Bangers and Cash seller cries as she says goodbye to late husband's passion project car

There were emotional scenes on the latest instalment of Bangers and Cash as a woman broke down showcasing her late husband's passion project car. The 1979 Ford Capri Mk 3, 3 litre was Ford motorsport fan Joel Stephenson's dream car and he intended to work on it.

His plan was to make the engine go even faster on the track. However, after driving it into his garage 30 years ago, it has never moved out of the space again. Last year, Joel sadly died and his wife Irene felt that that was time to let someone else have the benefit of it. Needless to say after sitting there for so long it was in far from pristine condition.

The brakes were seized, the tyres were flat, and the engine hadn't been turned over in the three decades that Joel owned it. It was covered in cobwebs and had a huge amount of debris around it, making it difficult to get out of the garage.

As Irene showed the team around the garage, letting go of it proved harder than she thought and she was visibly in tears talking about her late husband's love for the motor. "Joel loved it," she said with her voice cracking.

"It’s been a difficult year losing him but, sorry I’m gonna cry," she admitted, "and I think Joel would be happy [someone else could enjoy it] and that's the main thing.

"Now that he's passed, it's time to pass it on to someone who can do it justice and make sure it lives on with someone else and it can make some great memories," she said.

Admitting that she didn't really get the fuss, she said for her a car was just "to get from A to B" and conceded that the condition of the car meant that it was "a challenge". "It was going to be a retirement project for him, I want somebody to love it as well," she said.

Jack from the Bangers and Cash workshop arrived to take delivery of it and had to pump up the tyres before finally getting it out. After an inspection, he learned that it wasn't as bad as he expected and that with a bit of work, it could be a "lovely-looking car".

Back at the workshop, they said it had an interior to die for. Seemingly three litre Capri's are rare so they expected that it would generate excitement. They predicted that, without being renovated, it could get around £6,000 at auction. In the end, it was bought by a buyer called Mr Cash who paid £7,400.

@ecobrickuk was very moved by the tale and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to comment: "These are the stories which are as important as the cars." @DeborahWorboys1 chimed in: "Fantastic programme, never miss it."

@serverhangup was a bit more cynical writing: "More nightmare than a dream but it’s an old Ford so somebody will buy it #bangersandcash."

Meanwhile, @RobDMartin21 was impressed by how Jack had handled the pick up saying: "'Blimey' Says Jack and picking that Capri up. He was just as good if not better, than Paul or David. His language was in the same vein but had its own Identity. He's proper set for his new role, speaking to the camera on a whole car. Here's Dave on Capri #BangersAndCash."

Bangers and Cash is on Yesterday at 9pm.