A 1967 Mini 850 ‘barn find’ is H&H Auctions’ star vehicle in its upcoming Buxton sale on Wednesday, July 18.

Having lain in storage since 1983, after clocking up 36,000 miles, the car is billed as ‘totally original: new welded, its interior is said to be ‘like new’.

Bought new 51 years ago with part of a retirement fund, the Mini was primarily a holiday vehicle, used for touring North Yorkshire and Scotland for the best part of a decade.

At that point, life sadly intervened: after a happy decade travelling the length and breadth of the country, its owner (the vendor’s father) was diagnosed with ME in the early Eighties.

The Mini passed from father to son – and the younger family member kept the car off the road without driving it; raising the Mini off the ground on wooden blocks preserved the tyres (and kept the weight off the sub frame and suspension displacers.

H&H estimate the Mini to fetch between £6000 and £10,000; given the history of the car and its provenance, it’s anyone’s guess as to what price it will sell for.