Full disclosure – the vendor is well-known to us here at our Oxfordshire HQ.

We’re sure he won’t mind if we tell you that he is a man who does things properly.

He doesn’t cut corners, entertain compromises or otherwise deviate from the right course of action, regardless of any cost implications.

He is as fastidious, exacting and timely in his upkeep and curation of his cars as he is with his collection of classic boats.

It is entirely in keeping with that fastidiousness and attention to detail that he spent two years looking for the right Series 3 OTS.

He felt inside many a wheel-arch, tapped an exploratory knuckle on countless bulkheads and was, repeatedly, disappointed by what he found lurking beneath.

Eventually, in 1992, he ended up at a small, part-time dealership in Worcestershire, where he had travelled to look at an advertised car.

Once again, the car wasn’t right.

It had been over-restored, was sending all the wrong signals and didn’t fill him with confidence.

Just as...