From the Classifieds: 2007 Ford NASCAR

The carsales classies are home to all manner of weird, wonderful and rare machines, as evidenced by this newly-listed 2007 Ford NASCAR with a cool Australian connection.

Naturally, the fact this all-American stock car resides Down Under makes it fairly unique, but this is no ordinary NASCAR.

Marcos Ambrose drove the #59 STP Ford to victory in a Nationwide race at Watkins Glen International Raceway in 2008, before it sat in storage in an old workshop in Charlotte, North Carolina for more than a decade.

It was mechanically rebuilt last year and then shipped to Australia, before being relocated to Queensland where it has been in storage, serviced and now put on the market for the first time.

The STP Ford NASCAR has not been touched cosmetically since appearing in victory lane at the Zippo 200 and still has all the major bumps and bruises as well as the remaining windscreen tear-off strips that were unused during the race.

“It has been fun to have this car in the collection, but it is time for it to move on to its next owner,” said its owner in a recent interview. “We had it rebuilt thanks to some NASCAR guys I had met and become friends with through Dale Earnhardt Jr in North Carolina.

“Mechanically we had to do some things to bring it up to scratch, but cosmetically it has not been touched. There are even some Gatorade splash marks still on the roof and windscreen.

“Owen Kelly, who enjoyed his own NASCAR career, helped me with the logistics to get it back here. The Charlotte-based guys sourced all the original 2008-spec parts, including the Roush Yates engine bits, and it is now almost identical to the car that rolled into victory lane at Watkins Glen in August 2008.

“I am just glad we have the car in absolute original condition and that we managed to get it back to Australia where hopefully it will eventually be enjoyed by local fans either on track, in a collection or both.”

Ambrose said he was pleased to see the car back in Australia and hoped it sold to a locally-based fan.

“It is great that the owner has held on to the car for all this time and that it has made its way back to Australia,” he said.

“I don’t get too emotional about this type of stuff, but it would be cool to have it remain in Australia because of its significance. “It is quite amazing that the car looks as it did when we rolled it into victory lane.”

The car was recently serviced for a shakedown at Queensland Raceway, where it was driven by Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki under the watchful eye of Bathurst 1000 winner Paul Morris.

Powered by a 358 cubic-inch (5.9-litre) V8 matched to a four-speed manual gearbox, the #59 STP NASCAR comes with a new set of mounted road-course racing slicks. Its owner is asking $365,000.

More about the 2007 Custom Ford NASCAR on carsales