Back to the Future’s Lea Thompson Recalls Stumbling Upon a DeLorean with a ‘McFly’ License Plate on Vacation (Exclusive)

Lea Thompson finds bits of her past everywhere she goes.

The actress, 63, shared a post on Instagram in May, in which she could be seen posing with a DeLorean while on vacation with her The Chicken Sisters costar Wendie Malick. (The car is a main plot point of the Back to the Future film series, where Thompson portrays Lorraine Baines-McFly.)

“In a weird twist I ran into a super tricked out #deloriantimemachine #bestdayever❤️,” Thompson captioned the post, in part, at the time, while sharing an image of herself striking a pose next to the vehicle, which had a “McFly” license plate.

Now, Thompson recalls the moment to PEOPLE in an exclusive conversation, stating, “I don’t think there are more than 40 or 50 of them in the world that are fixed up like that — it was just so weird.”

“They follow me everywhere, those damn DeLoreans,” the mother of two adds.

The Back to the Future film series follows Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly and the various obstacles he must overcome after traveling through time through the use of a futuristic DeLorean owned by Christopher Lloyd’s Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown.

According to Thompson, she and Malick, 73, stumbled upon the DeLorean replica twice during their stay.

Noting that the owner of the vehicle had it “all lit up” when they saw it at night, Thompson explained that the individual instantly recognized her when their eyes met.

“He was like, ‘Is that Lorraine McFly?’ And I go, ‘Yeah.’ It was so funny,” she says. “I really wanted to meet him because I just think it’s so funny to be in this little tiny town in British Columbia and bump into Lorraine McFly.”

Thompson’s latest project is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by K.J. Dell’Antonia. It follows family feuds tied to rival fried chicken restaurants in a small Southern town.

The first two episodes of The Chicken Sisters are currently airing on Hallmark+, with new episodes dropping every Thursday after.