This extraordinary Allard left Britain fresh from the factory in 1948 and headed off to Australia, where it remained until, we understand, some time in 2017, when it was repatriated to these shores and registered with the DVLA.

By that time, it had acquired a different flat-head V8 engine from its original 3.6-litre unit, and we believe the current drivetrain configuration to be a 3.9-litre flat-head mated to a 5-speed Toyota gearbox.

The car was bought at auction by its penultimate owner shortly after its arrival in the UK.

He then set about preparing it to face, endure and survive the multiple challenges of the 4000-mile Indochina Road Classic rally, a gruelling endurance ordeal taking in Myanmar (formerly Burma), China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In the pursuit of that successfully attained objective he spent in excess of £125,000 with, primarily, Belcher Engineering of Diss, Norfolk, and Hightone Restorations of Oxfordshire.

The result was (and remains) a car that has been ‘b...