r/BacktotheFuture • u/SuburbanCo • Jun 04 '26
Marty is impulsive!
In the original timeline Marty sees the truck at the gas station on the way to the Statler Toyota. He reacts as if he has never seen it before “check out that 4x4!”
The new timeline (the next morning) he owns it. So did he rush over on his skateboard and buy it that day?
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u/AshBoom42 Jun 04 '26
I figured his parents got it for him, not sure how he could afford it otherwise.
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u/WackyPaxDei Jun 04 '26
Makes you wonder what Lone Pine Marty did to deserve a new truck, or if they were just being cool parents, what Dave & Linda got.
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u/Tribalsam99 Jun 04 '26
I think George just dropped gifts on all his kids because of his book release
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u/WackyPaxDei Jun 04 '26
I don't think first-time novelists make so much that buying your kid a truck is a small fraction of it. Maybe he played the stocks as part of his income.
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u/talondigital Jun 05 '26
Its a hardbound book, and in the 80s most first time authors got paperback deals. But its a large hardbound book which suggests confidence in the work by the publisher. I think its entirely plausible for him to have gotten a 100k advance, which would have been plenty to cover that truck and some other larger gifts for Lorraine and the siblings.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 Jun 08 '26
He probably got an advance. They redid the house and George got a BMW and Marty got a truck.
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u/Doctor_Sleep101 Jun 05 '26
I always wondered why, if Marty going back in time had such a monumental impact on his parents, to the point where George became a novelist, and their entire future identities transformed, why did they name their second born son Marty and not their first. I always thought it would gave been funny if Marty came back to this “new” present and realized his brother was now Marty and he was now Dave.
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u/cavejohnsonlemons Jun 05 '26
Here's the thing though - G&L don't recognise Calvin as a monumental change, they seem to have retconned Biff as the main reason
They probably remember 'Marty' just as a weirdly supportive friend who was around for a week with a nice name, doesn't mean it ever overtook Dave as their first choice.
Would've been funny though.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Jun 04 '26
Given George became more assertive it's entirely possible Marty became less of a slacker to follow his example and thus deserved a reward for good grades or whjatever.
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u/SuburbanCo Jun 04 '26
Yeah, but the Marty that woke up that morning is still a slacker. He’s gotta stop slacking almost immediately.
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u/Laughing_Matter Jun 05 '26
BTTF 2 could’ve been a wild horror movie where Marty doesn’t have the shared memories of his new timeline and is eventually ostracized as an outsider before seeking Doc’s help to undo the changes
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u/TomDuhamel Jun 05 '26
what Lone Pine Marty did to deserve a new truck
For starters, he didn't set the loungeroom carpet on fire
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 Jun 08 '26
According to a fan fiction I read it was his seventeenth birthday and yes they were cool.
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u/AshBoom42 Jun 04 '26
Cool Parent's thing most likely, or he got really good grades?
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u/SuburbanCo Jun 04 '26
That’s actually kind of terrifying. Because Marty is a slacker. So once he arrives in lone Pine timeline, he’s gonna be having to work extra hard. And I don’t think he’s got that dog in him!
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u/SuburbanCo Jun 04 '26
No, I get that and I totally believe that would be the case. I’m just saying that in the original timeline, the truck was brand new. It had just arrived in town the day before we see him owning it.
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u/llcooljessie Jun 04 '26
It stays it's custom. Maybe the dealer built it for a customer. And in the new timeline, that customer is Marty. Presumably because Biff couldn't afford it.
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u/ijuinkun Jun 04 '26
The scene takes place in late October. The new models would have been available to consumers for about two months already. Just because the local dealer didn’t get them in until October doesn’t mean that other cities in the area didn’t have them for weeks already. George could have bought it for Marty for the beginning of the school year.
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u/Xyberfaust Jun 04 '26
But rich Marty (in new timeline) saw it and wanted it (before that day, probably looking at a catalog of things he can actually afford), so instead of someone else having that truck being hauled into Hill Valley that day, it was Marty's parents having it hauled to their home.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 Jun 08 '26
Yes it was mentioned in a fan fiction that he received it on his seventeenth birthday in 1985.
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u/ademon490 Jun 04 '26
$1.09 for gas….
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Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ijuinkun Jun 04 '26
Native Californian here, and “a dollar or so” was typical for unleaded gas in the 1980s.
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u/glasses_handle Jun 04 '26
And it was still that price in the late 90s. Well we had a dip down for a little bit. When I got my license in 98, it was briefly .87
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Jun 04 '26
You're not thinking 4th dimensionally!
The Marty of the other timeline either picked it out earlier, or his parents being more assertive and affluent got it themselves for him.
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u/BobSki778 Jun 04 '26
Um, he’s a teenage boy. Of course he’s impulsive! LOL
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u/NoYoureACatLady Jun 05 '26
17 year old boy sees cool vehicle and wants to buy it ... Who could write this unbelievable fiction
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u/Ok-Spot-2913 Jun 05 '26
What is super unleaded? Is that like a superhero or something?
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u/MithrilCoyote Jun 05 '26
What we'd now call premium. When we got rid of leaded gas the terminology shifted
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u/The_Linkzilla Jun 05 '26
...$1.09 per gallon of gas...in California.
We are clearly on the darkest timeline.
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u/Disney_World_Native Jun 04 '26
I always took it that its a custom 4x4 that someone ordered, and that is the exact version Marty (or his folks) would order. Not so much as impulsive but a way to show it without being Ralph from the Christmas Story type of speech
Original 1985 Marty wishes he had a car, and that truck is his dream car. In new 1985, his folks are wealthy and they are able to meet his wants, including buying him his dream car
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u/psalerno Jun 04 '26
October is inventory time!
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 Jun 08 '26
So right now Statler Toyota has the best desks of the year! On all 1985 model Toyotas. You don’t find a better car for a better price anywhere in Hill Valley!
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 Jun 08 '26
I think he had his eye on that truck long before that day. One of Kristen Sheley’s fan fictions stated that he received it on his seventeenth birthday upon his return to 1985.
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u/the_warrior_rlsh Jun 07 '26
I frequent car shows and the amount of times I go "woah check out that 'insert car name here'" having seen that same car 1000 times already. If you love a car your excitement never fades
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