Thursday, October 21, 2010

Red Letter Date: March 6, 2010 - 6239 Meets Stars of Back to the Future!

Since all this "Back to the Future" hype is going on right now, figured it was a good time to tell this 6239 story...

On March 6, 2010, we prepped 6239 and traveled over to Florence, Alabama for the official BTTF.com 25th Anniversary reunion celebration. It was an extremely long way, much longer a drive than I had anticipated. We started in the early morning, complete with an entire new set of Sylvania Silverstar headlights that my friend Joe and I had installed a few nights prior. Those were a real lifesaver as the original headlights on the DeLorean were surprisingly dim by today's standards. While on the way there, 6239 crossed the 5,000-mile mark!
Eventually the sun came up and we made our way into a picturesque little town in Alabama. Almost looked kinda like Hill Valley. We just made it into town when the autograph signing with James Tolkan and Claudia Wells took place. We pulled up next to the Team Fox DeLorean Time Machine and made our way inside.
Inside, I met the original Jennifer Parker (Claudia Wells) and Professor Strickland (James Tolkan). They were kind enough to sign autographs in 6239's journal, kind of a log I keep with the vehicle.
What happened next was really awesome and more than I ever would have expected. Mr. Tolkan and Ms. Wells came outside for photos and Team Fox decided they should pose with 6239 because the doors were already up! Within seconds, two stars from the Back to the Future Trilogy were posing with 6239!
After I processed this excitement, we were told that "Back to the Future" producer and co-writer Bob Gale was giving a film lecture at the local university, so we jumped in 6239 and followed the Team Fox Time Machine through the streets of Florence, probably making quite a scene as we went by!
After a few more photo opportunities with visiting fans wanting to see the DeLoreans, 6239 headed for the university to catch Bob Gale. We caught him right at the end of the lecture and he was kind enough to sign 6239's journal. He seemed impressed that we drove a DeLorean all that way to see him and made it here ok! Apparently there's no love lost between Mr. Gale and the DMC-12.
He gave a great autograph too...
After all the excitement, we went and had lunch at the local Italian place where we watched out the window as bystanders and motorists alike stopped in surprise and to get pictures of, and with, 6239. As I mentioned in a previous post, there was one guy that just made an idiot out of himself trying to get a "McFly" photo with the DeLorean.
Before we headed for home, we made sure we snapped a photo of ourselves after all the craziness. And yeah, I like that puffy vest.
I don't know if this last photo was coming or going, but Melinda snapped it while I was driving. I know my chin isn't that fat-looking in person...Love that window contour -- there isn't any other car like it. Unmistakable.
Only 10 months after I brought 6239 home, we had an encounter with stars from the original "Back to the Future." Not bad, right?

1 comment:

  1. not bad at all- a very fun trip!!! and the photo was taken on the way home, not long before we stopped off to look at the cool junkyard filled with vintage cars falling away to rust.

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