A few months ago, we headed to an old barn to recover a very special car.

With an estimated two-hundred in existence (originally priced at at £25,950 each), the Renault Spyder is a rare little beauty, but the one we were asked to recover and transport back to better health really had seen better days. Lying dormant in said barn for several years, it needed some serious love and attention if it was to return to its glory days.

The car was mainly sold on the continent, but was also belatedly launched in the UK when the importers decided they needed an image-maker. Over in the UK, the Spyder was rather more costly than in Europe, but UK buyers at least received a standard, full-sized windscreen (Renault UK insisted this be created for the more 'conservative' British market - no, really!). As you'd guess, that meant French-spec Spyders never had a windscreen, forcing the use of a helmet!

The car we recovered is now finally finished and ready to go, and the owner is currently considering selling it.

There were a number of issues with this Spyder, due to it being stored in a damp barn. This included seized brakes (three of the four callipers), and we had to refurbish all four callipers, because you can no longer buy them new due to the car being so rare.

To add to this little car's woes, the gear and handbrake linkages were all seized, the cam belt had not been changed for years and it desperately needed new oils and brake fluids across the board. We finished it off with a full 12 months' MOT.

Lastly, the Spyder was treated to a full detailing which really has made it look like it's just rolled off the production line, as you can see in the following photos: