Farmer builds £50,000 classic cars in a shed

Gleaming: The new owner paid £50,000 for this Aston Martin DBR1 replica

Tractor boy Andy Soar could soon be ploughing ahead with a new career building classic Aston Martin cars.

The farmer has sold his first replica of one of the country's most successful racing cars for £50,000.

Not bad for someone who divides his time between farming 80 hectares (200 acres) and 'tinkering' in his shed.

When it's raining and not farming weather, I come into the workshop,' he said.

Hood: Andy admires the engine

'It is immensely satisfying to drive something you have created yourself.'

Mr Soar, 38, spent just four months building the Aston Martin DBR1, 50 years after it won Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship.

He owns the moulds to the 1950s car after buying the rights from ARA Racing two years ago and built the chassis from scratch.

Class: The dashboard of the DBR1

He used a Jaguar S-Type engine and gear box, and parts from other pre-1973 cars to complete the replica.

'Aston Martin made only five DBR1s and two DBR2s and they are still in existence estimated at £7million each,' said Mr Soar, who farms near Diss, Norfolk.

'So £50,000 is just a fraction of the cost.' Next up is a DBR for a German customer – inbetween the harvest.