 and they had turned the time machine into a DeLorean. They settled on the DeLorean because it basically looked like a spaceship, especially to someone in the 1950s, opening the door to the gag with Peabody and his family thinking it was an actual UFO. Yet before production began, Universal's product placement department tried to get the filmmakers to change the car to a Mustang, as Ford was willing to pay them $75,000 if they made the switch, prompting writer Bob Gale to say, Doc Brown doesn't drive a f***ing Mustang.