A LIFELONG Ford fan has one of the rarest cars in Britain.

Richard Boyes' 1973 Mark 1 Ford Capri has a paltry 10,000 miles on the clock.

The 1600cc car belonged to an old lady but when she died in 1984 her husband kept it unused in the garage for 16 years.

There are very few Mark 1 Capris still running, and such a low mileage is extremely rare.

Richard said: "When I got told about the car, I didn't believe it.

"It had done 6,000 miles and I didn't think there was such a low mileage Capri left in the country."

Richard, a 49-year-old taxi driver from Widnes, bought the car and only uses it a couple of time a year for classic car shows.

He is entering the North West Classic Car Show at Cholmondley Castle in Malpas in Cheshire on August 31 and the Victoria Park car show in Widnes on September 28.

Richard has owned nothing but Fords and has driven Capris for 30 years.

He is chairman of the North West Capri Owners Club and runs a national register for cars built at Halewood.

Richard said: "It's part of my life, it's just the camaraderie - you meet a lot of different people."

He guessed he's had around 10, including a couple of the famous 2.8 litre fuel injected models.

A former worker at Ford's Halewood plant, he even followed the first Capri he bought along the production line - and made it himself.

"There was one or two extra bits on their it shouldn't have had," he joked.