THERE'S always something a little depressing about an abandoned car. Maybe it's the fact that someone's pride and joy can end its days so unloved that an owner couldn't even be bothered to give it a decent send off.

But this sad-looking example isn't a knackered old Montego or a rusty Micra. It's a Jaguar XJ220, for goodness sake.

Born in the late Eighties, when anything seemed possible, the XJ220 was, for a short time, the fastest, most desirable car in the world. It was also the most expensive.

In the hands of Martin Brundle the first example lapped the Nardo track in Italy at 217mph.

But specification changes (from a V12 motor to a blown V6 and four-wheel drive to rear wheel drive) proved controversial for would-be buyers who had put down a 50 grand deposit.

Some even took Jaguar to court in a bid to get their money back.

As a result, the XJ220 project was cut short and only a few hundred examples were ever built.

And, while the McLaren F1 remains the darling of Nineties supercar collectors, the XJ220 is a very rare sight on our roads.

Which makes the condition of this one, snapped for the crankandpiston.com website in Qatar, all the more shocking.

Sold in Lebanon during the early Nineties, this XJ turned up, apparently abandoned to the mercy of the desert sands, last year.

A poke around Bahrain produced an apparently unwanted Ferrari F40 parked in a backstreet.

It's just amazing what some people leave lying around.