We know this car because the vendor bought it at one of our auctions five years ago.

Back then, it was a superbly fettled and sorted, built-to-the-hilt, track-ready car with plenty of authenticated history and a wad of invoices, bills and receipts from all the right names in the worlds of fast-Fords and motorsport engineering.

And it still is.

The car has been kept warm dry and properly looked-after by the vendor, who is well-known to us and has an excellent collection of fine and interesting classics.

The car was purchased by ADR Racing in 1997 as a rolling shell from well-known Ford competition aficionado and amateur rally driver Ian Harwood, whose eponymous firm finally pulled own the shutters on its Ellesmere Port operation in 2004, by which time it had earned a reputation as a destination one-stop-shop for all things fast-Ford.

A sizeable number of the UK’s enthusiasts and AVO (Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations skunkworks) owners can trace their parts/cars back to Ian Harwoo...