A CLASSIC car enthusiast is appealing for information on a rare car he rescued from a Letterston scrapyard.

The 1955 Bond Minicar is a small open car with only three wheels, a folding hood, and seats for two adults.

When new it was brown with red wheels and hood, but this particular model, registration number NVE 757 which was originally bought in Cambridge, was repainted light blue many years ago.

The cars derived their name from their designer, Lawrie Bond; an ingenious engineer who spotted an opportunity for an economical car during the Suez Crisis fuel rationing and the government's post-war export or die rules when steel for car manufacture was unobtainable. His cars got around this by using aluminium from redundant Second World War aircraft factories

Roger Bateman, a classic car enthusiast from Dorset, bought the the car earlier this year after it had languished for a long time in a scrapyard at Letterston.

He is restoring the car but has been unable to unearth its history. He would like to find out where it has been and what it has done during the past 64 years.

"I first owned a Bond in 1965 when I was 16 and could drive it on a motorcycle licence, and I thought it would be fun to have one again," he said.

"This car has been appallingly neglected, having been lying out in the open for many years. From its condition I estimate that it was forced off the road in the 1960s by the new Ten Year Test (MOT).

"Once it was common to see these cars buzzing around our roads, powered by their small motorcycle engines.

"They were endorsed by racing driver Stirling Moss, and some intrepid adventurers even drove them thousands of miles all over war-torn Europe and beyond.

"However, only 30 of this type survive today, of which just 13 are this particular model.

"Any snippets of information, documents, anecdotes and photographs of this car would be gratefully received."

Roger would be very interested to hear from anybody who knows anything about this little car, which he thinks has probably been in west Wales for quite a few years.

If you, a relative or friend owned it or if you can tell how it got from Cambridge to Wales contact Roger Bateman on rogerbateman@rocketmail.com or 01258 840285.