Students at Wakayama Prefectural Tanabe Technical High School spend four years to build a life-size replica of DeLorean, a time-machine automobile featured in the blockbuster movie, Back to the Future. (Takahiro Takizawa)

Photo/Illutration Students at Wakayama Prefectural Tanabe Technical High School build a life-size replica of the DeLorean time machine featured in the blockbuster movie "Back to the Future." The monument is installed in front of the main entrance of the school in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. (Takahiro Takizawa)

TANABE, Wakayama Prefecture--It's as if Marty McFly dialed in the year 2021 on the dashboard of his "DeLorean" and the automotive time machine suddenly popped up in front of a high school here. 

A life-size replica of the DeLorean icon featured in the 1985 blockbuster movie "Back to the Future" is on display at the Wakayama Prefectural Tanabe Technical High School, built by students. 

Their four-year effort has been rewarded with rave reviews from locals and free tickets for the movie at a local theater.

The DeLorean is installed on a revolving pedestal in front of the main entrance of the school.

The replica of the vehicle that transported McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, and Doc Brown, portrayed by Christopher Lloyd, into the past and future is about four meters long and one meter high and made of aluminum and stainless steel.

On weekdays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., the DeLorean rotates once every three hours to the theme song of the movie.

Formerly, there was a phoenix palm tree planted on a display in front of the school. But the tree was damaged by insect pests and removed in September 2016.

The high school principal at the time suggested building and installing a monument there and called for ideas.

Masato Takai, 51, a mechanical science teacher, thought a DeLorean would be ideal to represent the school because an automobile is an example of industrial products and a DeLorean was featured in a futuristic movie.

Students who took Takai’s class started building the vehicle body. They obtained permission from the film production company.

Students first drew a design for a DeLorean, cut and welded aluminum boards.

Two months later, their work-in-progress was exhibited at a school festival.

After that, younger members of the school, having taken up the task under the direction of Takai, reinforced the vehicle body, designed the interior, built a pedestal and completed the wiring.

A total of roughly 500 students were involved in the work that took four years to complete.

Three students in particular were responsible for finishing the work in 2020.

From July, they worked every day after school and even on holidays to build the monument’s drive mechanism and install luminary lights.

The DeLorean was completed in December 2020.

Masaki Hirohata, one of the trio, said, “I was glad that I could take the ball from the older students and run with it and continue to complete it.”

Working throughout the summer and the winter was difficult, he said.

“But I was relieved when the work was done, and I saw the DeLorean moving,” Hirohata said.

Ryo Tanimae said assembling dozens of parts to make each piece of the replica was challenging.

“I became emotional when we completed it. I hope the (DeLorean) becomes a symbol of our school,” he said.

Yoshiaki Hashimoto was also happy to be part of the project because “building a school symbol is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.

Takai said he was proud of the students.

“They worked hard regardless of their skill levels and were told by people that their work was amazing," he said. "I am very pleased that I could provide such an opportunity for them.”

A distributing agency of the film learned about the students’ efforts and decided to show the film at Xyst Cinema Tanabe, a movie theater near the school, from late March.

From April 9 to 15, the theater simultaneously screened all three installments in the "Back to the Future" trilogy.

Students received a gift of 100 free tickets to the showings.

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