• Rare Mk1A version • 4.2-litre V8 engine and manual transmission • Left-hand drive • An older restoration • Comes with Belgian registration Inspired by Carroll Shelby's success in shoehorning a Ford V8 into the AC Ace to create the Cobra, Rootes' West Coast USA sales manager Ian Garrad asked Shelby to perform the same trick with its Sunbeam Alpine sports car, which was losing sales to more powerful rivals in the all important North American market.

To begin with the project was unofficial, only gaining factory approval when a prototype shipped to the UK was driven by company chairman Lord 'Billy' Rootes, who declared himself hugely impressed.

Shelby chose Ford's 260ci (4.2-litre) 'Windsor' V8 engine, and even though this had 'only' 164bhp on tap it was approaching double the output of the contemporary Alpine's 1.6-litre four.

The transplant radically transformed the car's character.

Getting it to fit, though, was far from easy as Shelby later recalled: "I think that if the figure ...