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This DeLorean is up for auction, complete with ‘original flux capacitor’

"Does it have a flux capacitor?" is arguably the only question you need to ask when shopping for a DeLorean.


Thankfully, this one-of-a-kind, custom-built 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 features the original flux capacitor – the key component enabling the car to travel through time – used in the Back to the Future movies.

With an asking price of US$500,000 (AU$650,000), the car is identical to the one used in the iconic 1980s trilogy and is being auctioned off on US site Charity Buzz to raise funds for the Michael J. Fox foundation, which supports Parkinson's Research.

Fox is, of course, the actor who famously starred as Marty McFly – the teenager who is accidentally sent 30 years into the past by his bumbling scientist friend, Doc Brown, in the first of the three films.

The vehicle was featured on the Discovery Channel series called Expedition Back to the Future, a TV show that attempts to locate the five stunt cars used in the original films.

While this Los Angeles-based example isn't one of those five cars, it does incorporate the original flux capacitor screen used in the 'B' stunt car for all three films.

The car itself is powered by a 2.8-litre V6 engine and a three-speed automatic transmission.

It comes with a fully-functional remote control which can start, accelerate, brake and steer the car remotely, although the listing cautions that this is for "demonstration only" and the DeLorean is "not an autonomous vehicle".

Other features include a vintage alarm clock, a digital speedometer, a functional smoke machine that pushes smoke through the car's vents and the "Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor" that powers the vehicle in the second and third films.

There's also a Roentgen meter, which "measures the amount of radiation in roentgens produced by the plutonium powering the flux capacitor".

At the time of publishing, the bidding sits at US$150,000 after nine bids.

Sadly, however, only US residents are able to purchase the vehicle.

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Susannah Guthrie

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist for over a decade, covering everything from world news to fashion, entertainment, health and now cars. Having previously worked across titles like The New Daily, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, People Magazine and Cosmopolitan, Susannah now relishes testing family cars with the help of her husband and two-year-old son.

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