When it comes to rare finds in the Philippines, perhaps nothing is rarer than the DMC DeLorean. Popularized in the mid-’80s to the mid-’90s by the movie franchise Back to the Future, this underpowered and some might say overhyped ‘super’ car catapulted into cult status courtesy of its ability to travel through time. Fast-forward 40 years into the future, this fire-damaged unit now enters its first race—against the clock, that is.

We spent a day with Monir Momani of Forbes Capital Cars—aka the luckiest car guy in the Philippines—to know more about how this precious “barn find” came to be. And no, he did not suffer a shooting from Old Man Peabody.

VISOR: Can you tell us something about how you acquired this DeLorean? Were you actively looking for it?

MONIR MOMANI: Actually, this was a random ad lang sa Facebook Marketplace. So my friend Kyle, who is also my student—I mentor students for my business—found it within 15 minutes upon being posted. It was posted for P900,000, so I quickly said to Kyle: “Kailangan natin makuha ‘yan!”

V: We’ve noticed that you have a lot of cars here in your collection. Would you consider the DeLorean like a Holy Grail for your collection?

MM: Actually, I’ve always been fascinated with hard-to-find cars or rare cars. So, it may be vintage or new, or anything in between…anything that was giving me some feeling na “ang ganda noon!” I usually go for it, if the price is reasonable and pag kaya. This car is like a dream na hindi mo sure kung mabibili mo talaga sa Pilipinas. Ito yun e. Hindi ko alam na meron until I saw it. This is my prized possession now.

V: This was a fire-damaged car in 2014, right? Now, you have an assignment to restore it to showroom condition for the Manila International Auto Show in April. That’s a month away from now. What are the challenges of restoring such a heavily damaged car from the Philippines? Especially a car that was not made available locally officially.

MM: When I got it, I was not really concerned dun sa damage cosmetically, but nalaman namin na meron palang parts available online yung bumili ng factory ng DMC when it closed down. So it has all the brand-new parts. And so merong mabibiling rubber trim, side mirrors—everything’s complete down to the last nut and bolt—in the US.

So people reached out to me, and said that I could buy parts from there. I plan to just clean it up and keep it original, but people were insisting I restore it and make it road-worthy para mapakita sa previous owner. So while we’re cleaning it up and ordering some cosmetic parts, we’re already building the mounts for the engine.

V: Speaking of the engine, it came with the original Volvo, right? What’s the plan there? If you can restore the Volvo engine, you’ll go for that?

MM: Initially, we were going to use the Volvo engine. So right now, we already took it out. It’s there, the engine turns, but the water pump is corroded. The fuel regulator needs work. The injector needs work, so the price keeps on adding up. The previous owner said it also has a problem with the starter, and the pump was failing as well. So we decided just yesterday that we would do an engine swap.

When this car was brand-new, the engine was not that reliable, and the performance was not really known for that year. Even the Corvette didn’t produce a car specifically that time in 1983 because of several restrictions. I would have a problem with reliability, even with the refreshed Volvo engine.

V: What’s the candidate engine?

MM: The top candidates are the LS swap and the V8. There’s a Kia Stinger engine with a twin turbo; that one is the fastest, I think. There’s an electric motor swap, but what we chose is what Asia, I think, would want for it—a K-swap. So we’re gonna build the first K-swap DeLorean here in the Philippines. We’re planning to put a K24 engine with turbo on it. We’re gonna mount it on the stock transmission, and we’re gonna try to push out around 350hp.

V: Nice. I guess what’s on the minds of all Back to the Future fans is a hover conversion on the horizon. Are you gonna try to make this thing fly?

MM: Maybe we can put the flux capacitor inside there, but the full cosmetic Back to the Future look is not really ideal for me, because it already looks fantastic.

V: How many DeLoreans are you aware of that are currently in the Philippines? Obviously, we’re looking at the only one that has authentic fire damage.

MM: Actually, based on what I researched, about three or four. The known one is the one in Carrera Café, and I checked it out to see how a clean one looks. Then tapos meron pang isa kay late sir Danding Cojuangco. Tapos meron pa daw yung sa Subic that, I think, has a diplomatic plate. I think this one here is the fourth one.

V: The others that you’ve mentioned, how are they being maintained? If you have any idea, are the owners also volunteering to help out with your unit?

MM: Actually, surprisingly enough, when I’m asking for recommendations, people are messaging me that they would sponsor some things on the car that they would contribute, even without the MIAS entry post. The first one to offer was a full detailing. The other is the engine, and another one is the paint of the front and the back bumpers. For the windshield, Aguila reached out, but their production is a bit too long—three to six months. Pero still, I appreciate their offer. People recommended Unicorn Glass, which makes custom windshield with mold in Caloocan. The production time is about one month.

V: That’s actually a good touch—having a Filipino-made part for the DeLorean, so that would make this DeLorean even more unique. The previous owner, based on what we’ve seen on your posts, sort of had a tough time thinking of what he would do with the car: sell it, dispose of it, or ipapamana. What are your plans for the future for this particular futuristic car?

MM: I have many cars, so yung dilemma ni Tatay (previous owner), I think I will face that in the future. Then, as well as every car enthusiast, the dream is to pass on a car to your children. Maybe they would love it the same way that I did.

Only time will tell how this DeLorean will end up. Its future hasn’t been written yet, but based on what we’ve heard, it seems like it will be a good one. If only we could get our hands on working Time Circuits, then we could easily take a peek 30 years into the future. Wonder if Doc Brown also has a website for spare parts.