This is a Hoverboard replica from Back to the Future Part II, it looks just like the one used in the film, and it’s been signed by key members of the cast including Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly), Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown), Lea Thompson (Lorraine), and Thomas Wilson (Biff Tannen).
Interestingly, the Hoverboard wasn’t actually invented for the Back to the Future film series. The first examples of the Hoverboard were described by a science fiction author named M. K. Joseph in his 1967 novel The Hole in the Zero.
Above video: This is the Hoverboard chase scene from Back to the Future Part II, some of the characters shown in this scene have signed the Hoverboard shown in this article, including Marty McFly and Griff Tannen.
Stretching back before M. K. Joseph there was a flying platform named the Hiller 1031-A-1 which was developed for the US Armed Forces. It didn’t look like a skateboard though, it was more of a flying circular platform with the pilot standing on top in the center.
In 1984 there was a Sega arcade game named SWAT that featured a Hoverboard type device, it was distributed under the Bally Midway brand in North America and it debuted exactly a year before the first Back to the Future film arrived in theatres in 1985. It is possible that it had some influence on the use of a Hoverboard in Back to the Future Part II which was released in 1989, this has been rumored for years but never confirmed.
The pattered bright pink Hoverboard in Back to the Future Part II was used in one of the film’s most memorable scenes, with Marty McFly fleeing Griff Tannen and his posse in Hill Valley – in a scene that mirrored the events that had occurred back in 1955 in the first film in the trilogy with Biff Tannen.
The Hoverboard used in the film has a rear foot loop on top and two circular devices on the underside – presumably to oppose gravity and keep the board floating in the air. On land the board works much like a skateboard, but of course as you will have seen in the film, it didn’t work correctly on water.
In the 1990s there were rumors that spread around the world like wildfire that an actual, functioning Hoverboard had been invented, but that it had been deemed too dangerous by parents’ groups and was therefore banned from production. The rumor has been attributed to the film’s director Robert Zemeckis, though it seems likely to have started as a joke.
In the years after the release of the three Back to the Future films Hoverboards have appeared in a number of computer games and comics, but it hasn’t been used in any (major) films.
The signature of Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown) is right at the top, the Hoverboard also contains the signatures of Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly), Lea Thompson (Lorraine), and Thomas Wilson (Biff Tannen).The Hoverboard you see here is one of the popular replicas that are considered highly collectible by fans of the film series, it looks indistinguishable from the prop Hoverboard used in the film. As noted above, this one has been signed by major key cast members including Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.
It’s now being offered on the auction site Julien’s in a live online sale with the price guide sitting at $1,000 – $2,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Julien’s
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
