A rotting E-Type Jaguar has been sold for almost £20,000 on eBay as demand for the iconic vehicles reaches ever more dizzy heights.

The aged roadster, a sought-after 1968 E-Type Series 1.5, was in terrible condition after spending several decades sitting in a field in the US state of Pennsylvania.

The shell was heavily rusted and many of the car’s mechanical components had been removed and stored elsewhere.

The eBay seller described the car as ‘non-running’ and requiring ‘total restoration’ but believed almost all of the car’s parts were still with it.

On their eBay auction post, the seller, ‘cdpbackup’, said: “I’m assisting my father with selling this car. It was purchased from a friend who unfortunately let the car sit out in a field for far too long.

“My father actually remembers seeing the car around town in the 70s and knows the previous owner.

“I’d love to attempt to save it, but know that I don’t posses a fraction of the skills, money, or time required for this level of project.”

Bidding on the Midland-made car started at $5,000 and in all 34 bids were received before it hit its $31,100 sale price.

But the acquisition was seen as a high risk by one acclaimed motoring author and classic car expert.

Martyn Nutland said: “The E-Type Jaguar is one of the all-time motoring icons and this was once one of the early, very sexy roadsters.

“Good ones are of course extremely desirable and sought after. And you do have to remember that when the E-Type came out it was a fairly cheap car for what it was, poorly made, not very durable and, as a consequence, most of the unrestored ones – and some of the restored examples – around today are ‘dogs’.

“The problem with this one is that it’s not a low mileage, highly original, but neglected, barn find. Rather, it’s a car with no known history nor provenance, that has been horrendously abused to the point of near-destruction by some clown who left it in a field – probably the worst place on Earth to abandon a car.

“Sorting this mess out is going to cost thousands upon thousands of pounds paid to someone who really knows what they are doing.” Mr Nutland added: “It’s much more desirable than the later 2+2 coupes which fetch somewhere in the £35,000-£50,000 bracket for a good example. A pristine early roadster like this might fetch, £80-90,000. There are a lot of people around the classic car world who have far more money than sense, especially in America.”