We normally take great care to present our vehicles to their best advantage, commissioning our valeter to weave his magic.

On this occasion we told him to stay in the canteen and pour himself another coffee because to wash and detail this would have been nothing short of a crime.

Because ‘NSS 564F’ is a one-family-from-new Morris Mini Cooper, which would be remarkable in its own right.

But there’s more, because we understand it was laid up in 1979 with only a little over 31,000 miles on the odometer: The seller thinks it may have had a few issues and was set aside to be repaired one day.

A day that didn’t come and it remained undisturbed for the next four decades – and given how much we know you all love a barn find, we thought we’d offer it in ‘as found’ condition with the photos to prove it.

And, dirty or not, it is a bit of a peach: Finished in Sandy Beige with a Snowberry White roof, it is remarkably original and has even managed to hang on to the original sales invoice.

Oh, ...