Author Ernest Cline is a well-known owner of a DeLorean DMC-12, which he purchased using the proceeds from his successful novel Ready Player One.
He brought this car with him on his visit to Akins during an event arranged by English teacher Alan Brooks.
Brooks has been working to arrange a presentation by Cline, who lives in Austin, for the last five years. This year, Brooks was finally successful in setting up the event, which featured a question and answer session with the author.
Brooks’ English class students were invited to the library, where Cline spoke about his journey as an author and an- swered questions about the book, which they were assigned to read in Brooks’ classes. After the author’s speaker session, Cline invited Akins students outside to check out his customized DeLorean.
The car is tricked out with various sci- fi-inspired gadgets and displays many Easter eggs from both the movie and other movies that Cline personally loves. He’s stated that he’s wanted to own a DeLorean since he was a child, a dream made possible after selling his first nov- el, where the protagonist also drives the iconic vehicle.
“I’ve wanted to own a DeLorean since I was 10 years old, but it always seemed like a silly daydream. Like owning the ‘A-Team’ van or something.” said Cline.
His car features numerous customiza- tions, including a screen-accurate flux capacitor replica, dangling gold dice, like those in the Millennium Falcon, a light bar from Knight Rider, and a proton gun from Ghostbusters.
These special editions are what makes this car a must-see for many movie lov- ers. This is also the reason Cline used the car for a nationwide book tour to pro- mote Ready Player One.
“Probably the geekiest vehicle in histo- ry. I love it,” Cline said while describing the car.
Cline drives this car to each event he attends about Ready Player One, not- ing that it’s quite hard to drive with the steering wheel.
He also said he’s been pulled over more than once so that cops could nerd-out about the car.
