'For sale: one time machine, slightly broken', says Dubizzle ad

Great Scott: A 'slightly' broken time machine is for sale on Dubizzle. Could it be the Dr Emmett Brown's Delorean in the Back to the Future films?

DUBAI // A "man from the future" is hoping to find a buyer for his broken time machine on a classified website.

An advert on Dubizzle from a "time traveller" said that mechanical problems caused his time machine to go terribly wrong.

"I was supposed to land in 2007 to stop myself from making the horrible mistake of investing in the properties market," the advert says.

"As we have learned from the Hollywood flicks, time travel never goes correctly on the first attempt.

"I need to survive and build myself another one from scratch."

Nevertheless, the seller is looking to sell the faulty device for the grand price of Dh1.

"It's a pretty good deal," said Dubizzle co-founder JC Butler.

The site is no stranger to odd advertisements. In the past there have been adverts for a Boeing 727 and an island in the Maldives.

"I know that before we had someone looking for a flux capacitor, but I don't know if anyone has placed a time machine before," said Mr Butler.

Normally, moderators on the classifieds site, which gets 20,000 adverts a day, screen out items which are illegal or against the terms of use. However, Mr Butler said the team saw no reason to remove the time machine advert.

"We'll probably keep it up for a laugh," he said. "If someone is selling something fake, and really trying to sell it, then we would take it down. But this is obviously someone joking around, and people find it funny."

The advert is listed under 'gadgets', comes with no warranty and a warning that it "may need a bit of repair to work properly".

It claims to have been used "as frequently as would be expected".

The advert signs off on a quixotic note: "Take care, or as we say in the future, adios."