A RARE high-class car that was donated to a college has been sold at auction for £17,500.

The BMW 850csi was donated to East Durham College Technical Academy’s motor vehicle department last summer by Diane Borsberry, of Trimdon Grange, County Durham.

Students and teachers worked on the car and it was expected to sell for £8,000 to £12,000.

However, it went under the hammer at Tennants of Yorkshire for £17,500.

The buyer was Panos Roulias, a sales manager at a specialist car company in Luton, who plans to carry out further restoration.

The money will go back into the college department.

Rob Hutchinson, the Technical Academy centre manager, said he was shocked to see the car sell for such a high price but delighted it was going to a BMW enthusiast.

“We had a fantastic day at Tennants. The motor vehicle department had done a great job to make sure the car is back to its original standard, making sure it was in a great condition.

“We were hoping to get a decent value back from the car as we knew it was an extremely rare vehicle, but none of us were expecting the final total we received.”