The DeLorean time machine is a fictional automobile-based time travel device featured in the Back to the Future trilogy. In the feature film series, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown builds a time machine from a DeLorean DMC-12 with the intent of gaining insights into history and the future but instead winds up using it to travel across 130 years of Hill Valley history (from 1885 to 2015) undoing the negative effects of time travel.The DeLorean time machine was a licensed, registered vehicle in the state of California, where the films take place. The vanity license plate used in the film said "OUTATIME" (which is too long for the standard 7 characters on California license plates), and when Doc returned from the future, it was a barcode license plate, which implied that by that year license plates have moved to other more sophisticated means of tracking and registering.

Although the DeLorean was destroyed at the end of the trilogy, Doc used a steam locomotive, and created a new flux capacitor to create the Time Train enabling him to return to 1985 with Clara and their two sons, Jules and Verne. Unlike its predecessor, the locomotive's flux capacitor was steam-powered and located on the front of the vehicle rather than within the passenger area. The locomotive also has the ability to fly and hover, much like the DeLorean at the end of Part I and throughout Part II, and the future (2015) era cars in Part II. There is some suggestion that this is possible because he had already taken it forward in time before it is seen and obtained a "hoverconversion" much like the one done to the DeLorean, which is also suggested by the almost identical nature of the transformation.

In The Animated Series, Doc built a second DeLorean into a time machine, restoring most of its features, including Mr. Fusion and the hover conversion. He also seemingly added the capability to travel through space in addition to time (i. e., appear at a different location than the one it departed), similar to the TARDIS from Doctor Who. The cartoon DeLorean time machine had many add-ons, including a back seat in normal two-door mode, the ability to transform into a four-door, a pop-out covered wagon top, a blimp, a rear video screen, and a voice activated time input.