Marty McFly’s legendary guitar: The great “Back to the Future” prop hunt, 40 years later

It’s been four decades since Marty McFly rocked out at the “Enchantment Under the Sea” dance in Back to the Future, but the fate of his iconic cherry red Gibson ES-345 guitar remains as mysterious as a DeLorean’s flux capacitor. Now, with the film’s 40th anniversary upon us, the hunt for Marty’s missing axe is back in the spotlight—and this time, it’s getting a little help from Hollywood and music royalty.

Gibson, the legendary guitar maker headquartered in Nashville, has officially launched a public appeal to track down the famous instrument. The quest coincides with a new documentary, Lost to the Future, which chronicles both the search and the enduring magic of the film. In a nostalgia-packed video released by Gibson, Back to the Future stars Michael J. Fox (Marty), Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown), Lea Thompson, and Harry Waters Jr. all join the call. Even Huey Lewis—whose band gave us the unforgettable “The Power of Love”—makes a cameo, urging fans to help solve the decades-old mystery.




Christopher Lloyd, channeling Doc Brown, declares the guitar “lost to the future,” while Michael J. Fox jokes, “It’s somewhere lost in the space-time continuum, or it’s in some Teamster’s garage.” The guitar, last seen on set in the late 1980s, vanished before the sequel was filmed, and despite years of searching, its whereabouts remain unknown.

The original film’s unforgettable scene saw Marty channeling guitar heroes like Hendrix and Van Halen, dazzling—and confusing—his 1955 audience with a performance of his ‘oldie song Johnny B. Goode’ years before it was actually released. Fox himself once said he wanted to blend the styles of his favorite guitarists for the sequence, making the guitar’s disappearance all the more bittersweet for fans.

With the world watching and the power of nostalgia on their side, Gibson and the Back to the Future cast hope that Marty’s guitar will finally make its way home—no time machine required. If you’ve got a cherry red ES-345 with a story to tell, now’s your chance to be part of movie history!