The car is real, but don’t expect to buy it with cold hard cash.
A 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 is currently on sale by a startup company called Bitcoin Motor, a Craigslist-type marketplace where your credit cards and PayPal accounts are no good, either.
The asking price is 300 Bitcoin -- about $30,000 to old money types -- and only the digital currency will be accepted as payment for the car.
The Memphis-based DeLorean is the first offering by the company, which says it plans to expand its services globally if things go well with this one.
Several peer-to-peer auto sales have been transacted in Bitcoin (BTC) before, and at least one brick and mortar dealership, Five Star Ford Carrolton, accepts it alongside traditional money. The spin Bitcoin Motor puts on the process it is that it lists the price only in BTC, and it doesn’t constantly vary with exchange rates, according to company co-founder Greg Zapf.
With 17,809 miles on the odometer, and apparently in very good condition, the car is priced right about where the Hagerty Price Guide puts it.
The only major modifications to the largely original spec car are an upgraded audio system, dash-mounted navigation and, of course, a Flux Capacitor, which Road & Track cheekily describes as a box of LED rope lights.
Not exactly time travel material, then, but Bitcoin may be even more futuristic than authenticating payments with your thumb, the way “Back to the Future II” says we’ll be doing it in 2015.
Perhaps you can use that method to buy that Mattel Hoverboard you’ve always wanted.