His is the only Borgward registered in the ACT and one of a handful of the rare, and highly desirable, coupes in Australia.

Unlike this vehicle, which came off the production line at the German port city of Bremen, Canberra's other one-example wonders - including a Monteverdi, Shelby, Panther, Bertone, Nota and our lone TD 2000, are hand-built exotics that never sold in huge numbers.

Chris is a historian and conservator who spends his working days at the Australian War Memorial. He has owned the German-made rarity since 2007 and still thinks it is the duck's guts.

Why? Because it is unique, beautiful, well-built, generally reliable in day-to-day use and fast enough to keep up with modern traffic. And, unlike a 1950s American car, the 1500cc four cylinder doesn't require its own oil well.

Borgward, for those not familiar with the marque, was a highly regarded but now long-defunct quality German car manufacturer that blossomed briefly in the 1950s as part of Germany's economic miracle.

Carl Borgward, the founder, designer and major shareholder, was a genius sometimes spoken of in the same breath as Ferdinand Porsche, the creator of the Volkswagen Beetle. And, like Porsche, he always had an eye on the quality end of the market.

Alexander Hartnett, the man behind the first Holden, negotiated a deal to bring one of Borgward's lesser creations - the Lloyd 600 - to Australia in the mid-1950s as a low-cost motoring option. While some of these cars survive, the enterprise failed as few motorists were interested in two-cylinder motoring - even if you could get four litre per 100 kilometres fuel economy.

Launched in 1954, Borgward's Isabella Saloon (the basis for the coupe featured here) created a sensation. It matched the Mercedes ''ponton'' models for quality and performance while trumping them on price. BMW, which was to capitalise on the niche left vacant when Borgward slipped into bankruptcy a decade later, wasn't even in the race.

Chris' car, which is believed to have spent some time at Darling Harbour's Powerhouse Museum in the early 1990s, is one of the last to be built. It came off the line at a time when Borgward was losing money on every car it sold.

''Right from the start it was said the car had two built-in problems,'' marque expert Peter Nunn said in a UK Classic and Sportscar report. ''First, it was a high-quality, well-built car priced far too low. Second, replacement part costs were too steep, which, in turn, gave resale values a hefty knock.''

By the time the doors closed, a total of 202,862 Borgward Isabellas of all types had been produced.

Chris, who uses his machine as his ''daily driver'', has had no trouble keeping it on the road. Parts are readily available either from the excellent Australian club or from Germany and England where surviving vehicles are revered by passionate and one-eyed owners.

Chris admits to being in the same category. ''I still get a kick out of turning back and looking at her in the car park,'' he said. ''She is just lovely.''