A SPORTS car needing a total restoration which was discovered in an old garage is expected to fetch £10,000 when it goes under the hammer.

A Daimler Dart SP250 was discovered in an old garage in Bournemouth and will go to auction at Charterhouse on March 3.

Richard Bromell, of the auction house said: “It was the phone call you dream of as an auctioneer with the client saying her father had passed away and there was an old two-seater sports car in the garage she needed help with.

“Having arranged a convenient date and time to meet I was not disappointed when the garage doors were opened to reveal the Daimler Dart.”

Originally supplied by Spink Garage, the 1960 Daimler Dart SP250 A Spec was the 54th SP250 to be produced and has been tucked away in its garage since 1974.

It is understood by the family to have been bought by the deceased owner in the early 1960s and it was used as every day transport before being locked away.

With the family home now cleared, the Daimler has been dragged out of its resting place after 48 years. Although the garage was in pretty poor condition it managed to protect the Daimler from the elements and the car has remained largely intact.

This Daimler is estimated at £8,000 to £10,000 and is being sold without reserve at the Charterhouse auction at the Haynes International Motor Museum, Sparkford, Somerset.