I was looking for schematics. :)
First, start with a Delorean, since it has a stainless steel body . . .
The subject of time travel is always amusing. It might be possible to observe retroactively.
By traveling faster than the speed of light, you would outrun the images of events, then when you stopped, the imagery would catch up with you serially, making it possible to "look back over your shoulder" at events. Physically traveling, I would agree, is the stuff of science fiction.
If anyone actually succeeded in creating a time machine, I think a significant part of their strategy would involve making sure that theirs was the only machine existing. To do so, the time traveler would have to keep up with other peoples' development of time travel, because they would have to go back and derail anyone else's attempts.
Otherwise, one evil person getting control of such a machine could go back, destroy any other efforts, and monopolize the ability -- and the manipulation of events -- for themselves.