Panelbeater Terry Cornelius, of Corowa, and mechanic Greg Snape, of Yass, are racing against time to finish the Kieft sports car for its owner, Englishman Bill Morris.

The car has been entered in the Goodwood Revival race in England in September and Mr Morris' dream is to see the sister cars in the pits at the racetrack.

Mr Morris, a high-profile historic car racer, already has an original 1953 Kieft grand prix car.

Mr Morris bought the incomplete and unique grand prix car in 2000 and shipped it to Australia for Mr Snape to restore and complete.

Mr Morris then met the car’s designer, Cyril Kieft, by then 90 years old, who told him a sister car, a sports car, had been built in 1954.

“We tracked it down to an American race car driver but found out it was stolen and burnt in the 1980s, so Bill decided we should build it from scratch,” Mr Cornelius said.

Mr Cornelius and Mr Snape have been working on the project since June last year.

Unable to find any plans, they’ve had to work off old photographs and similarities they know exist between the grand prix model and the sports car.

They have retrieved the wheels, hub cap and some of the steering components of the original vehicle and the original gearbox was found in a Jaguar car.

The two men have also found a DeSoto 4.5-litre Hemi V8 engine of the same vintage as the one fitted to the original sports car.

Mr Cornelius has almost finished the bodywork and soon the car will be sent to Mr Snape’s workshop for completion.

“It’s electrifying to see it reach this point,” Mr Cornelius said.

“It was all pie-in-the-sky stuff before now,” Mr Snape added.

“It’s been the ultimate project for us to work on, but the best thing is to see it so near completion for Bill because this really is his dream.”

A few weeks ago, Mr Morris visited the mechanics for one last viewing before the car is shipped to Oxfordshire in June.