It's 1985. Huey Lewis and The News are top of the charts. Ron Reagan is in the White House. Garret Fitzgerald is running the country and a TV star with a distinctive name is about to make a name for himself in a movie about history that will go down in history...
Yep, when Michael J Fox swanned onto the big screen in Back to the Future, he became an instant mega star. His ascent was aided and abetted by the silver star next to him - the stainless steel, gill wing DeLorean DMC-12. Forget the horror stories of shoddy build quality, unrest in the Belfast factory and the embezzling of government funds - the DeLorean had carved a place for itself in cinema lore.
And now, you can have one for the weekend. RetroVentures Ireland has become the only company in Ireland - and Europe - to have a DeLorean as part of its fleet of classic self-drive hire cars. The DeLorean DMC-12, which was brought back to Ireland from Michigan, was one of the first of the 'cult' cars to have rolled off the Belfast production line 35 years ago.
According to the original bill of sale, the car's previous owner purchased it from Walt Hickey Ford in Michigan for the grand sum of $28,761, which included the 3-speed automatic transmission option at an additional cost of $650, a far cry from John DeLorean's dream of achieving a sale price of just $12,000. In today's money, that is equal to $78,255 or almost €72,000.
As this is the only DeLorean available for self-drive hire in Europe and, given the 35th anniversary celebrations taking place this year, managing director of RetroVentures Ireland Chris Davidson expects demand to be high. "We started looking for a DeLorean DMC-12 almost two years ago and, while we knew they were rare to come by, we hoped we might have been able to find one in Europe. Having widened the net to include North America, we came across one being sold on eBay by a chap in Michigan. We could not believe our luck as it was a one-owner car with just 11,000 miles on the clock!" he said.
"We bought the car sight unseen from the private seller, who we had not met, organised for it to be shipped and then waited. It arrived in the UK last September and was then transported to Ireland by road. It has taken us a long time to get the car registered, but we're delighted to have done so just in time for us to take it to Belfast to be a part of a special 35th anniversary weekend organised by former DeLorean factory workers."
"It is hard to believe that the car has travelled more miles by boat to and from the USA than it has on the road! We're really looking forward to making it available to people who would like to drive the highways and byways of Ireland in what we think is one of the coolest cars ever produced."
There were just over 9,000 DeLorean cars made in Belfast, including the six that featured in the film Back to the Future and four special edition gold plated models, and it is thought that just 6,000 remain.
Self-drive rental packages start at €375 per day. A one-hour DeLorean experience drive is also available priced at €150.
For more information visit www.retroventuresireland.com
Just a shame you can't wind back the actual clock and give the DeLorean some decent sales, a decent engine, a proper development budget...