A Volvo 262C once the property of David Bowie sold recently for the equivalent of £160,735 at auction house in Switzerland.

Helped no doubt by its celebrity patronage, the 33,000 mile, Bertone-built, near-mint 262C was one of the last of its kind; from a run of just 6620 cars, production came to an end in 1981, the same year Bowie’s Italo-Swede coupe left Grugliasco.

Hammered away by Swiss classic car specialists Oldtimer Galerie International, Bowie’s Volvo spent most of its life in the land of cuckoo clocks and Tolberones: registered in his real name, David Robert Jones, it was delivered to Bowie’s Swiss residence and later transferred into the ownership of his record label Bewlay Bros.

While lacking the vinyl roof of earlier 262Cs, Bowie preferred not to listen to the grizzling 2.8-litre Peugeot-Renault-Volvo (PRV) V6, spending extra on a Volvo stereo system complete with Blaupunkt speakers.