Jungle wreck car sold for £20,000

2011-02-23 18:58:29

23 February 2011 Last updated at 14:26 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Jungle wreck MG car found in Borneo sold for £20,000 Michael Standen has finally sold the car after more than 40 years Continue reading the main story Related Stories New MG to be built at Longbridge Keeping the MG Rovers on the road

The wreck of a car found abandoned in a Borneo jungle by a Welsh engineer more than 40 years ago has been sold for £20,000 at auction.

Michael Standen discovered the rusting 1954 MG TF1500 while working on the island, north of Australia.

Mr Standen, 66, of Bridgend, started restoring the car while working on engineering contracts in Brunei, on the northern coast of Borneo.

It has now been sold to a beef farmer in Cambridgeshire.

Mr Standen said he was impressed by the car as soon as he saw it, and borrowed a truck to tow it out.

The car was first discovered in a Borneo jungle in 1969

He said: "I didn't know how it got there but it seemed such a waste of a piece of British motoring history.

"A door was missing, trees were actually growing through the centre of the chassis and snakes and all sorts of things had made their home in it."

Mr Standen eventually managed to get the vehicle transported to the UK.

He said: "My intention was to drive it back to the UK, but the job finished before the car was ready.

"So I shipped the car back in a container and finished off the job."

He held onto the car for decades and used to take it out around his South Cornelly home before deciding to put it up for auction.

The MG was bought for £20,000 by beef farmer Jodie Green, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, who was impressed by its history.

Ms Green, 43, said: "How the car ended up in the Borneo jungle will always be a mystery.

"For the car to have been brought back to the UK and restored is just a fantastic story."

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