Local Selkirk couple tell their story with the iconic car
In July of 1985, the movie Back to the Future hit the big screen and the DeLorean became a household name. Now, 40 years later, there are people who collect them because of their love of the movie and some who collect them because they are a classic car from the 1980s. Selkirk’s Ron and Barb Knight share their story of how they ended up with two DeLoreans.
Their story, perhaps unsurprisingly, also starts in 1985.
“We got married in 1985, which is the same year the movie came out, right? So, we’ve been married 40 years. We went on our honeymoon and we went to California. While we were in California, we were buzzing around LA and we saw one of those sitting on the street. It’s such a unique looking vehicle. It’s like nothing else. We were very impressed with it and that’s where we started our interest,” said Ron Knight.
He didn’t run out to buy a vehicle at that point, but in 2011, he had been looking online for a while and finally found the first DeLorean.
“There’s always a few vehicles like this for sale, but they’re always in the US, and it’s hard to import a vehicle. It’s difficult. You can do it, but I found there was one in Canada for sale. It turned out there was a fellow in Revelstoke, B.C. He actually had two of them. He had an automatic and a 5-speed standard. And, I actually wanted a 5-speed, but he was selling his automatic. We talked and chatted. He sent more pictures and everything looked really good. And so, I bought it from him. We shipped it out here,” said Ron.
He was happy with the vehicle that he’d purchased.
“About a year later, he calls me up, and he says, ‘I’m ready to sell my 5-speed. Are you interested?’ I knew the guy, and he was trustworthy, and I’d dealt with him before. So, I did the same thing about a year later,” said Ron.
And that’s the story of how he ended up with two DeLoreans, which puts him in a pretty unique position as he only knows of three of them in the whole province of Manitoba, including the two he owns.
Ron explained that they did enjoy the movie but it was the car itself that really appealed to them.
“Once you see them in person, it’s a little different, right? It really strikes you. It’s such a unique design,” said Ron.
Barb Knight said that Ron is definitely a car person.
“I mean, a lot of these collector cars are totally out of the range for a lot of people, but it was reasonably affordable. And, you take it to car shows and people just love to see it, and then there’s history of the vehicle,” said Ron.
He explained that you couldn’t make up the history of the DeLoreans’s manufacturing if you were writing a movie script.
John DeLorean founded the DeLorean Motor Company in 1975 after having proven himself as an engineer and becoming the youngest person to become a General Motors executive. After securing support for the business, DeLorean worked with the British government, who helped to fund the creation of the manufacturing plant in Northern Ireland. Delays in the completion of the plant meant that the assembly of the vehicles was only able to begin in 1981. Manufacturing took place in 1981/82.
In 1982, DeLorean had some troubles. There is some debate about the next set of events, but in that same year, DeLorean was charged with conspiring to smuggle drugs. He was later acquitted of all charges after his lawyer demonstrated that there had been entrapment.
The production plant stopped manufacturing in 1982.
This means that vehicles were only manufactured for two years, with some later vehicles being called 1983 DeLoreans as they were given later VIN numbers, having been shipped out after the kerfuffle.
Ron explained that despite the interesting story of its creation and some manufacturing issues that he had fixed initially, the DeLorean is not actually a bad vehicle to keep up with 40 years later.
“(They have a) fibreglass underbody, so it doesn’t rust, and the stainless steel panels on top don’t rust. So, all the vehicles you see around, they’re not rusted or anything, because they can’t,” he said.
Barb said that one modification that they have made is that one vehicle has chrome rims and one is still original.
She and their children also decided to get Ron a recent Christmas gift of a Flux Capacitor prop, which is the mechanism that allows the DeLorean to travel through time in the movie Back to the Future. The couple hasn’t done a complete conversion on either of their vehicles to the movie version as they prefer the original look.
As for what Ron says when people ask if he’s ever had any time-travelling incidents, “I say, Yeah, I’ve been to the future. Everything’s going to be fine,” he joked.
Ron explained that everyone from young children to seniors respond positively to the car when he brings it to car shows.
“The little kids, it’s just so cute to share it,” said Barb.
“At the car shows, lots of people come and see it and gather around, take pictures and then they thank you for bringing it, because they’ve never seen one before, and they just love it,” said Ron.
The couple take the DeLoreans to car shows in the province and try to change it up as to which ones they go to, so if you want to see one for yourself, keep an eye out because they’ll be around.
