Here's why the real-life DeLorean cars failed despite their Back to the Future fame. The Back to the Future movies have a close relationship with real history, having exchanged cultural landmarks from different eras, both real and fictitious. Now, Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", Nike's self-tying shoes, and the mythical hoverboards are synonymous with Back to the Future. But above all, the one element most commonly associated with the movie masterpiece is the 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 sports car.

The DeLorean is the perfect vessel for Doc Brown's time machine due to its futuristic look. Its shiny stainless steel body, aerodynamic shape, and gullwing doors still look like they were ripped straight from a spaceship, even more so combined with the addition of rear repulsors, the shiny flux capacitor, and Back to the Future II's Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor. But even though the real-life DeLorean was a better option than the original Back to the Future fridge time machine, it was actually far from being a good car.

Related: Why Back To The Future's Sequels Never Beat The Original's Box Office

Unfortunately, the DeLorean was somewhat doomed from the start given both its origins and parts. First, the only place John DeLorean could find to set up a factory was Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, where the employees had a severe lack of work experience. Due to worldwide fuel shortages at the time, DeLorean had to use an engine that vastly reduced the car's performance, speed, and weight distribution. Slow, inefficient, heavy, and prone to overheating, the DeLorean fell behind almost every other car of its era — hence why Marty McFly was so shocked when Doc Brown used a DeLorean to build a time machine, and why the eccentric Doc Brown responded "if you're going to build a time machine, why not do it with some style?" instead of defending its quality. To top it off, John DeLorean was accused of drug trafficking, and although he was found not guilty, the DeLorean Motor Company soon went bankrupt.

Where Are The DeLoreans Used In Back To The Future Now?

Back to the Future's DeLorean Outatime Plate

Thankfully for the DeLorean, Back to the Future's popularity almost single-handedly saved the iconic car from oblivion due to the pop culture renown of the movie series translating into the vehicle becoming a collector's item - with many who adore the franchise considering them the perfect merchandise to show their love. Now, of the 9,000 vehicles that were manufactured, around 6,500 survive, and most of them due to their connection to Back to the Future's Marty McFly and Doc Brown. Some special versions, such as the gold-plated DeLoreans and the left-hand-wheel models, were also released. However, the most famous DeLoreans are the seven cars used in the Back to the Future trilogy which, with only one exception, still survive to this day.

The "A" car, also nicknamed the "Hero", was the main DeLorean used in Back to the Future Part I. It is carefully guarded by Universal due to its polished exterior and intricate details. After its latest restoration, it currently sits at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. The "B" car, which was used for the driving sequences, was nicknamed the "Wreckage" car and destroyed by the train in Back to the Future Part III. Surprisingly, the "B" car still survives and belongs to Bill and Patrick Shea's private exhibit in Massachusetts. The "C" car was disassembled during filming to shoot interior footage, and its remaining parts were used to build a replica sold by Universal Studios Japan to a private Japanese company.

The other four DeLoreans used in the Back to the Future trilogy suffered various changes early on. The "Oxnard" DeLorean from Back to the Future Part III, which was equipped with train wheels and adapted to rails, lives its retirement days at Universal Studios Orlando, where it was briefly in display before getting put in storage, where it awaits a long-deserved restoration. The other two Back to the Future DeLoreans modified for the desert setting of Part III had similar fates to previous models, with the first one being combined with parts of the "C" car to create a replica sold by Universal Studios, and the second desert car now belonging to a private exhibit, like the "B" car. Lastly, the last Back to the Future DeLorean, made out of fiberglass for the flying scenes in Part II, was destroyed by Universal Studios.