007 author's sports car sells for £80,000

A RARE sports car once owned by James Bond creator Ian Fleming has been sold for £80,000.

The 1962 AC Aceca Coupe, one of only six surviving Ford-powered Acecas in the world, was sold at auction by Bonhams.

The two-seater vehicle, which is dark blue with a red leather interior, is recorded as having left the Thames Ditton factory in Surrey in August 1962 for delivery to the author, the same year he completed The Spy Who Loved Me.

Another car once owned by a high-profile figure - a 1988 Jaguar XJ-S V12 convertible that once belonged to the Duchess of York - was sold for 23,000.

Also under the hammer were a 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Super Sport Cabriolet, which sold for 188,500, a 1938 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coup, which went for 186,300, and a 1959 Aston Martin DB4 Series 1 Sports Saloon, the 26th ever produced, which made 145,600.

A 1953 Jaguar C-Type was auctioned with a guide price of up to 1 million but failed to make its reserve.