Doc flies the DeLorean to the roof of Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino & Hotel to rescue Marty in 1985A.
A hover conversion was an application to a ground vehicle to enable it to fly. For the DeLorean time machine, and the 2015 police car, the hoverwheels would fold down when in flight, and exclusively on the DeLorean, the rims and the rear louvers would glow when the car was hovering, or accelerating while in flight. Flying circuits were inserted into the vehicle. It is unknown if there was another source of lift other than thrust, such as anti-gravity or magnetism. Considering the loads that some vehicles produced, and that thrust was not always applied when a vehicle first lifted up, it is feasible that these alternatives could have been used.
Hoverboards were a legitimate use of this technology. Skyways also used hovering lane dividers and signage in order to keep airway travel safe. The technology was developed between 1985 and 2015.
In Hill Valley in 2015, a basic hover conversion cost around $39,999.95. Goldie Wilson III was a car salesman that turned ground vehicles into "skyway flyers".
The DeLorean hovers in 1985 before it takes off for 2015.
Doc had a hover conversion made to his DeLorean sometime after traveling to 2015, but it is unknown if this was before or after he discovered Martin McFly Jr. and Marlene McFly were sent to jail for being involved in a robbery plot. The Jules Verne Train Doc built after becoming stuck in 1885 was also hover converted in 2015. It can only be assumed that Goldie Wilson Hover Conversion Systems carried out the work in both cases.
According to the Newsline section on the front page of the October 22, 2015 issue of USA Today, a man had been killed by falling litter "thrown from a hovering vehicle". It would appear that, in 2015, some people were beginning to rebel against the use of automobiles, as an article titled CAR OWNERS REVOLT was billed in the Newsline column in that same day's issue, and a news story titled Auto rebels form organization appeared at the bottom of the front page.
Goldie Wilson's hover conversion commercial in 2015.
In 1931, young Emmett Brown invented a process to make a flying car, using his future pet Einstein as the first test pilot. But he abandoned any plans to proceed with the experiment after the test flight landed Einstein on the roof of City Hall. Thus, stirring up trouble with Edna Strickland. This and the discovery of the technical principles behind Goldie Wilson III's product may simply be coincidental. But during the short flight some visual similarities to the thrusters on the test vehicle to and DeLorean's flight mode can be observed.
Behind the scenes
A flying police car in Hilldale.
The $39,999.95 cost of a hover conversion is most likely a reference to Earl Scheib's television commercials in the 1980s. As the owner of the largest chain of low-cost auto body repair shops in the U.S., his well-known tagline in the 1950s originally stated, "I'll paint any car any color for only $29.99", but by the 1980s his price had increased to $39.99. The extra nines in the price of a hover conversion are a comment on the inflated prices expected in the future, and the marketing tactic of quoting prices just five cents less than a round number.
Actuality
- The closest we have come to hover technology that would be small enough to put in a machine the size of a traditional automobile are unmanned aerial vehicles, although they currently lack the ability to hover in place without propellers. Advanced Tactics of El Segundo, California is developing a prototype VTOL aircraft for the military that has driving capabilities but uses eight propellers and is 25 feet long, much larger than the hovercars in the movie.[1]
- In addition to the technological hurdles for hover conversions the size of standard cars, the movie was developed in the late 1980s, over ten years before the events of 9/11. As a result, it is unlikely the moviemakers factored in the possibility that even if the technology existed, it would be highly unlikely flying cars would be made available for commercial use due to the very real risk of terrorists using them as flying improvised explosive devices.
Appearances
The Jules Verne Train lifts up
- Back to the Future trilogy
- Back to the Future: The Animated Series
- Back to the Future Part II & III
- Back to the Future: The Ride
- Back to the Future comic series
- Back to the Future: The Pinball
- Super Back to the Future Part II
- Universal Studios: Theme Park Adventure
- Back to the Future: The Game