of the world's most historic endurance races'. Previous collaborations have explored tuning culture, street racing, and automotive subcultures worldwide. Of course, selling product is what it's all about and to accompany the launch, ASSC has released a Selfridges tee featuring its koi graphic, finished with reflective logo detailing. The koi tee is exclusive to Selfridges, while the wider collection features select core styles. 'We're proud to continue partnering with Selfridges after a strong launch last year. The DeLorean is such an iconic feature of the store and it's great to reimagine the car in true ASSC style,' said Connor Poole, ASSC's UK & EU brand director. The installation is in-store until 15 August, featuring the SS25 collection. It's also online via Selfridges' webstore and ASSC's webstore.
Fashion Network
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fashion Network
Anti Social Social Club SS25 installation wraps Selfridges' DeLorean in signature rose print
Raising awareness of a brand is about more than simply opening a pop-up and high-profile, attention-grabbing moves are key as well. That's why Anti Social Social Club (ASSC) has returned to Selfridges London with a new in-store installation, wrapping the department store's DeLorean DMC -12 in the brand's signature rose print. ASSC said that the rose is long associated with 'themes of beauty, detachment and lost love, [and] remains a recurring symbol' across its collections since the brand's beginnings. But as well as that, the DeLorean serves as a nod by ASSC to its ongoing performance car links 'tying together speed, nostalgia and the brand's unique worldview'. The brand's 'affinity with motors continues following most recently their 2024 collaboration with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, merging its visual language with one of the world's most historic endurance races'. Previous collaborations have explored tuning culture, street racing, and automotive subcultures worldwide. Of course, selling product is what it's all about and to accompany the launch, ASSC has released a Selfridges tee featuring its koi graphic, finished with reflective logo detailing. The koi tee is exclusive to Selfridges, while the wider collection features select core styles. 'We're proud to continue partnering with Selfridges after a strong launch last year. The DeLorean is such an iconic feature of the store and it's great to reimagine the car in true ASSC style,' said Connor Poole, ASSC's UK & EU brand director. The installation is in-store until 15 August, featuring the SS25 collection. It's also online via Selfridges' webstore and ASSC's webstore.
Fashion Network
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fashion Network
Anti Social Social Club SS25 installation wraps Selfridges' DeLorean in signature rose print
Raising awareness of a brand is about more than simply opening a pop-up and high-profile, attention-grabbing moves are key as well. That's why Anti Social Social Club (ASSC) has returned to Selfridges London with a new in-store installation, wrapping the department store's DeLorean DMC -12 in the brand's signature rose print. ASSC said that the rose is long associated with 'themes of beauty, detachment and lost love, [and] remains a recurring symbol' across its collections since the brand's beginnings. But as well as that, the DeLorean serves as a nod by ASSC to its ongoing performance car links 'tying together speed, nostalgia and the brand's unique worldview'. The brand's 'affinity with motors continues following most recently their 2024 collaboration with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, merging its visual language with one of the world's most historic endurance races'. Previous collaborations have explored tuning culture, street racing, and automotive subcultures worldwide. Of course, selling product is what it's all about and to accompany the launch, ASSC has released a Selfridges tee featuring its koi graphic, finished with reflective logo detailing. The koi tee is exclusive to Selfridges, while the wider collection features select core styles. 'We're proud to continue partnering with Selfridges after a strong launch last year. The DeLorean is such an iconic feature of the store and it's great to reimagine the car in true ASSC style,' said Connor Poole, ASSC's UK & EU brand director. The installation is in-store until 15 August, featuring the SS25 collection. It's also online via Selfridges' webstore and ASSC's webstore.
