Nigel Mills of Brentwood, Essex, UK, has owned a 1982 DeLorean since he bought it at auction for £22,000 in 2004. With only 13,000 miles on the odometer, the car is rarely driven, with Mills taking it for a spin three or four times a year and displaying it at a couple of car shows.
Any DeLorean will attract attention from the public and police alike, but Mills’ DMC-12 really stands out because its tinted blue stainless steel exterior.
Mills was out for a “run around” on the A12 highway when, “I saw the guy with the speed gun and thought I better check my speed and low and behold, the letter turns up,” Mills told the Telegraph. The summons said the he was clocked at 89 miles per hour. That speed is significant both to fans of DeLorean, and a certain movie.
The DeLorean car, as you probably know, was made more famous posthumously by the Back to the Future movie franchise than John Z. could ever hope for while the Lotus engineered, Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6-powered, two seat sports coupe was still in production.
If you’re familiar with those films, you’ll know that Doc Brown’s time-traveling DMC-12 needs to reach 88 mph before it can break its tethers to the present. Mills decided to fight the ticket, and he won. In real life, the actual top speed of a stock DeLorean is about 109 mph.
It appears that Mills was prepared to use a “time-travel” defense. “I was being prosecuted for going 89mph in a DeLorean, wasn’t something special meant to happen at 88mph?,” Mills related to the newspaper. “I can honestly say I wasn’t trying to time travel. It was at 11am on Sunday and the road was completely clear.”
As the case transpired, though, the DeLorean Owners Club member didn’t have to bring up the Robert Zemeckis’ film or time travel. The police officer, who allegedly timed Mills at a supposedly supertemporal speed, failed to appear in court as he was assigned to other duties that day. The case was dismissed and Mills’ attorney says that they plan on asking the court to have the government pay his legal costs.
There’s no word if either a Toyota SR5 pickup driven by a teenage boy, or a VW Microbus filled with terrorists were seen in the vicinity in Chelmsford, Essex where the ticket was issued.
[Image: Ronnie Schreiber/TTAC]
Jumpin’ Gigawatts!!
Great Scott!!
“The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?”
How do you tint stainless steel? I need an engineer!
Gotta be blue clear coat over the metal. Do they make transparent tinted wraps? Maybe blue Saran Wrap?
Rub on some Prussian blue?
“Rub on some Prussian blue?”
Maybe Irish Spring instead. After all, John Z wasn’t Prussian…
The police officer didn’t make it to court because he was transported back to 1955.
!!!!
[The first time Marty tried to take a corner at speed in the Delorean:]
“Whoa, this is heavy!”
There’s that word again, heavy. Why are cars so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth’s gravitational pull?
Lou, give me a milk. Chocolate.
I once had a very friendly officer give me a speeding ticket. He then proceeded to tell me, “If I where you, I would take that to court” Then he gave me a wink and walked back to his cruiser.
He never did show up in court. I wonder if he knew all along that he was not going to be at the hearing. I guess he figured sitting around in distric court for a whole morning was punishment enough.
District court doesn’t have doughnuts.
I’m sure that in 1985, doughnuts are available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955, they’re a little hard to come by.
Yeah but those 1955 donuts were way superior. Ruthie makes em fresh every mornin.
Meeting his ticket quota doesn’t require him to show up.
I see someone never had the TSB performed for the recalled flux capacitor. It’s not like DMC didn’t send a letter.
How do you fight against the highway revenue collection system?
Fight every ticket, and encourage everyone you know to fight theirs as well. Once the state has to pay for court time and speed traps stop MAKING money, they’ll get cops to focus their attention elsewhere… who knows, maybe they’ll even try and make highways safer!
Alternative: drive safely and responsibly.
?? Where’s the fun in that ?? .
-Nate
The Libyans didn’t drive safely or responsibly and they ended up crashing into a photo booth. Well… maybe they were being responsible, in a sense, an organization needs to be responsible and accountable for physical inventory for things like plutonium and that little task force of two dudes and a VW microbus were responsible for getting it back. Tough break that they ended up in a car chase in the Twin Pines/Lone Pine Mall parking lot in the middle of the night…
I’d argue that I do drive safely and responsibly, and that anyone paying attention to the road and traffic around them could drive at a speed well beyond the artificially low limits that are set to make money, not keep people safe.
I used to say the same thing, but some *cannot* do it. There are people who do not hold a license because they don’t trust their spatial/motor skills enough to drive a car in traffic, and others who do hold a license who may have lesser abilities than those who’ve abstained.
I’ve found enjoyment in the YouTube user who puts out his Bad Drivers of Southern California videos. All from his dash cam, all great examples of people who have no business driving. There are 60 of the videos, and they’re like 30 minutes long.
Because, of course, every speed limit is set appropriately, and all signage is clear and visible at all times. Never is a speed limit dropped 30 MPH suddenly without a warning sign, nor is a sign ever allowed to go missing or become obscured by vegetation or other objects.
If I’m legitimately busted, I’m paying the fine. Just because the cop works for The Man doesn’t make him wrong and me right.
As my 9-year-old son said when I received a reckless driving ticket with him in the car: “It’s a good thing we have police around to catch people doing what you just did.” OUCH.
LOL
Snap, he called you right out.
Sure, as long as the cop doesn’t extend “professional courtesy” to other cops. There’s a Michigan State Police post located in the suburb where I live. I see state troopers rolling stop signs, making illegal turns and failing to use their turn signals. If they don’t get ticketed for that stuff, I’m going to fight it if I’m issued a citation. Selective enforcement based on bias or corruption is a violation of equal protection.
Attitude has everything to do with it .
I DO NOT roll stop signs, even @ 0-Dark:30 when I’m often out and about , I *do* break the law a fair good bit when I’m driving so whenever I get one of those pesky tickets (last one close to 30 years ago for driving on the sidewalk) , I try to not get too pissy and pony up the $ as I know I’ve skated on so many other things .
Agreed , Cops failing to use turn signals and running red lights _really_ burns my ass and whenever i can I catch up to them and as ” how the hell am I supposed to teach my Teenagers to obey the Law when you don’t ? .
I have to admit , this may not be wise as some of them get *really* pissed off but many more , look sheepish .
-Nate
If I had a DeLorean, I’d probably do the same damn thing.
I’m a bit torn as to whether it would have been cooler to be clocked at 88 mph, since 89 mph implies you didn’t time travel.
Just use the standard “smoke and mirrors” speeding ticket defense- ask if the radar gun was calibrated… That reminds me. You better not hook up to the amplifier. There’s a slight possibility of overload.