Got £10,000 to spare? Then why not buy your dream car. That is to say, the car you dreamt of owning when you were a youngster. Sales of new cars may be flat but the trade in the kind of full-fat testosterone-powered machines that thrilled cinema and TV audiences a generation ago has never been healthier.

The demand has reached the point where names from the past, such as De Lorean – the ill-fated manufacturer of the gull-winged car that starred in Back to the Future – are being revived (see panel), along with the Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro. Even the Jensen Interceptor, the car driven by Jason King, the TV detective, in the days of poodle perms and Party Sevens has attempted a comeback.

Who is buying these nostalgia cars? Typically, empty nesters or midlifers with successful careers, money in their pocket and the knowledge that they have a limited amount of time to spend it in. But surely middle age is about responsibility and planning for retirement, isn’t it? Yes. Precisely the time, then, to spend recklessly on a gleaming steel and chrome monster that’ll help you to roll back the years.

Take Vaun Richards, 42, a designer who lives in London. You might think he would be happy with a new BMW. Instead he’s spent £25,000 on cars he dreamt of owning since he was nine. His collection has included a Ford Gran Torino (seen in Starsky and Hutch), a Ford Mustang 289 Fastback (similar to the one Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt) and a Pontiac Firebird (from Smokey and the Bandit).

“I look at modern cars and I’ll admit they are comfortable and functional. But they’re about as exciting as a migraine. When you reach 40 in my profession you’ve got choices. You can start wearing black and grow a ponytail, you can save for early retirement to play golf, or you can buy the muscle car you always wanted,” says Richards.

The most desirable cars are out of reach of all but the wealthiest collectors. The Aston Martin DB5 from Thunderball and Goldfinger sold last year for £1m at auction in Phoenix, Arizona. But you can get a car in good condition for less than the price of a new Ford Focus, even if it’s had a starring role. The Ford Cortina Mk III from Life on Mars fetched a modest £12,800 at an online auction in aid of Comic Relief (and that’s a lot more than you’d pay for a noncelebrity one).

Cars from a generation ago need more maintenance and go wrong more often – they did even when they were new – but the internet makes it easier to buy replacement parts and keep in touch with other owners for advice. According to the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (www.fbhvc.co.uk ) more than 80% of classic car clubs – of which there are more than 400 in the UK – have a website where members can exchange information, tips and post cars/parts for sale.

“The classic car market is booming,” says Phil Bell, editor of Classic Cars magazine and owner of a 3 litre 1973 Ford Capri (as seen in The Professionals). “One reason for their popularity is that so many modern supercars have become commonplace. It’s no longer unusual to see, say, an Aston Martin. Having something that bit different, that bit more exclusive, that’s often what drives people,” says Bell.

If you don’t want to risk a genuinely old car there are a whole new crop of retro versions of old classics – similar in appearance to the originals but built to modern standards. Dodge recently revived the Charger and next year plans to relaunch the Challenger (the car that featured in the film Vanishing Point), both names synonymous with the glory era of American motoring.

“The growth in the value of the original muscle cars prompted the modern interpretations,” says Bell. “The American car makers saw that the hearts of their customers were still stuck in the late 1960s, when the cars were loud and proud and when the mood was supremely confident.”

The fact that they are new doesn’t necessarily make the cars any more practical. Jeremy Clarkson dreamt of owning a Ford GT40 from boyhood when he had a poster on his bedroom wall and Dinky replicas. When Ford revived it as the GT in 2003 he was one of the first to buy one. Then it broke down, the security system went wrong and he found it was too wide for the width restrictors near his London flat and too big to fit in a BBC parking bay.

He sold it. “I had to, but it broke my heart,” he said.

Richard Hammond, 37, owner of a metallic-blue 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390

I love muscle cars, it’s the child in me. I can’t help it. I had a bright green Dodge Charger but the Mustang is much easier to handle and you just can’t deny it’s a gorgeous shape. I love the fact that with any muscle car there’s a feeling that it began with the engine and that everything else about the car, including you, is just there to service it.

Mine is the model Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt. Do I feel like McQueen behind the wheel?

Of course not, I live in Gloucestershire.

But I can’t deny that my elbow does float out of the window of its own accord. It also has the sort of wide rear-view mirror you only ever see in old American movie car chases. You look in it and expect to see a black Dodge Charger hooting around after you.

Hammond presents Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May. It returns to BBC2 in the autumn

Graham Eason, 38, works in marketing for an engineering company and owns a 1974 Jensen Interceptor

I bought it just before Christmas for £10,500, although I had to spend another £6,000 rebuilding the engine.

I’ve always wanted one. The Interceptor is such an unusual car. It was the celebrity car of its day and it was all about cruising off to the south of France, that sort of thing. I was growing up in Woking, Surrey, and it represented this glamorous other world, the idea of escape. I seem to remember Cliff Richard driving one, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it.

