No. 43 - DeLorean

I was listening to a podcast on the most recent episode of LOST and they were discussing the "grandfather paradox" as it relates to time travel. As a refresher, this is the anomaly caused if a time traveler were to go back and kill his biological grandfather. If the time traveler's father was never born, the time traveler would not have been born, and therefore he could not have killed his grandfather. Thus, his grandfather would still be alive to conceive a son, and eventually have a grandson, who travels in time. Each circumstance would seem to imply its own contradiction, a type of logical paradox.

We all remember seeing this paradox in action when Marty McFly was shown fading in and out of the photo in the movie, Back to the Future.

Which got me thinking about Dr. Emmett Brown's time machine in the movie, the DeLorean. What a cool car! It was known for its gull wings and stainless steel body panels. There were only 9,200 DeLoreans built between 1981-1982. The company went bankrupt in 1982. The cars were manufacturer in Dunmurray, Northern Ireland. Today, about 6,500 DeLoreans are believed to still exist. Apparently the DeLorean Motor Company still exists in some form today making about 20 cars a year out of 80% old and 20% new parts. They start at $57,500.