Bentley Drivers Club members pick up their cars at the Port of Baltimore for the club's 'USA East Coast Fall Tour'. Left to right: Doug Salmon of Kent, UK; J.W. 'Pete' Huey of Ellicott City; Tony Lang of Yorkshire pushing a Bentley after it arrived at the port. Richard Freestone of Essex is behind the wheel. Photo by Don Watkins

Thirty vintage Bentleys will start their engines on Main Street.

Do you love a parade? Show up on Main Street, in Ellicott City. Friday, Sept. 4 about 8:30-9 a.m. for one the likes of which it's practically guaranteed you'll not have seen before.

Thirty vintage Bentley automobiles shipped from England, South Africa and Australia by members of the Bentley Drivers Club will gather at the B&O Railroad Station and, after some interview time, will head on up toward Route 70 to begin their month-long "USA East Coast Fall Tour."

The route will take them up to New England and back down to Delmarva before they start heading home, after driving some 3,000 miles.

The parading cars date from 1925 to brand new; Le Mans racing models to long-winged touring cars to "saloons" (sedans); in colors from the popular racing green to "chocolate and cream" to unusual "Wildberry."

There's a rare 1936 model, one of 25 assembled entirely from spare parts, and even a fragile Lagonda Rapide affectionately called "The Batmobile" for the shape of its rear mudguards (fenders to us in the U.S.) and eligible for the group because Walter Owen Bentley designed the engine.

All this classy excitement is thanks to J.W. "Pete" Huey, of Ellicott City, a railroad station volunteer and former Bentley owner who still maintains his interest in the vehicles and his membership in the organization. At a Bentley event in Scotland last year he was asked if he could handle some of the arrangements from this side of the pond, since the group had already decided to ship their cars to the Port of Baltimore.

"The next logical step seemed to be an 'official start' from in front of the B&O Museum," Huey says; especially apt due to the station's own historic past and his position there.

What's more, this will be the only place for such an exclusive parade, since once on the road tour, drivers make no effort to keep together. "It's just too hard, with people trying to pass and so on," says Jack Triplett, of Kensington, another Bentley owner.

Who are these intrepid drivers, and why do they prefer Bentleys to the better known, more pricey and more showy Rolls-Royce, anyway?

"We're the Bentley Drivers Club. They're the Rolls Royce Owners Club. That says it all," quip members Tony Lang, of Yorkshire, Robert Furzeland, of Devon, Doug Salmon, of Kent and Richard Freestone, of Essex, all as English as their vehicles.

Bentleys began as Le Mans-winning racing cars in the Roaring 20s (the color "British racing green" originated with Bentley and is prevalent among the visiting vehicles, too), but the company was acquired by rival Rolls-Royce during the Depression and although a few differences remained, the two became popularly known as indistinguishable except by the front grille and Bentley's lack of hood ornament.

"British peers have Bentleys, rock stars have Rolls-Royces," is the way Huey puts it.

Yes, they're pricey, new or "previously-owned," but weren't when club member "Turkey Dave" Smith — he's an English turkey farmer — bought his oldie-but-goodie at age 19 as cheap transportation. It's the very one he shipped across the pond for the tour.

You've just got to have been at the right place at the right time. But isn't that always the way? True vintage Bentleys — as connoisseurs consider the ones built by the original company from the years 1919 to 1931 — consisted of the chassis and mechanical parts.

Bodies, often fabric-covered to keep the weight down, were added to these by separate companies (think Fisher Body here), Salmon explains. There were no standardized bodies — all were unique, with as few as one produced in a design, and all were made by hand.

Salmon's genuine John Deere-green 1930 Speed-6 is "the best car here," Lang judges.

Most of those original bodies were "saloons" (that's sedans, remember), but as these deteriorated over the years, people have changed them to the racing-style because they want that original "Bulldog Drummond look with goggles and leather flying helmet," says Lang. An original is a real find.

Easy for the proud owner of a black-with-red-interior 4.5-liter 1929 long-wing tourer to say.

Vintage Bentleys are rare birds, all right, yet the club boasts 3,500 members around the globe. Judging from these four friendly Brits they're no snobs, and if you arrive in time tomorrow they should be happy to exchange car talk.

"If people show an interest, we welcome it," says Freestone, owner of the 1928 chocolate-and-cream original. "It keeps the car alive in people's minds."