“Like most of my good ideas, this started as a joke,” says Dr. Jason Tubo of FIXT Dental about the 1981 DMC DeLorean that’s been parked lately outside his Washington St., Wellesley Square practice. Yup, the same kind of DeLorean that Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) used for time travel in the Back to the Future film trilogy.
So what’s a vintage DeLorean got to do with dentistry? I asked, as did his wife and business partner, Jenny Tubo, when Tubo brought up the idea to her. His elevator pitch—”We help people get the smile they had in 1985, using the technology of the future.”
When he puts it that way, it still sounds like a crazy idea, but one that just might work. Dr. Tubo specializes in dental implants and cosmetic dentistry. As a quality-control enthusiast, he’s got an onsite lab staffed by a team of ceramists and designers. Every detail is overseen by Dr. Tubo.
Because FIXT implants and other cosmetic dentistry devices and services are in demand across the region, the practice already has a mobile laboratory van with 3-D printers and intraoral scanners. “We’re the lab with the docs that you call to come do the job when no one else can do it or when people say it’s impossible,” Tubo says.
They take that mobil lab—same make and model as the A-Team van from the 1980s TV show (you’re detecting a trend, right?)—out and about on such calls. On the outside it’s pure vintage, on the inside the A-Team van is a high-tech dental lab.
Problem was, the team realized they needed a second vehicle to do local runner-type deliveries. Something small. Something fun. Something fast. During brainstorming sessions, Ferraris and Lamborghinis came up. Nah. Too common here in Swellesley. Seems there’s something along those lines parked right across the street, in front of Smith & Wollensky, practically every night. Tubo wanted something that stood out, not some common-by-comparison daisy. In near-despair, Tubo figured a humble Tesla could do the job and allow him to move on to his next crazy idea.
Then the idea of the DeLorean came up. It checked all the boxes. On theme with the 80’s; attention-getting; and fun. “There was no other car I could think of where you can park anywhere and people are going to stop and take a picture they’re going to send to their cousin, to their brother,” Tubo says.
Add a “FIXT 88” vanity plate and a couple of QR codes on the vehicle, and the car goes from merely fun and functional to a savvy marketing tool. Tubo and lab director Yoan Raimondo are the only guys on staff so far who drive the 43-year old manual transmission vehicle, with no power steering, or power brakes. Along with whatever deliveries they stow into the under-the-hood storage space, they also have to pack patience. A simple gas fill-up turns into a hour of people asking for the story and taking pictures.
Look for more on this story on Very Local, which on Oct. 29 will run a 30-minute segment to include Tubo and the DeLorean.
And look for the DeLorean outside of 590 Washington St. in Wellesley Square (the storefront area of Belclare condos).
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