Classic cars destroyed as Victorian rail tunnel collapses on rare vehicle collection

There's light at the end of the tunnel but sadly not for these once gleaming classic cars.

Our exclusive photos show at least ten are rusting away in the dark of this graveyard for motors.

Their fate was sealed in 2012 when a disused Victorian rail tunnel, which housed a garage for rare cars, collapsed. Owner Nigel Wills-Browne was at the other end of the half-mile tunnel when disaster struck.

The Dingle tunnel, built in 1896, had a station on the Liverpool Overhead Railway which took dockers to and from the city’s port. The railway closed in the 50s.

Nigel, 74, from nearby Birkenhead, said: “I was sitting having a digestive biscuit with a cup of tea when the roof at the other end of the tunnel came down and flattened a Ford Transit.

Humber was owned by Rootes, who were famous for their WW2 'shadow factories' (Kyle May)

The Liverpool Overhead Railway was the first elevated electric railway in the world (Getty)

"That was the end of the garage, but I’ve never done anything with the cars still down there.”

Amazingly, none of them have been claimed and a bemused Nigel believes their owners must have given them up for lost.

He said: “I suppose I should sell them ­really, I just haven’t ­gotten around to it.”

The dinky Morris Minor is a quintessentially British post-war car (Kyle May)

The mighty Rover P5B from 1968 is a genuine British classic - even the Queen owned one (Kyle May)

Among the cars in the tunnel is a clapped-out 70s Fiat 130 Coupe, once a fancy executive car which, in good condition, could sell for £42,000.

There is a Mk 1 VW Golf, off the road since 1998, a 1979 yellow Lotus Elite last driven in 1997, and a 1987 Ford Capri 1.6 Laser.

Like the Golf, the Capri in good nick can sell for up to £40,000.

One of the motors first visible at the tunnel is an old trailer painted racing green (Kyle May)

In the gloom, photographer Kyle May also snapped a Humber, a Morris Minor, a 1968 Rover P5B and an old trailer in British racing green, probably used for bicycles.

The Rover is similar to one owned by The Queen.

Kyle, given permission by Nigel to access the tunnel, said: “I’ve always had an interest in the history that’s underneath our feet, which we walk over every day without even realising.

The 1979 Lotus Elite has been off the road since 1997 and has been in the dark tunnel for around 23 years (Kyle May)

The American AMC Pacer was a radical motor for its time (Kyle May)

The Dingle tunnel is quite well known about in Liverpool, but since its collapse eight years ago, it’s not been ­accessible to the public.

“It’s lots of fun, rooting around in the dark until you come to the next car and trying to work out what it is, or was.

“Sadly the cars have all rusted up – but they definitely add another little bit of history to this old place.”