A VINTAGE car which was two weeks away from being finished has been destroyed in a blaze.

Phillip Smith, aged 66, spent three years restoring a Wolseley Six Eighty to its former glory at his home in Chorley Road, Brinsop.

He had only the seats, carpets and bonnet left to complete the restoration of the 1952 plate car, Mr Smith was expecting to welcome his family on Christmas Day for the big reveal.

But fire crews were called to the property at 10pm on Wednesday after Mr Smith heard explosions from the garage.

Mr Smith, who has been collecting newspaper articles about the classic cars since 1951, said: “I’m absolutely heartbroken. I’m devastated. That car was my obsession, I lived for it.

“I went up to bed and could hear these bangs like fireworks and I thought someone was setting fire crackers off.

“I checked out the window and could see smoke coming from the roof. I just thought ‘oh no’ and started to panic.

“I ran outside and my neighbour came round and said there was a fire but I had already seen and just called the fire brigade.

“That time waiting for them seemed like forever, I just kept thinking about the car and I couldn’t find my keys to open the garage.

“It was locked in there and the flames started coming through the roof. You just can’t describe the devastation a fire can cause.”

His partner, Jackie Ashcroft, aged 52, said: “Flames were ripping through the roof, it was shocking.

“He put all his time into that car, night and day he would work on it to make sure it was perfect.

“You just feel absolutely awful when there’s nothing you can do to help. It can’t be replaced, it’s completely gone and I’m heartbroken for him.”

Mr Smith bought an original stereo on Wednesday and had planned trips to Scotland and Ireland once the car was complete.

He said: “I ordered so many parts for that car and spent hours fiddling to make things work just right.

“I ordered three steering wheels and sent each one back if it didn’t work perfectly.

"I must have spent thousands on it and now it’s completely gone. I don’t even want to look at pictures of it, it was so close to being finished.”

The retired window fitter bought the car in 1983 from Belmont Bleach Works and started doing it up the following year.

He added: “Once I bought this place it got put on the back burner, I put it in the garage and it’s been in there since 1990.

“I kept telling myself I have to do it, I have to complete it. Then I started properly in January, 2014.

"I slaved away to make sure it was perfect and everything I bought had to be good quality because I’m a perfectionist.

"I have no clue how the fire started and the firemen say they don’t know either because the whole garage is destroyed.

"It could have been anything but I was always so careful to even connect the car’s battery and turn everything off.”

Ian Read, watch manager at Bolton Fire Station said: “We used two engines to put out the fire. It was huge and destroyed the whole garage. The owner was heartbroken, that car was his pride and joy.”