Volvo Amazon (Maksim Toome/Bigstock.com)

If you had to guess the brand of the fastest car currently residing on these shores, what might you venture? A Ferrari? A McLaren P1?

Well if you chose anything other than a 1967 Volvo Amazon, you'd be wrong.

The Swedish car maker may be best known for building safe, reliable machines that hardly ever draw the attention of vehicle breakdown cover specialists, but after some specialist engineers (also Swedish) tinkered with one particular Amazon, they boosted its horsepower to a staggering 788bhp, and its acceleration to 0-60mph in just 3.1 secs.

This was achieved by dropping a 2.8 litre turbocharged engine into the rather demure looking Scandinavian runabout.

And the top speed is a whopping 205mph.

The owner of the car, racer Guy Martin, said in his Sunday Times column that "I reckon it is about the fastest car in Britain - quicker than a Ferrari, Porsche or even Bugatti."

However, with a top speed of 268mph, the Bugatti Veyron would be a faster car - but it is unknown if the last example sold in London is still in the UK.

The fastest car in the world at present is the Hennessey Venom GT, which recorded 270mph this year - although it is not believed there are any examples in the UK at present.

So, this amped-up Volvo from 1967 could indeed be the fastest car in Britain, even if looks like the ideal ride for a Sunday afternoon tootle in the country.