THIS man’s prized classic car has been given the Queen’s stamp of approval.

Abingdon resident John Watson’s 1964 MGB, which was made in the town, is one of 10 classic cars featured in a new Royal Mail stamp collection which went on sale yesterday.

The Queen herself approves all UK stamp designs before they are printed.

But Mr Watson’s MGB, now in a “good-as-new” condition and insured for £30,000, was in a very different state when he bought it in 1989 for £3,000.

The 68-year-old said: “It was a bit of a disaster area. It had been used daily but had been broken into a few days before.

“There were holes in the floor and it had a patchwork of blue paint because that exact shade is hard to find.”

Mr Watson took the car to Abingdon Car Restorations in Steventon, and spent so much money that “if I told you how much my wife would kill me”.

MGs were produced at the Kimber House factory in Abingdon from 1930 to 1980.

Although Mr Watson’s MGB is a 1964 version, the new stamp carries the year 1962 because that was twhen the model was first produced.

An MG Car Club member since 1982, he was at the Abingdon headquarters in Kimber House last year when a call came from an agency called Eulogy looking for a good-as-new 1960s MGB to star on the stamp.

Mr Watson sent photos of his car and they said yes.

The retired sales director said: “I’m over the moon. It is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but I am just the caretaker of the car. I will pass it on to the next owner.”

Last August he took his prized possession to London where specialist car photographer James Mann captured its classic lines.

Royal Mail director of stamps and collectibles Andrew Hammond said: “Of all the illustrious British marques, few have come to combine their niche so completely as MG, nor enjoyed such enduring popularity.”

Mr Watson is one of 50,000 members of the MG Car Club around the world.

Last September about 3,000 of them gathered at Blenheim Palace to celebrate the 50th anniversary of MGB production.

He said: “The MG has got a great sense of camaraderie.

“Whenever you see an MG on the road you flash your lights at them. It’s a great club and people come from all over the world to Abingdon to see where their car was produced.”

In the new stamp collection, Mr Watson’s MG features alongside the likes of a 1961 Jaguar E-type and a 1963 Aston Martin DB5.

He added: “There are racing MGs worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, yet you can still buy one for a couple of thousand.”