A University of Alaska Fairbanks professor is pursuing a dream. Documentary film professor Rob Prince is on sabbatical in his home state of Michigan, where he has acquired an iconic 35-year-old sports car. The car is the centerpiece of a planned transcontinental trip and film project.
University of Alaska Fairbanks documentary film professor Rob Prince has fulfilled a long held ambition. In a Facebook video, Prince introduced the DeLorean he bought, and he is anticipating a documentary about taking the vintage gull-winged sports car across Canada to Alaska next year.
Prince described the film as ”the juxtaposition of this really rare and futuristic looking car in these kind of middle-of-nowhere Canadian towns.”
Prince noted that the documentary project also eases the guilt of spending $30,000 on the Delorean. Prince said he wants to “legitimize this idea of getting this wholly unnecessary and impractical toy – right about the time I turn 40.”
Prince said his fascination with the DeLorean began after seeing it as a kid in the 1980’s pop classic movie: “Back to the Future”.
“The “Back to the Future” movie introduced me to the DeLorean, but once I dug into the story behind it, I fell in love with the car itself outside of the film,” Prince said.
Prince recounts maverick auto executive John DeLorean’s vision of building the car in Ireland.
“It’s supposed to be this car that’s going to end the troubles in Northern Ireland because there’s going to be manufacturing jobs and ending with John DeLorean getting busted for a cocaine deal in an effort to save the company.”
The DeLorean company recently revitalized in the U.S to again build the iconic car, which Prince said obviously still has plenty of fans.
”People have followed me into gas stations to ask me about the car. People have taken selfies with the car as we’re driving down the freeway out their window.”
A family man, Prince knows the two-seat DeLorean isn’t very practical, but said it’s so far been fairly trouble free, except for a while when it wouldn’t start due to fuse problem.
“There were moments where I thought, ‘This is a huge, huge mistake,'” Prince laughed.
Prince said those feelings fit into another part of what he’ll explore in the documentary.
”This idea of what happens when you finally get something really big that you wanted for a very long time.”
Prince recently launched on line crowdfunding campaign for his “Back to Alaska” DeLorean documentary project, and said he’s investigating sponsorships for his project.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
