Back To The Future: The Two DeLoreans In 1885 Explained

Two versions of the same character appear frequently in the Back to the Future films, but final movie of the trilogy took that concept a step farther by duplicating the famed DeLorean. In Back to the Future Part III, Doc Brown and Marty use two different versions of the stylish, stainless steel car, one from the present and one from the future. As with the present and future versions of Marty in Back to the Future Part II, the DeLorean is copied through time travel. It’s the same DeLorean, simply at two different points in time. Confused yet?

In Back to the Future Part II, after rescuing Marty Jr. from an unhappy future, Marty and Doc take one more trip through time. Using the DeLorean, they travel to 1955 to thwart Biff’s plan to profit from time travel. The two are successful, but their celebrations are cut short when Doc is struck by bad luck in the form of a lightning bolt, and transported with the DeLorean to 1885, leaving Marty stranded in the past.

Back to the Future Part III picks up in 1955, where Marty has just received a letter from 1885 Doc. In the letter, Doc instructs Marty to travel to an abandoned mine where he stashed the DeLorean in 1885 for Marty to find in the future. The car was hidden for 70 years before being discovered by Marty, who is able to repair it with the help of 1955 Doc. Instead of returning to his time as Doc instructs him, however, Marty uses the DeLorean to travel to 1885 in an effort to save the mad scientist from death.

Marty’s arrival in 1885 means that there are now two DeLoreans in the Old West — the one Doc traveled back in and the one Marty traveled back in. Both, however, are broken. The lightning that sparked Doc’s venture into the past also shorted out the time circuit control microchip. Marty’s travel into the past took him into the middle of a battle between the U.S. Cavalry and Native Americans, where the DeLorean’s fuel line is torn by the rough terrain. Marty finds Doc and convinces him to return to the future, but without fuel, the DeLorean won’t make it to 88 miles per hour.

At this point, the audience might be wondering why Doc and Marty don’t simply use the time circuit control microchip from Marty’s DeLorean to fix Doc’s DeLorean and use it to travel into the future. The answer is that it would create a paradox. The two DeLoreans are, in fact, the same DeLorean. In order for Marty to find it in the future, Doc has to hold on to the DeLorean and hide it in the abandoned mine. It’s a bit like how time travelers can’t kill their past selves if they want to be around in the future to time travel.

In order to preserve the timeline, Doc and Marty have to travel back to the future in “their” version of the DeLorean, the future version that Marty uses to find Doc. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily prevent the two from siphoning gas from Doc’s DeLorean to use in Marty’s DeLorean. But unlike some other time travel movies, Marty and Doc are always racing the clock in Back to the Future. So in addition to the possibility that lightning may have ignited the fuel from Doc’s DeLorean, it’s possible they didn’t have time to dig out the trusty time travel machine.

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Jasmine Gallup
(115 Articles Published)

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Jasmine Gallup is a writer for ScreenRant, covering fantasy, science fiction and superheroes. She’s worked as a freelance reporter since 2018.

By day, Jasmine writes for a small North Carolina newspaper near her hometown of Cary. By night, she explores the depths of film and television alongside her twin sister.

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