hand-built delorean hovercraft invites you back to the future

a custom-built hovercraft resembling the iconic delorean car has been listed on ebay. inspired by the character doc brown from the back to the future trilogy, creator and owner matt riese has spent years building the watercraft. now, following a kickstarter where he was able to raise $6K USD in backing, it is complete, and for $45,000 it could be yours.

images courtesy of matt reise

header image courtesy of delorean motor company

reise takes note on the listing that this isn’t just ‘a delorean bolted onto a hovercraft’, calling it instead ‘a functional work of art’. the hovercraft is based on the blueprints for the universal hovercraft UH-13PT, used to create the basic shape of the hull, skirt, and fan ducts. everything else has been customized including the delorean body which is made out of styrofoam wrapped in fiberglass and painted with metallic paint.

the machine can hover about 6-8 inches over basically anything that’s flat – water, land, ice, snow, sand, and asphalt. power comes from a 23-horsepower (17-kilowatt) briggs & stratton vanguard riding lawnmower-style engine for the 36-inch thrust fan and a B&S 875 professional series push mower engine for the 24-inch lift fan. the top speed in the current powertrain configuration is about 31 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour) on water. 

the listing goes on to explain that the delorean hovercraft has just been completely overhauled, and is for sale at a price of $45,000 USD OBO. 10% of the sale will go directly to the michael J. fox foundation, funding the research in finding a cure for parkinson’s disease.