Dalek made in Ashford sells for £1,500

Lord Berkeley is selling the Lagonda 2-litre tourer, which cost just £720 new, at a Bonhams auction at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire on September 13.

It was made at the company's factory in the Causeway, Staines, which in the 1930s was the second biggest employer in the town after Staines Linoleum, and shut in 1947 when the company was bought by Aston Martin.

About 1300 2-litre tourers were made in Staines by Lagonda but only around 350 of these have survived and Lord Berkeley spent £97,000 on his car between 2003 and 2006.

The 7 inch bendy dalek, which was bought by a collector on an internet auction site, was was one of a range of rubber toys produced at the Newfeld bendy toys factory on the corner of Ashford Road and Spelthorne Lane.

It was set up by two brothers who had come over from Germany shortly before the Second World War and found a way of making a foam which they initially used to make shoulder pads for jackets but then realised would be suited to toymaking.

The original selling price of the dalek was 10 shillings and sixpence and it was produced in three colours - black, grey and white.

Historian Ralph Parson from Spelthorne Museum said the interest in the two items reflected the area's manufacturing past. He added: "The area has had a lot of big manufacturing companies in the past and most people worked in local manufacturing during the early part of the last century."