{"id":140999,"date":"2025-08-13T00:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/140999\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T00:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:23:17","slug":"a-chicago-company-helped-make-the-delorean-from-back-to-the-future-a-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/140999\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chicago company helped make the DeLorean, from ‘Back to the Future,’ a reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The The Chicago company that helped make the DeLorean a reality<\/a> <\/p>\n

This summer marks 40 years since the iconic box office smash “Back to the Future” hit the big screen. While there are a lot of aspects that make the movie so memorable, Fox 32 found out how that beloved DeLorean almost wasn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

CHICAGO<\/strong> – This summer marks 40 years since the iconic box office smash hit<\/a> “Back to the Future” hit the big screen.<\/p>\n

While there are a lot of aspects that make the movie so memorable, Fox 32 found out how that beloved DeLorean almost wasn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Since “Back to the Future” was first released, the DeLorean sports car has become a household name and a fan favorite among many movie buffs and car enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

“So about 30 years ago, I bought my first DeLorean, saw \u2018Back to the Future,\u2019 needed to convert it,” said Tom Sedor, owner and time machinist at DeLorean USA Rental.<\/p>\n

Sedor converted that DeLorean to a time machine. He then turned his love for that car into a business where he rents out the DeLoreans he has locally or connects consumers in other states to other owners who can help.<\/p>\n

“I usually get a rental about once a week, but the requests come in usually every day,” he said. “It usually get more busy in September, October. That\u2019s a key \u2018Back to the Future\u2019 date timeframe.”<\/p>\n

While “Back to the Future” movie producers used the DeLorean for Doc Brown\u2019s time machine, they almost didn\u2019t have that option to choose from.<\/p>\n

Local perspective:<\/p>\n

Thankfully, a Chicago<\/a> company could see into the future.<\/p>\n

“We helped fund the prototype,” said Sandee Lindorfer, vice president of auto claims at AllState. “So there was three prototypes that were built and then we played a critical role in bringing those prototypes and that message to Congress.”<\/p>\n

Lindorfer said AllState decided to fund John DeLorean\u2019s design because they both had the same passion around adding airbags and seatbelts to cars.<\/p>\n

“So in 1970, manufacturers were trying to figure out how they can make vehicles lighter and smaller to meet the new fuel economy standards,” she said.<\/p>\n

Lindorfer added, “We began a partnership to say how can we create a vehicle that\u2019s safe and stylish?”<\/p>\n

That partnership is still documented in the company records. Lindorfer said the little-known connection was discovered a few years ago by an AllState archivist.<\/p>\n

Fox 32 got an up-close look at those files that showed what the early DeLorean prototypes looked like from start to finish.<\/p>\n

While the production cycle for the DeLorean was short-lived, its impact on popular culture and the automotive industry lives on.<\/p>\n

“It played a key role in the future of getting air bags in and seatbelts mandated in the future for car safety,” said Lindorfer.<\/p>\n

If you think being featured in a Hollywood movie is the last claim to fame for the legendary car, hold on to your flux capacitor.<\/p>\n

“There is some really cool stuff that\u2019s coming up,” Sedor said. “Some stuff that I believe is really heavy. Stuff coming in the future that you\u2019re really gonna dig.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

To learn more about what the future holds for the DeLorean, tune into Fox 32 News at 9 on Wednesday for Part 2 of this story.<\/p>\n

Special Reports<\/a>Entertainment<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago company that helped make the DeLorean a reality This summer marks 40 years since the iconic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":141000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,171,5386,1818,50,6166,6403],"class_list":{"0":"post-140999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-series","14":"tag-special-reports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115018609900030196","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}