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville company makes renting a ‘Back to the Future' DeLeorean just a phone call away
With its gull-wing doors, stainless steel exterior and illuminated circuits, the DeLorean time-traveling machine in the movie 'Back to the Future' captivated audiences and car lovers 40 years ago and still does today. Seeing one in real life is a dream for many, according to Naperville resident Jason Alspaugh, who says he's been enamored with the car since he was a kid. 'I think everybody has the same feeling. It's magical,' Alspaugh said. 'Number one, what is that? And is that a real car?' The 46-year-old said he noticed that people who owned 'Back to the Future' time machine replicas rented them out for parties and special events but had no way to meet the demand beyond a local basis. Alspaugh realized he could create a one-stop-shop through which people across the country could rent the fictional car, and that's how Naperville-based DeLorean Rental was born. The first 'Back to the Future' movie hit screens in 1985, four years after the DeLorean DMC-12 went into production. Only about 9,000 were manufactured before company owner John DeLorean went out of business in 1982. The car captured the public's imagination, but was short-lived thanks to an economic recession at the time coupled with John DeLorean's indictment on drug and fraud charges, of which he was later acquitted. However, its futuristic look made it perfect for it to serve as Doc Brown's time machine in 'Back to the Future,' sending Marty McFly to the 1950s, where he encounters his parents while they are in high school. Two more installations of the movie came out in 1989 and 1990 featuring the time-traveling vehicle. Like John DeLorean, Alspaugh picked an inauspicious time to launch his new business — just before COVID-19 put the economy into a spin and ended almost all social events and large gatherings for months. 'For the first few years, all we were doing was very small birthday parties,' said Alspaugh, who works full time as a product manager. 'People were masked up. You had to wipe the car down. And I started with just a couple cars.' Over time, things picked up. People started reaching out to Alspaugh to have their time machine replicas made available for rent through his company. He now has access to more than 80 cars from coast to coast and even some in Germany, Spain, France and Canada. The company also has expanded to include other types of rental vehicles, including Batman batmobiles, 'Jurassic Park' Jeeps and the 'Ghostbusters' Ectomobile. 'A lot of these car owners do rent out their cars on a local basis, wherever they are throughout the country,' Alspaugh said. 'But what makes it easier for them to have me do it is they don't have to create a website, they don't have to do the social media, they don't have to do the (price) quoting. I do all of that. All they have to do is show up to do the gig.' For time machine DeLorean owner Scott Mulhollen, who lives in Ohio, partnering with Alspaugh has allowed him to take his vehicle to such diverse locations as Las Vegas, Tennessee and even Canada. 'He knows he can trust me as a business owner,' Mulhollen, who also has his own rental company called Ohio Time Machine Rental, said. 'He knows he can count on me to be able to get to those clients when he's under a crunch. And that's what's provided me the opportunity to be able to go these different distances for these clients.' There is no one type of person who rents the time machine, Alspaugh said. Past renters include everyone from fans of the film who want to use the time machine for a wedding or graduation party to businesses looking to use it for a commercial or special event. It cannot be rented to drive due to restrictions by insurance companies. 'This is a 40-year-old car. There's no airbags. There's a lot of sharp components in the car, time circuits, things that insurance would never allow us to rent it out for somebody to drive,' Alspaugh said. He estimates there are about 200 DeLorean time machine replicas in the world. When fans first started making their own, they would examine the vehicle in great detail by watching the movies on VHS tapes. Social media has made it easier for people to share tips on building a replica or to find parts and advancements in technology have made it more convenient to build the parts needed, he said. 'A lot of these parts that go on the DeLorean time machines, they're old aircraft aerospace parts from the '50s and '60s. They're just not available anymore,' Alspaugh said. Time machine builders will have these parts manufactured to be as true to the original as possible, he said. Easier, however, does not translate into cheaper, Alspaugh said. Building a time machine is still a costly endeavor, with a used DeLorean DMC 12 typically costing $50,000 to $90,000 and modifications running from $15,000 and $40,000. Completed time machines can sell for between $150,000 to $250,000, he said. 'Believe me, this is not a cheap hobby,' DeLorean time machine owner Edwin Pineda said. 'The only way you can actually get your money back is if you put it to rent for events and all this stuff.' Pineda, who resides in Los Angeles, reached out to Alspaugh for help with renting his DeLorean. Thanks to DeLorean Rental, Pineda has taken it to places he never imagined, like the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' late night television show. 'It was a last-minute idea that they had on the show and (Alspaugh) called me right away,' Pineda said. 'He says, 'You know what, Edwin, the Jimmy Kimmel show, they need a car. But they need it in the next two hours. I was taking care of some business with my kids when he called me, but as soon as he said that it was for the Jimmy Kimmel show, of course, I dropped everything.' The price to rent a DeLorean time machine can vary greatly depending on location, Alspaugh said. In the Chicago area, the cost is between $250 and $400 per hour, with a two-hour minimum. For Alspaugh, one of the best parts of DeLorean Rental is the people he's met through the company, including some of the 'Back to the Future' cast members. 'Christopher Lloyd is just the nicest human being you'll ever meet,' said Alspaugh, referring to the actor who played Doc Brown in the 'Back to the Future' movies. 'They always say, 'Never meet your heroes.' That is not true when it comes to the 'Back to the Future' cast. They could not be nicer.' What brings him the deepest sense of joy, however, is seeing people's faces light up when they see the time machine in person, Alspaugh said. He's seen everything from people jumping up and down to strangers breaking down in tears. 'To do something that I love is amazing, but to see the reactions of people as you're driving down the road and people are just losing their minds trying to get a picture … it doesn't get any better than that,' he said. 'That is the apex for me — being able to share this with other people.'
