Cape Breton man turns old vehicle into ‘Back to the Future’ replica DeLorean

A Cape Breton man has turned an old car into his own rendition of the DeLorean from the "Back to the Future" movies.

It’s a vehicle that doesn’t just make you feel nostalgic — it almost seems like it could quite literally take you back in time.

“My little fellas and I, just one day, we said, ‘Let’s do something fun for Halloween,’” said John Nolan of Catalone, N.S., explaining how he and his sons came to resurrect an old vehicle and turn it into a replica of the DeLorean from the 1985 movie “Back to the Future.”

To begin turning his vision into reality, a few years ago Nolan went out and purchased an old Pontiac Fiero.

“Like the DeLorean, it’s kind of got the same shape, same appeal,” Nolan said. “It’s a two-seater, rear-mounted engine.”

Then, he and his young sons got to work — giving it a new aluminum paint job and decorating it with whatever they could find in thrift stores and at the curbs during the annual heavy garbage pickup.

“Made a little collection, put it all together, put it out by the road and it was a big hit,” he said. “Lots of people stopped. Lots of smiles. It looked really cool at night when we lit it up.”

Not only does it look ready for liftoff after dark, but it has all the bells and whistles any time-traveller might need.

“And a hoverboard,” Nolan said. “We had to make that because no time machine is complete without its hoverboard. We just used an old snowboard and my little fellas painted that.”

While the original “Back to the Future” movie came out in 1985, and the controls inside the DeLorean were set for the same year in the film, Nolan’s Pontiac Fiero is a year older than the movie — it’s a 1984 model.

Only recently, he decided to sell it — to another fan of all things retro who lives on Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation.

“The sales pitch was, I told the fellow it was only used from ‘time to time,’” Nolan said, pun perhaps intended. “So I don’t think I was stretching the truth too much with it.”

Nolan added that he created the replica not only because of his love for old cars and spending time with his sons, but as an homage to a classic old movie he enjoyed as a kid.

“I remember going to the theatre with my father,” he said. “I just didn’t think I would ever be building one and putting it in the front yard years later.”

From 1985 to 2025 — it’s a journey that took Nolan back to the future, and beyond.

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