AT £1,400, it was what can only be described by today's prices as a bargain.

The year was 1911 and Henry Guest, son of Viscount Wimborne, had just splashed out the money on a claret-coloured Rolls Royce to drive from his estate near Beaulieu.

Now, nearly 100 years on, the rare classic is set to become one of the most expensive second hand cars in the country - when it goes on auction today with a price tag the best part of £1 million.

The car is now forest green and black in colour, and since being sold by Guest, has had five other owners.

Valuable Auctioneers at Bonhams, London, say it is likely to fetch between £650,000 and £850,000 - making it one of the most valuable second-hand vehicles in the world.

The car - an open-drive Silver Ghost Landaulette - was fitted with many of the luxury trimmings available at the time including luggage racks and other expensive fittings and fixtures.

Auctioneers in charge of selling the vehicle say its high specifications suggest Guest, who was then the Liberal MP for Pembroke and Haverfordwest in Wales, may have been a "demanding" client.

Bonhams expert Stewart Skilbeck said: "Henry Guest was a demanding client requiring an exacting specification for his new car.

"The fittings to include a luggage rack to the roof, side doors to the front, foot scrapers and cocoa mats for the running boards and a long tool box fitted snugly beneath the nearside running board.

"Vinet detachable rims and spare wheel were specified and in addition to the standard tool kit, a tyre inflator, jack and repair outfit were ordered.

"Brightwork was to be nickel throughout and Lucas lighting was specified with paraffin side lamps, acetylene, self contained headlamps and an electric rear lamp.

"The car is widely acknowledged as being one of the finest and most original formal-bodied Silver Ghosts and it is certainly the most handsome."

The car will come complete with its original R1097 numberplate and is in full working order.

Sellers are expecting a high number of bids for the vehicle when its lot opens at 3pm.

It is thought 37-year-old Guest, who lived at St Leonard's Grange in Bucklers Hard, bought the vehicle new on August 16, 1911, as a present for himself following his marriage.

He eventually took delivery of the vehicle on March 11 the following year.

Guest became the Liberal MP for Pembroke and Haverfordwest in December 1910, and in 1918 stood as a Coalition Liberal candidate for Wandsworth Central in south-west London. He later served as MP for constituencies in Plymouth and Bristol before suffering defeat in the 1945 General Election. He was the son of Merthyr Tydfil-born Ivor Guest - the 1st Baron Wimborne - and Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill, who was an aunt of Winston Churchill.

He died in 1957.