It was one of the first cars made in Birmingham but was sadly dumped in a Sussex barn some time after the original owner paid just #225 for it.

But this 10/12 horse power swing-seat Tonnea will prove that some second-hand cars do appreciate in value when it fetches up to #22,000 at a London auction.

The rare swing-seat vehicle was built in 1905 by the Alldays & Onions Pneumatic Engineering Company Ltd at its Matchless Works in Fallows Road, Sparkbrook.

It is such a rare car that only one other model from that year is known to exist.

The car also boasts an unusual design feature - a swing seat. Passengers in Edwardian England would have gained access to the rear seats by swinging the front passenger seat outwards.

If the car does sell for #22,000 at the Bonhams' auction at the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon on April 30, it will mean that in just over one hundred years its value has multiplied one hundred times.

The car is capable of speeds of up to 25 mph and was first registered in London in 1905 with a plate number LD 9582.

It is unclear what happened to the car up until the start of the Second World War, but it was discovered during the height of the conflict in 1941 in a barn at Horsham, Sussex.

It was then restored over ten years and later acquired by the Keighley-based Yorkshire Car Collection.

The car was then bought by its present owner - whose identity is not revealed by Bonhams - who has since shown the vehicle at various car enthusiasts' shows.

A spokesman from Bonhams said: "This delightfully original and charming Edwardian motor car is presented in nicely matured green and black livery with red buttoned upholstery to the swing-seat tonneau coachwork.

"The car is equipped with two-piece folding windscreen and a single-movement, five-hoop, cantilever, cape-cart hood.

"Brass fittings include a self contained single acetylene headlamp with Lucas oil side and rear lamps, rear view mirror and bulb horn."

The auctioneers describe Alldays & Onions as "perhaps the oldest surviving Midlands engineering firms".

The company entered the field of motor vehicle manufacture before the turn of the century with a rather primitive quadricycle, to be followed in 1903 by a more conventional single-cylinder light car. But it was 10hp car of 1905 which firmly established Alldays & Onions as a serious player in the motor car market.