THE world's oldest surviving Aston Martin sports car is to be auctioned by its owner - because he says he is getting too old to drive it.

The 1921 11-horsepower model was the third prototype built by Aston Martin.

It is being auctioned later this month at Bonhams, in London, where it is expected to fetch up to £60,000.

It was used as a test car for two years before being sold to its original owner, Captain John Charles Douglas.

Capt Douglas raced it extensively at the famous Brooklands circuit in Surrey but traded it in after a year and the car had nine owners until it was bought by a Charles Tealey of Norton, near Stockton, Teesside, in 1928.

Mr Tealey kept it until 1965 before selling it on.

It was repainted in its present green livery before being bought by the current owner, from Stockton.

The Aston Martin enthusiast, who wishes to remain anonymous, has had the car for 33 years and said yesterday that he will be sad to see it go.

He said: "I am no longer as young as I used to be and when you are driving these cars you have got to have your legs stretched along the floor. I can barely do that for more than half-an-hour at a time now, so it needs to go.

"It will give somebody else a lot of pleasure, but is more a car to collect than drive. It has great historical significance and is an absolute dream."

Aston Martin has confirmed that the car, which is being sold with a well researched archive of documents covering its ownership from first registration to the present day, is the oldest known surviving Aston Martin.

Stewart Skilbeck, Bonhams vintage car representative in the North-East, said: "Few 1920s racing cars survive with such well documented history, and this one has its own special page in the history books."

The auction will be held on Saturday, May 11, at the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire