However, if it showed up in a movie as a supposed “cool car” it wouldn’t be taken seriously

The DeLorean wasn't taken seriously when Back to the Future was released either... it looks like a cool car now, mostly because of the movie, but back then it was considered a joke of a car and the company went bankrupt less than two years after it began production.

The Cybertruck will never be looked back on as a cool car, since it's existence is inextricably linked to doomed social and political movements. Like the ideology it represents, it's presence is impossible to ignore, but in the worst way possible. Plus it's a shitty truck.

It can never shake the "Ugh, get a load of this guy" factor.

Yeah I could totally see a similar trajectory for the cybertruck. I think it will be more popular in its death than it was in its life. Every elementary aged boy I know thinks it's really cool.

The DeLorean was yesterday's Tucker Torpedo.

The owner has not (yet) been arrested for cocaine trafficking, though.

(The history of John DeLorean is quite the read!)