- " Marty paused. What was that trickling sound? There was a familiar smell, too, that he couldn't quite place. He looked down and saw a stream of liquid coming from underneath the front of the car. / "Gas!" he muttered in disbelief. "I ripped the gas tank!" "
- —From Back to the Future Part III by Craig Shaw Gardner (quote, page 43)
Gasoline was a flammable liquid obtained from petroleum, and used as fuel in the internal combustion engines of motor vehicles.
History[]
Gasoline was supplied by the Texaco service station in Courthouse Square, Hill Valley in 1955 (where it was being delivered by a small red Ford F-5 tank truck, and served to customers by not one but four attendants), 1985 and 2015.
The DeLorean time machine had always run on unleaded gasoline, despite having had a hover conversion in 2015, along with the not exactly "street legal" addition of a Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor which powered the flux capacitor and flying circuits.
When Marty McFly confessed to Dr. Emmett Brown in 1885 that he had accidentally ripped open the DeLorean's fuel line on arriving, Doc pointed out there wasn't going to be a gas station in Hill Valley until some time in the next century, and without gasoline they wouldn't be able to get the DeLorean up to 88 m.p.h. in order to time travel back to 1985.
Doc had hoped that a strong alcohol concoction from Chester at the Palace Saloon — namely 180 proof whiskey — would have a similar effect to gasoline, but unfortunately this only succeeded in blowing out the DeLorean's fuel injection manifold.
Behind the scenes[]
- Gasoline is known as petrol in the United Kingdom.
Appearances[]
- Back to the Future (Texaco service station in 1955 and 1985 mentioned)
- Back to the Future novelization (Texaco service station in 1955 and 1985 mentioned)
- Back to the Future Part II first draft screenplay (2-Level gas station)
- Paradox script (2-Level gas station)
- Back to the Future Part II (Texaco service station in 2015)
- Back to the Future Part II novelization (Service station in 2015)
- Back to the Future Part III (Leaking from the DeLorean's ripped fuel line and mentioned)
- Back to the Future Part III novelization (Leaking from DeLorean's ripped fuel line and mentioned)