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22 June 2012
Vintage to the fore! - Report: BDC Britain by Bentley Tour 2011
Celebrating the Bentley Drivers' Club's 75th birthday: The tour got underway with a gala dinner at London’s Savoy Hotel on 4th June, followed by another dinner at the RAC Club in Pall Mall the next day, before the driving part started in earnest on Tuesday 7th June 2011, departing from north Essex. The month long tour which consists of four different sections, finishes at Leeds Castle, Kent, on 4 July 2011.
Celebrating the Bentley Drivers' Club's
75th birthday in suitable style.
This event mustered the finest collection of vintage
Bentley’s seen outside the club’s annual rally
and concours. Enthusiasts and their cars arrived from
all over the world to celebrate the BDC 75th Anniversary
and entered the 'Britain by Bentley Tour 2011', which
encompasses the best historic sights that the country
has to offer, and seen from mostly single carriage roads,
with motorway driving kept to an absolute minimum.
The tour got underway with a gala dinner at London’s
Savoy Hotel on 4th June, followed by another dinner
at the RAC Club in Pall Mall the next day, before the
driving part started in earnest on Tuesday 7th June
2011, departing from north Essex. The month long tour
which consists of four different sections, finishes
at Leeds Castle, Kent, on 4 July 2011.
Swiss entrant Kurt Furger who nowadays
resides in the USA, keeps his 1928 6½ litre (Chassis
No. LM1345),
converted to a Speed Six by R.C. Moss in 1960, in the
UK. His Bentley started life as a four-seater tourer,
but was converted to a hearse and used by an undertaker
in Shepherd’s Bush during WW2. Kurt purchased the
car about five years ago, drove it to Switzerland and
completed four mountain passes in one day! 'The car’s
been everywhere from South Africa to Le Mans and Silverstone,'
enthused Kurt. 'It’s a great car to drive, and
very quick too.'
One of the earliest cars taking part was Tom Griffin’s
1923 3.0 litre which he purchased 10 years ago in very
much ‘barn find’ condition. 'It had last changed
hands in 1939 when purchased by a friend,' says Tom.
'When we got the car home it required much work to make
good again, though we’ve left the bodywork in its
original highly patinated finish.'
One of the event’s star turns was Syd and Nicki
Reinhardt’s 1929 Sedanca De Ville (Chassis No.
KR2687).
This was the 1929 London Motor Show car as displayed
by W.O. Bentley and H.J. Mulliner, that has survived
intact with its original body, and is nowadays well
maintained at the Bentley Museum at Crewe. To complete
the whole Bentley theme, there was a flypast by Andrew
Wood of P&A Wood in a 1930 De Havilland DH60G Gipsy
Moth that was operated by Bentley Motors in the 1930s.











