With due apologies to Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, there's no getting around the optics that the DeLorean DMC-12 sedan was the real star of the Back To The Future trilogy that packed cinemas in the '80s. With that in mind, Discovery Plus announced Wednesday that the iconic gull-winged car, the only vehicle ever produced by the DeLorean Motor Company, will take center stage on the channel's new series Expedition: Back To The Future debuting March 15. It's a moving tribute to the classic car that originally rolled out in 1981 and boasted a sticker price of $12,000.

The Movie Actually Used Seven DeLoreans

Christopher Lloyd, who played scatterbrained scientist Doc Brown in the franchise, reunites with producer Josh Gates on the series, which will go behind the scenes on the making of Back To The Future, hopefully unveiling some trivia nuggets in the process. But the show won't be without its share of drama.

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It's common knowledge among film buffs that the official car is currently on display at the Petersen Automobile Museum in Los Angeles. But in the course of discussion, it's revealed that the film actually used seven Deloreans. From that point, the show turns into a nation-wide treasure hunt, as Gates and Lloyd are determined to locate the other DMC-12s.

DeLoreans Were Much Slower In Reality

Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox pose with the DMC-12 in Back To The Future
Universal Pictures

Interspersed throughout each of the four episodes, expect some anecdotes on how the DeLorean performed during filming, which might make for a sobering experience. Set in 1985, the movie had Doc Brown remodding the DeLorean as a time machine, which zipped through those abstract dimensions back to 1955 and 1885 as well as forward to 2015.

But while its sleek stainless-steel exterior suggested that the DMC-12 was a total speed demon, the car only managed to hit 60 mph after 8.8 paltry seconds, an eternity for muscle-car gearheads. Much of that had to do with the engine, a 2.85-liter V6—built as a joint effort between Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo—that could only produce 130 horsepower.

A DMC-12 Comeback In The Works

Back To The Future Delorean DMC-12 in scene from the movie
Via Universal Pictures

Partly due to its performance, the DeLorean was hardly a popular car and after a short-lived period of production, the company folded in 1983, a few years before Back To The Future first hit the silver screen. But the Discovery Plus series is timely, given that 2021 is the 40th anniversary of the car's production. Congruent with that milestone was news that the engineering company ItalDesign plans to roll out the old DMC-12 with a more modern treatment later in the year.

Source: Discovery Plus

NEXT: DeLorean: 25 Facts About The Iconic '80s Car Company