James May is selling the classic Rolls-Royce he was always itching to buy - because he's allergic to the leather seats.

The Grand Tour star regards the Corniche coupe as "quiet, supremely comfortable and quintessentially British" and wanted one as far back as 1988.

But it wasn't until 2007 that he finally got round to owning the Roller when he purchased this 1972 red model.

However, after ten years of ownership - and fewer than 10,000 miles - he has decided to sell up because of the reaction he gets from the leather seats.

He said: "I've decided that my 1972 Rolls-Royce Corniche has to go, because I've become allergic to it.

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(Image: Bonhams/SWNS) (Image: Bonhams/SWNS) (Image: Bonhams/SWNS)

"And I mean this. If I drive it for more than half an hour I start itching, and then have to boil all my clothes.

"So it's going into an auction next month and it's expected to fetch one-and-a-half times what I paid for it. Maybe twice."

May revealed he was getting rid of the Rolls-Royce on his Drive Tribe page.

(Image: Bonhams/SWNS) (Image: Bonhams/SWNS) (Image: Bonhams/SWNS)

The car will be auctioned off by Bonhams at its Goodwood Members' Meeting sale in West Sussex on March 19.

It has an estimate of £25,000 - £30,000 but a number of Corniches in good condition have been advertised for more than £40,000 and not many of them have appeared in the world's best-known car show.

He used the Roller for a Top Gear film in 2008 to show how you could successfully buy and own a secondhand car from a high-end manufacturer for the price of a new Ford Mondeo.

(Image: Bonhams/SWNS)

(Image: Bonhams/SWNS)

May drove his Rolls-Royce while Jeremy Clarkson used his Mercedes 600 as the two carried out numerous performance tests before causing chaos by driving the vast vehicles through central London.

For the episode of Top Gear, May took it to 97mph on a runway. He later told the Financial Times the Rolls-Royce is "perfect" at around 65-70mph.

Under the bonnet is a 6.75-litre V8 engine which develops around 235bhp to give it an original top speed of 120mph.

Records show May's Rolls-Royce Corniche has sailed through every one of its last ten MOTs without even picking up an advisory.