From a deceased estate; current owner since 1972; modified in the Seventies to look like a newer car; 1,360cc engine; funky dial-filled dash; new tyres; driven 30 miles to the sale; quirky but cool! Those of us old enough to remember the Seventies will recall how fashionable it was for people who lived in old houses to throw out the original ornate cast iron fireplaces and the grand ceramic baths in favour of modern flame-effect electric fires and acrylic bath tubs in avocado green.

‘Chuck out the chintz’ was how IKEA put it when they tried to revive much the same sales trick in the Nineties.

Well, much the same fate befell this little beastie – ignore the Leyland badging and the slot-mag alloy wheels, for under the Seventies bling lies a genuine Morris Mini Minor MkI that was first registered in London in May 1960.Our vendor’s husband bought this Mini as his very first car way back in 1972 when it had the registration number 3480 MK and hung onto it right up until he sadly passed aw...