The cult classic 80s Sci-Fi movie Back to the Future made the DeLorean DMC-12 looked cool, thanks to its time-travelling capabilities and angry-sounding V8 engine. But what many people – or at least the general movie-going crowd – don’t know is that the V8 sound is actually just movie magic; the actual DeLorean only had a V6, and a very anaemic one at that.
So in an attempt to make things right in the world, a man named Alexandre Claudin decided to fit an actual Chevrolet LS V8 under the bonnet of his own DeLorean. And when we say bonnet, we actually mean the front bonnet.
If the name sounds familiar to you, that’s because you’ve probably seen him featured in the Netflix car stunt show, Hyperdrive. As a professional drifter, the mid-engine layout of the DeLorean is never going to fly for him, which is why he decided to fit the engine into the front of the car for a more traditional FR layout.
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As you’d imagine, moving the powertrain to the front obviously necessitated extensive fabrication works. The entire chassis of the sideways-loving V8 DeLorean is basically custom-made from scratch, featuring a tube frame underneath the standard body, plus custom suspension components.
The interior of the V8 DriftLorean is also completely custom and kept as close to the movie as possible (aside from the roll cage), so yes, there’s a “flux capacitor” nestled behind the seats. And of course, the iconic gullwing doors are retained here, because it can’t legally be called a DeLorean without them – we didn’t make the rules.
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You can check out the entire build log from start to finish in Claudin’s Instagram profile, linked here. Be forewarned though, the page contains lots of gratuitous carporn-worthy photographs – so depending on who you are as a person, you might want to only view it in private.
While Mr. Fusion won’t be breaking through the space-time continuum in this thing, Claudin’s creation might actually be the first DeLorean to actually reach 88 mph, so at least it’s still a somewhat accurate recreation, I guess.