Chicago Tribune
03-07-2025
- Automotive
- Chicago Tribune
On 40th anniversary of ‘Back to the Future,' Allstate celebrates its role in creation of DeLorean time machine
On the 40th anniversary of the 'Back to the Future' movie premiere, Northbrook-based insurance giant Allstate is traveling back to the past to reveal its little-known role in developing the DeLorean, the futuristic but short-lived, gull-winged, stainless steel car that served as Doc Brown's time machine. Without Allstate, Marty McFly might never have left 1985 or perhaps he would have traveled back in time in a Buick, forever disrupting the space-time continuum of the seminal movie trilogy. 'The cars exist because of the partnership Allstate had with DeLorean,' said Sandee Lindorfer, vice president of auto claims for Allstate. In the words of Doc Brown, 'Great Scott!' 'Back to the Future' hit movie theaters on July 3, 1985. A customized 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, which took audiences on joyrides to 1955, 1885 and 2015 over the course of three films, was already relegated to the junkyard of automotive history by the time the movie premiered. In the mid-1970s, Allstate worked with John DeLorean, an automobile executive and engineer, who left GM to launch his own namesake vehicle. The insurance company invested a reported $500,000 in a safety car project, developing prototypes with advanced seatbelt restraints, airbags and improved bumpers. 'We sponsored three prototypes with the DeLorean-Allstate safety car agreement, and we brought one of the prototypes to Congress to show them what could be done around smaller vehicles being more safe and having better fuel economy,' Lindorfer said. One prototype evolved into the sleek DeLorean DMC-12, which went into limited but ill-timed production at a Northern Ireland factory during a recession in 1981, generating buzz but few sales. By 1982, the debt-ridden company was in bankruptcy and its founder in legal trouble, facing indictments on separate drug and fraud charges. John DeLorean was ultimately acquitted on both counts, but his car was seemingly no more than a flash in the pan. Three years later, the DeLorean was reborn as Doc Brown's time machine, and the rest is cinematic history. Initially, the time machine was envisioned as a refrigerator-like chamber that Doc Brown carried on the back of his truck. Then director Robert Zemeckis had the inspiration that the time machine should be mobile, and specifically chose the DeLorean for its futuristic design. 'The way I see it, if you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?' Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, explains in the movie. In the annals of 'Back to the Future' lore, a lot of similar nuggets have emerged since the film trilogy premiered. For example, the 1989 second installment predicted the Cubs would finally end their century-long World Series drought with a 2015 win over the fictional Miami Gators. The Cubs actually broke through in 2016, beating the Cleveland Indians, but the movie was pretty close. Also, the role of Marty McFly was initially given to Eric Stoltz, who participated in over a month of filming before he was replaced by Michael J. Fox, the more comedically gifted 'Family Ties' star. But Allstate's role in developing the car that begot the time machine and an enduring movie star remained buried in a dusty folder in the back of a corporate cabinet for decades. In 2019, an Allstate archivist found the mysterious DeLorean file and began exploring the mostly forgotten connection. Six years later, on the 40th anniversary of 'Back to the Future,' Allstate is finally ready to take a modest bow. On Tuesday, Allstate rented a pair of vintage DeLoreans to celebrate the movie, the car and the unlikely part the insurance company played in both. Tucked away in the back of an underground garage at Allstate's downsized Northbrook/Glenview headquarters, across the street from its former sprawling corporate campus, the vehicles were briefly on display for the media and a handful of executives. The cars, which included a stock 1981 DeLorean and a tricked-out version replicating the 'Back to the Future' time machine, were rented from an Orland Park company — DeLorean USA Rental — that leases the vehicles for parties and events. 'You can't drive it because the insurer doesn't allow it,' said Tom Sedor, who owns the cars and the rental company. The time machine, which includes a flux capacitor and a Mr. Fusion nuclear reactor in the back — replete with banana peel as fuel — is fully drivable, and the garage and adjacent parking lot offered enough room to get it up to the 88 mph threshold required to go back to the future. But Sedor, 57, who customized the movie mockup with a 3D printer and assorted parts from Menards and RockAuto, said the replica has yet to successfully make the time jump. 'Nothing happened, no sparks,' said Sedor. 'Everything drove normally. Actually, it's very, very impressive to drive.'
