AN E-type Jaguar left a lasting impression on Barry Horner.

Now, 17 years after his mum bought him that classic sports car, Astley window cleaner Barry has a house full of hundreds of rally, Formula One and touring cars.

A good job they are all scale models because Barry's wife, Julie, counted over 300 of them the last time she did a stocktake!

"All the family and my mates think I'm cuckoo," laughed Barry, whose prized possession is a Japanese made 1/18th scale AC Cobra.

Individual models in his collection cost from £20 to over £100 but Barry explains: "I'm not a big drinker and I don't smoke. The collection is my pleasure -- you could say it has become something of an obsession.

"A lot of them have come from JPL at Tyldesley where they know the type of vehicles I like to collect."

Barry and Julie's daughters, Chelsea, aged eight, and Lisa, 18, may have been brought up with Ferraris and Porsches but in the real world are happy to travel in dad's Ford Escort or mum's Fiat Punto.