www.VintageBentleys.org N E W S L E T T E R September 2016
 
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First International Bentley 8 Litre Rally: 18-25 June, 2016
 

All are big beasts but each one is different with its own special history.

John Whitaker from Skipton, UK, who has had a passion for Bentleys since 1958 when he was 22 years old tells me that the first owner of his Open Sports Tourer was the Duke of Leinster. Whitaker bought it 30 years ago. "It seemed like a good idea at the time" he says "and it still is!"
 

Freestone & Webb Saloon s/n YR5089
 

Alongside the W.O. car there are three other original Mulliner bodied cars all owned by Brits, an Open Sports Tourer with a Corsica body (formerly the Stanley Sedgwick car) shipped over from the US by Steve and Camilla Brauer and a very special Freestone and Webb Saloon owned by Vaughan Gaskell from Cheshire. The car has classically beautiful Art Deco bodywork and is known as “The Beaverbrook Car” – it was given to Lord Beaverbrook to use during the War. Totally original, it has not been run for 40 years (the tax disc shows August 1978). It has taken George Klepp, the driver, all year to get ready for this event.

A significant number of the participants have driven their 8 Litres across Europe from England, Jersey and northern Germany in the pouring rain to attend. Trevor and Judy Eastwood shipped their car from Australia to London and then joined the pilgrimage to the Black Forest.

H.J.Mulliner Saloon s/n YF5002
 

Gurney Nutting DHC s/n YF5024, now Tourer
 
“Cars are like children” he tells another driver “when people ask me which one I love the most, I say they are all different and I love them all equally… well that was before I got an 8 Litre Bentley…”
I am always impressed with couples who drive to rallies – particularly in this case as the week is going to be a work-out for car and driver. We are starting in the Black Forest for a few days and then following the border to spend a few days in the Jura Mountains. All those hairpin bends in these cars is going to be fun.
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