There are certain cars that you recognize instantly. You don’t need to see the badge, hear the engine, or even know much about automobiles. One look and you know exactly what you’re looking at.

The DeLorean DMC-12 is one of those cars.  Why?  I think we all know why, but if you don’t, then we should start looking for Doc Brown.

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time in my 1982 DeLorean with my friend and fellow automotive enthusiast, Paul Ranney. And while he has seen plenty of these cars over the years, there’s something entirely different about actually climbing inside one and heading down the road.  That’s something he had never done.  Me?  Well, I drive this car every time I get an opportunity to take it out and wow folks from 8 to 80, thanks to it’s vintage-spacecraft look and a movie called Back To The Future.

Yes, it’s the car from Back to the Future. Yes, everybody makes the same 88-mile-per-hour joke. And no, unfortunately, this particular example wasn’t equipped with a flux capacitor.

But take Hollywood out of the equation for a moment, and the DeLorean is still a fascinating automobile.

The stainless-steel body is unlike just about anything else ever offered to the public. There isn’t a conventional paint job hiding the metal underneath. What you’re looking at is essentially what you get. Then there are those glorious gullwing doors, which make getting into a car feel like an event.

And that’s really the thing about the DeLorean. Everything about it feels like an event.

Of course, the actual driving experience is a little less futuristic than the exterior might suggest. Underneath that exotic-looking bodywork sits a 2.8-liter V6 producing around 130 horsepower. This car has a bit more, thanks to some upgrades, but we’re still not talking about anything too serious.  Definitely not supercar numbers, even by early 1980s standards. You’re not going to embarrass a Ferrari at a stoplight, unless the Ferrari driver is asleep. However, you will get as many, and probably even more, looks and praise as you would in the average Lamborghini.

But that’s missing the point.

The DeLorean was never going to be remembered for its blistering acceleration. Its significance comes from the vision behind it. John DeLorean wanted to build something different, and he certainly accomplished that. Unfortunately, the company experienced financial and production problems, and the entire adventure was over almost as quickly as it began.

The car, however, refused to disappear.

As Paul and I spent time with this one, my pride and joy, he found himself appreciating the DeLorean for what it actually is rather than what generations of moviegoers imagined it to be. It’s an unusual piece of automotive history, full of character, interesting engineering decisions, and the sort of design that manufacturers rarely have the courage to attempt anymore.

There are faster cars. There are more comfortable cars. There are certainly more practical cars.

But how many automobiles built more than four decades ago can still turn heads the way a DeLorean does?

Not many.

And perhaps that’s the DeLorean’s greatest accomplishment. The company may not have survived, but the car became immortal.

Not bad for an automobile that couldn’t even make it to 88 miles per hour in under ten seconds.

Watch Paul and me take a closer look at this automotive icon in the GEARHEAD video here.