BTTF car discrepancies

[Jimmyvonviggle]

Watching BTTF part 1 today on the movie channel, and noticed that when Marty was fleeing the Libyans the car speedometer goes to 160. When he is going back to 1985 awaiting the lightning bolt the speedometer reads 95. Which one of these cars is the "A" car?

And what other discrepancies are in the movie, DeLorean related or not.

[thirdmanj]

I don't recall seeing the 160 speedo in BTTF.

[Tillsy]

From memory I recall noticing the flying DeLorean has massive wheel nuts, no lights on the gullwings, and no VIN plate - those attributes come and go depending upon shots using the real or replica DeLoreans.

Time machine wise I recall the absolute very first slight glimpse you see of the time circuits (when Einstein is put in I think, so they are there but we aren't meant to be looking at them) the display uses numbers for the month whereas thereafter it shows three letter abbreviations for the month names.

[Tillsy]

From memory I recall noticing the flying DeLorean has massive wheel nuts, no lights on the gullwings, and no VIN plate - those attributes come and go depending upon shots using the real or replica DeLoreans.

Time machine wise I recall the absolute very first slight glimpse you see of the time circuits (when Einstein is put in I think, so they are there but we aren't meant to be looking at them) the display uses numbers for the month whereas thereafter it shows three letter abbreviations for the month names.

BTW I'm confident about the above from memory, but less confident I am also pretty sure the flying DeLorean does not have pullstraps on the doors nor does it have the DMC wheel caps... but don't quote me on those two I'd need to watch them again to confirm.

[jawn101]

Does Marty banging his head on the steering wheel center pad to produce a horn honk count? Cause no matter how hard I bang mine, the horn never goes.

[Shep]

Watching BTTF part 1 today on the movie channel, and noticed that when Marty was fleeing the Libyans the car speedometer goes to 160. When he is going back to 1985 awaiting the lightning bolt the speedometer reads 95. Which one of these cars is the "A" car?

And what other discrepancies are in the movie, DeLorean related or not.

I'm fairly certain the speedometer always goes to 95, but the needle style and odometers are inconsistent across the Libyan scene, with the latter jumping up and down due to multiple takes. I'm thinking there's at least three styles of the needle used.

One of the biggest discrepancies that always bugged me was the fiberglass DeLorean they used in part II, in the scene where Doc Brown pilots the flying DeLorean down to park on the ground, in the rain. The vents in the back of every other DeLorean go down to the bottom of the taillights, but for some ridiculous reason, the fiberglass vents on the fiberglass version are entirely above the rear taillights. It's not even close to accurate. See here:
BTTF Fiberglass Flying DeLorean.jpg
Don't even get me started on the fiberglass version's taillights.

[pezzonovante88]

I'm fairly certain the speedometer always goes to 95, but the needle style and odometers are inconsistent across the Libyan scene, with the latter jumping up and down due to multiple takes. I'm thinking there's at least three styles of the needle used.

One of the biggest discrepancies that always bugged me was the fiberglass DeLorean they used in part II, in the scene where Doc Brown pilots the flying DeLorean down to park on the ground, in the rain. The vents in the back of every other DeLorean go down to the bottom of the taillights, but for some ridiculous reason, the fiberglass vents on the fiberglass version are entirely above the rear taillights. It's not even close to accurate. See here:
BTTF Fiberglass Flying DeLorean.jpg
Don't even get me started on the fiberglass version's taillights.

How have I never noticed that? That's pretty brutal.

[Jeff K]

Also, movies are not intended to be scrutinized and watched over and over. It's fun to keep enjoying them, but they are not made to that level of accuracy.

[Mark D]

Both the claims about the 160mph speedo and the different needle styles on the speedometer are not true. I have no idea where these claims ever originated from but they are totally false. Maybe some confusion because of the 160km/h markings?

A closeup insert shot of the speedo is shown exactly 6 times in the mall chase sequence between Marty and the Libyans. As you can see in the 6 screen grabs below, the speedo is the same from shot to shot.

Only one of three cars from the original film (the C Car) was fitted with a 95mph speedo overlay. Both the A car and the B car retained their stock 85mph speedo markings because neither of the cars were used for close up interior insert shots.








As you can see, the mileage is inconsistent between insert shots...
33064 2
33061 7
32994 4
33062 7
33062 8
33062 8

The whole 'needles look different' thing is probably due to the shadows on the angled surfaces of the white needle.

[Mark D]

The Part II shot mentioned that shows the fiberglass flying car landing... the reason why the vents look incorrect is that the crew forgot to install the lower vent sections that wrap over the fascia and cover the tail lights. I think this mistake even gets mentioned in the commentary on the DVD. There are a few other shots of the fiberglass car in Part II later on where the lower parts of the vents are in place. An example is after Biff crashes into the manure truck and Marty flies away suspended by the fiberglass car.

The fiberglass car is not a real DeLorean so it lacks many of the details on the doors and interior sill panels that the real DeLoreans have....lights, pull straps, torsion bars, gas struts, etc. Most of the interior of the car is fiberglass as well including the seats, dash, binnacle, etc.