When I’m in the Interceptor I relax and enjoy the road, whereas when I’m driving my Audi I’m just in the rat race. The Jensen has a 7.2 litre V8 engine. It’s a car where consumption is all – the total opposite of what we’re concerned about today.

I hire the car out for weddings and weekends to help pay for the upkeep and we try to offset the carbon dioxide emissions, but back then people weren’t worrying about that stuff.

To hire Eason’s Jensen Interceptor go to www.greatescapecars.co.uk

Stephen Bowman, 26, singer: 1981 De Lorean DMC-12

I was caught by the car in the way a lot of people were by the Back to the Future films. I had a matchbox-sized De Lorean in my toybox and I remember vowing that one day I would own that car. I bought it about five years ago for £25,000. It was more expensive because it’s one of only 23 right-hand-drive models produced.

It is such an incredibly unusual car. The light reflects off the unpainted stainless steel and with the gull-wing doors it looks like a spaceship designed in the 1950s. I’ve driven it down to the south of France and parked it in the centre of Monaco; those with Lamborghinis and Ferraris were rather peeved everyone was looking at the De Lorean and not their £200,000 supercars.

For any petrol stop you have to factor in 20 minutes because so many people want their picture taken with the car. You get the usual questions. Where’s the flux capacitor? What happens when you take it up to 88mph? (The speed at which the time machine was activated in the films.) I know it’s sad, but sometimes you do catch yourself humming the Back to the Future theme tune.

Bowman is a singer with Blake, a new vocal group combining pop and classical music, with a first album due out in November

Where are they now...

Model Ford Mustang

What is it? A two-door sports coupé with a straight six or V8 engine. There is also a convertible

Launched 1964

Ceased production The first generation was halted in 1973

New model Based on the original 1960s Mustang. There are a string of versions, including the GT500, Shelby GT500 and a convertible

The Mustang is one of the world’s longest running models. Launched in 1964 it was immortalised by Steve McQueen in the film Bullitt four years later. Ford failed to capitalise on its association with the King of Cool and in the 1980s and 1990s produced a succession of increasingly lacklustre models. The latest Mustang, unveiled at the 2004 North American motor show, was the company’s attempt to turn the brand around by drawing on the spirit of the 1964 original.

Initially codenamed S-197, the new Mustang shamelessly mimics the lines of the first. J Mays, Ford’s design chief, coined the name “retro-futurism” to describe it. This year saw the launch of the souped-up 350bhp Shelby GT Mustang, priced at about $41,000 (£20,500). Unfortunately, the Mustang was designed exclusively for the North American market so British buyers can buy one only as an import. Try www.americancarimports.com or telephone 020 8889 4545.

Model Jensen Interceptor

What is it? Sporting grand tourer with a V8 engine, hand-built in the UK

Launched 1966

Ceased production 1976

New Model A new Jensen, the S-V8, was launched in 2001 but the company (the British marque has passed through various hands) folded in 2002. Any offers?

The hand-built Jensen Interceptor was one of the most desirable cars of the Seventies. With its 7.2 litre engine it chewed through five-star fuel at the rate of 13mpg but what did that matter when it reached 60mph in 6.4 seconds and, more importantly, appeared in The Saint and was driven by Peter Wyngarde (aka Jason King)? With a ’tache, a sheepskin and an Interceptor you were lord of your manor. Reliability problems and the fuel crisis led to a collapse in sales and Jensen Motors ceased trading in 1976. A subsidiary made a few Interceptors into the 1990s. The name was revived in 2001 when a new model, the S-V8, went into production in Liverpool. The owners planned to produce 300 in the first year, at £40,000 each. But early design faults proved costly and only 20 cars left the factory before the firm went into administration in 2002. The Jensen trademark has been bought by the Healey family (as in Austin-Healey sports cars) so don’t rule out another comeback.

Model De Lorean DMC-12

What is it? A two-door coupé with gull-wing doors, unpainted stainless-steel bodywork and a 2.8 litre V6 engine

Launched 1981

Ceased production 1982

New model Limited-edition replica DMC-12 due next year, produced by the De Lorean Motor Company of Houston, Texas

De Lorean is on its way back to the future. It’s 25 years since the last one rolled off the production line in Belfast but now an American company, the De Lorean Motor Company of Houston, Texas (www.delorean.com), says it plans to restart production from 2008. James Espey, the firm’s vice-president, aims to hand-build about 25 cars to order a year. “We already have a nine-month waiting list,” said Espey. The first De Lorean DMC-12 was the brainchild of John De Lorean, an American engineer. With gull-wing doors, and brushed steel finish it was unique but fewer than 9,000 cars were produced before the company went into liquidation in 1982 with its owner caught up in – and later acquitted of – allegations of drug trafficking. The car’s enduring appeal was helped by its appearance, in time-machine form, in the Back to the Future film trilogy. Enthusiasts can contact the De Lorean Owners Association (www.deloreanowners.org/association ).