'Investment' Jaguar sells for £100,000

net1

A rare sports car which spent years bricked up in a carpet shop today sold for just over £100,000.

The Jaguar XJ220, which was delivered in June 1993 and has just 111 miles on the clock, was kept in a special room at the Marlborough Carpets store in Cardiff.

Today the car, which would have had a price tag of £400,000 when it was new, sold for £105,000 to an unnamed bidder.

The Jaguar, with a top speed of 200mph, was up for sale at auction as the main asset of the firm, which went into liquidation.

It is believed the car's owners had bought it and kept it so safely because they thought it would be a sound investment.

Chris Hall, vice president Europe of international valuers and auctioneers Dovebid, which advised the liquidators, said before the sale that the car was unusual because it was unregistered and right-hand drive.

"The car has not been used since it was bought - it has been mothballed," he said.

Just 350 Jaguar XJ220s were produced, and they were made in the very building where today's auction took place, in Oxford.

The XJ220 made its debut as a concept car at the 1988 Birmingham Motor Show, and later went into production in 1991 when Jaguar Sport created the purpose-built factory in Bloxham near Oxford.

The only car to beat it for speed since has been the McLaren F1 supercar.

Channel Hopper

Sounds like a fixed auction

If any serious bidders had known about it, the final value may well have been greater than the original buy price.

A scam if there ever was one

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"