Marty McFly’s SR5 Xtra Cab Ran Drugs for a Mexican Cartel

From daily driver to drug mule, the only surviving Toyota SR5 Xtra Cab seen in the Back to the Future movies had a dark and dangerous past before being completely restored. 

It’s not uncommon for old cars to come with compelling and interesting backgrounds. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to think about the kinds of life-changing conversations, realizations, or decisions that happened within the cabins of older cars. In the case of this 1985 Toyota SR5 Xtra Cab, the backstory ingrained into the truck’s interior and beyond was straight out of a movie. In fact, this truck actually did come out of a movie.

It was driven by the one and only Marty McFly in the first of three Back to the Future movies.

The story, investigated and aired by the host of theAUFICIONATO‘s YouTube channel Christopher Rutkowski, is a fascinating one. Collectors and self-proclaimed Back to the Future fanatics Bill and Patrick Shea, a father-son restoration duo, got their hands on the only surviving Toyota truck from the franchise after finding out that the studio did away with the other trucks that were used in the movies.

The very first truck shown in the movie was crushed after it was no longer needed. Another was given away after someone won a contest, and was shortly totaled. For the third movie, Universal Studios realized they needed another truck, and ended up renting and modifying one from a shop, and that ended up being the truck owned by the Shea’s. However, the truck had to go through a few obstacles before being driven into the arms of a loving home.

“In the summer of 2012, the guys from Time Machine Restoration had posted that they actually located Marty’s last remaining truck,” recounts Patrick Shea. “They said that they had plans to restore it. However, they were also in the process of restoring a hero DeLorean, and didn’t have time to take on another restoration project at the caliber that they needed to to make it a complete and accurate restoration. They decided they were going to sell it, and they contacted us. We had a lot of props from Part Three, so we took it on.”

To Bill and Patrick’s dismay, the truck had certainly seen better days. Instead of being a glossy black, it was orange. Instead of a black interior, it was blue. The paper trail for Marty’s Toyota indicated that it spent most of its life in Southern California, as someone’s daily driver. It also indicated that it went over the Mexican border several times a week. And then, records showed that the truck was stolen, taken to Mexico, and became a drug runner for a Mexican drug cartel.

“The truck was stolen and ended up in Mexico,” says Bill. “What are the chances that you are gonna have a vehicle stolen, it’s gonna end up in Mexico, part of a drug cartel, and then you’re gonna get it back? Well, it must be meant to be, because he actually got the truck back.”

Rutkowski says that the Toyota SR5 Xtra Cab 4×4 configuration is extremely popular among extremist groups in the Middle East and in Mexico, since the truck is capable, reliable, and popular enough to not stand out to authorities. No matter what the SR5 is put through, it will take it in stride and get the driver where it needed to go. Even if it meant running drugs and/or escaping the police.

Restoring Marty’s SR5 actually proved a lot harder than the Shea’s imagined. Mechanically, parts were simple–it was interior or body parts that proved challenging.

“These trucks are hard to find parts for…” said Patrick. “Cosmetically, parts aren’t available. We actually relied on many of our friends and fans to help us locate some of the harder-to-find parts. It was a collaborative effort to get [the SR5] to where it’s at now… We’re incredibly lucky. This truck could have faded into obscurity if it weren’t for that Craigslist ad, you know? It could have gone into oblivion. It’s an absolute honor and a privilege to own such an iconic piece of movie history.”

It took the Sheas four years to complete the truck, but the truck couldn’t have ended up with more capable and loving hands. Just like Marty telling Jennifer that one day he’d own the SR5 Xtra Cab as it rode past him on the back of a flatbed trailer, the Shea’s did the same. And luckily for the Shea’s and McFly, they both fulfilled their own prophecies and ended up with their dream truck. Unlike most car collectors, the truck and original DeLoreans they own, the cars are driven, loved, and appreciated. Not coveted away from the public. It’s people like the Shea’s that keep movie magic alive and well.

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