DeLorean DMC-12 Nigel Chilton

Yet is was none of these factors that prompted plastics manufacturing company owner Nigel Chilton, 54, to buy one. "I saw all the Back to the Future movies but that is not the reason I wanted one," he said.

"My mate has one in Albury and I was with him when he was doing the Classic Adelaide in a GT Falcon and he asked me to drive his DeLorean down to the pub to pick up some supplies," he said.

"When we got there we opened the doors and a nice-looking young girl showed some interest. I was just so impressed that a young girl was all over it, I thought I've got to have one."

Chilton said he had no trouble tracking down two vehicles for sale in the US despite the fact that only 9000 were made and there are only about 6500 left.

He bought his 1981 DeLorean DMC12 in October 2007 from Oregon but still hasn't driven it on the road because left-hand-drive vehicles can't be registered in Queensland without being converted to right-hand drive until they are 30 years old. "I've still got two years left before I can register it," he said.

Chilton paid $US17,500 "when the dollar was good" which was about $21,000. "All up, it owes me about $28,000 to get it here," he said. "It stays on trailers and I showed it at the Cootha Classic, but it's been factory lowered about 40mm so it's difficult to even get it on a trailer"

"I've hardly turned a wheel, but it drives like a HK Holden. It's pretty ordinary. It doesn't need to go quick because you want people to look at it. They're not overly powerful and they are hard to maneuvere as they have no power steering. They're also pretty claustrophobic."

The vehicle has a Y frame chassis with fibreglass sub frame and stainless steel panels.

"Cleaning is easy, but fingerprints are hard to get rid of," Chilton said. "Everything is quirky about it."

The rear-mounted engine is a Peugeot/Renault/Volvo B28 2.8L six-cylinder mated to a Peugeot five-speed manual gearbox. It sits on 14-inch front wheels with 195mm rubber and 15-inch, 235mm rears.

About six models came with twin turbos, 17 were made in right-hand drive and two had gold-plated engines, one for company owner John DeLorean and one for a museum. Chilton says there are about 31 in Australia and 11 in Queensland.

Despite its sweeping bonnet and the fuel tank and radiator in the front, the forward luggage space is quite big for a sportscar and there is a space-saver tyre under the cargo floor.

The DMC-12 is "stock standard", but Chilton intends to work on the brakes. "You can still get most of the parts from America as there are several companies that specialise in DMC parts," he said.

"I'll probably drive it on weekends and to car shows, although I would love to do a Targa (Tasmania) in it when I get it registered." Chilton has competed in six Targa Tasmania rallies since 2000 navigating in a BMW 2002 and driving his 1972 914 Porsche "which always wins its class" until he rolled it at a Noosa Hillclimb.

The Leicester-born Englishman migrated to Australia in 1963 aged nine and has owned a variety of cars over the years starting with a Toyota HiAce he used for surfing and consorting, a Suzuki Sierra he raced off road and a V12 Jag he bought in the middle of the 1980s fuel price crisis. "I paid $27,000 for it, spent $10,000 on it and got $17,000 for it in about 18 months. Not a good investment," he said. He's hopeful the DeLorean will be a better investment.

They were called the DMC-12 because $US12,000 was to be their retail price, but they went to market costing more than twice that and the company is claimed to have lost substantially on each vehicle it sold.

The DMC-12 was manufactured in Northern Ireland from 1981 to 1982 when the owner was arrested on charges of drug trafficking in an apparent attempt to raise funds for the struggling company, which declared bankruptcy that year.