Google cybersecurity boss loans his Back to the Future DeLorean to Malaga's motor museum

What's more, this isn't just any old DeLorean: it belongs to the founder of VirusTotal, Bernardo Quintero, who, after buying it three years ago in a "fit of nostalgia" and subjecting it to a painstaking restoration, has decided to loan it to the MAM so that the many fans of this 1980s trilogy can admire it up close.

"It'll be well looked after," Quintero says. He admits he hadn't realised just how much attention a car like the DeLorean attracts. "I bought it to fulfil a childhood dream. I didn't think about anything else. We've taken it out every now and then at the weekend for a spin and it's quite a spectacle: people taking photos, asking me at the traffic lights which year I'm travelling to… It's better off in a museum," Quintero says.

"I like to think that something which began for me as a childhood dream can stay here in Malaga so that many more people can enjoy it.

"Having it at home was fun, but knowing that children, automobile enthusiasts, those nostalgic for the 80s or simply people passing by the museum will now be able to enjoy it, seems to me to be a much better for the car.

"At the end of the day, sharing things usually makes more sense than keeping them tucked away. If a child peeks through the window and dreams of travelling back in time, just as I did, it will have been worth it. If any of them leave wanting to build something, so much the better," Quintero states.

According to the museum's spokespeople, the vehicle's arrival opens "a dialogue between the car, design, innovation, cinema and the collective imagination".

The DeLorean DMC-12 was manufactured in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. It is characterised by its unmistakable design: an unpainted stainless steel body, its distinctive gull-wing doors and a two-seater layout.

The model was designed by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro and developed in collaboration with Lotus, under the direction of Colin Chapman.

If there is one image that has become forever associated with the DMC-12, it is its appearance in Back to the Future, which was released in 1985. The film turned the car into an icon recognised by several generations.

The car now arriving at the MAM comes from Belgium. Quintero bought it and carried out a restoration and refurbishment project that lasted two years.

"Its inclusion in the museum allows us to preserve and share with the public not only a particularly recognisable car, but also part of the history surrounding it. A history marked by industrial design, innovation, cinema and the unique business venture that gave rise to the DeLorean brand," the museum's spokespeople say.

John DeLorean was an engineer who left General Motors to set up his own company and develop a car that was different from the models that dominated the market. The company ended up filing for bankruptcy a few years later. However, the appearance of the DMC-12 in Back to the Future turned this model into an icon of popular culture.

For the museum's curators, Quintero's generosity transforms "a personal story, born of a child's fascination with a film, into an experience that visitors of different generations can enjoy".

This new "acquisition" by the MAM shows that, on occasion, a car "can be much more than just a vehicle: it can become an icon".

"A memory. A part of our culture and, as in the case of the DeLorean, even a childhood dream that ends up involving time travel," museum sources state.

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