The popular TV presenter, 59, took to his Instagram account to say his farewell to a “beloved family member”.

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In a video clip, Mike said: “Today is a sad day. It’s one of those days when you have to let go of one of your children.

“This hunk is a Ford Ranger Raptor… and Jason here has come to take it away. I’m gutted. I love this.

“We have done absolutely everything in this. We’ve moved everything, gearboxes, engines… It’s been a big part of what we’ve done on Wheeler Dealers. It’s been a big part of my life.”

Mike added: “It drives like a car. It’s wonderful to be in. I love cruising around in it. It’s a big roughty-toughty. I absolutely love it.”

But the twist in the tale was that he went from one Raptor to another.

Mike said: “I absolutely love the Ranger Raptor. It’s a work horse. It’s a jack of all trades. It’s a Swiss army knife.”

“That’s what we use it for.”

He added: “We love it because it drives like a car. It’s got a lovely engine. It returns really good miles to the gallon.

“Plus, you can turn up in London, because it’s ULEZ, and park it up outside the front because it looks good.”

In The Sun’s review of the pick-up, it was described as being “bad ass”.

We said: “To sum it up in two words: Bloody epic.”

However, our review wasn’t entirely glowing,

It said: “But there are two major flaws.

“First, the engine is a bit of a letdown given the chassis and its looks. It’s a 2-litre diesel or nothing.

“It hasn’t even been uprated by Ford Performance, as you can have the same 213hp lump in a Ranger Wildtrack.

“That’s not to say it won’t get the job done, because it will. It carries good speed and has more muscle than the old 3.2-litre five-pot.

“But I wanted something silly. The F-150 Raptor has a Ford GT engine.

“Wait until your mates find out this is slower than a Nissan Micra.

“Much closer to home, the VW Amarok V6 and Merc X-Class would hose it off the line too. Then there’s the price. It’s near as dammit £50,000.”

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