Classic & Sports Car - December 2015 UK

of judgingon Thursday, which
allowedus timeto wanderaround
the ornategardensand parklandsof
Blenheim.Then,in an unforgetta-
ble part of the SalonPrivépackage,
all concoursentrantswereinvited
to a formaldinnerin one of the
stateroomsof the palace.First,to
get in the mood,we tookcham-
pagnein the LongLibrary. Almost
200 feet in lengthand 32 feet high,
this immenseroomcontainssome
20,000books,witha galleryto
allowaccessto the highershelves.
At one end thereis a four-manual
church organ, at which a steal thy
figureprovidedthe fittingaural

accompanimentof Bach’sTo ccata&

Fuguein D minor.

Havingsat unprotectedon the

concoursfield all night,the Bentley

was verywet fromovernightrain

on judgingday,but 10 minuteswith

a chamoisdealtwiththat,whilethe

meticulousminionsgot on with

attendingto the others.In due

coursethe judgesfor our class

appeared:Frenchconnoisseurand

consultantChristianPhilippsen

and FIVA presidentPatrickRollet.

Theywentcarefullyfromcar to car,

spendinga longtimeon boththe

Delahayeand the Voisin, and then

they poredoverthe Lagonda.

Whentheygot to me theywere

courteousbut serious,with probing

and verywell-informedquestions.

M. Philippsenseemedto appreci-

ate someof my car’ s details: the

completetoolkitandthe fitted

luggage,and the correctperiod

licencedisc thatI like to display

nowthatwe no longerneedto

showa currentone.But soonthey

had movedon, and I was sure that

the top threein the class weregoing

to be, in no particularorder, the

Lagonda,the Voisin and the Dela-

haye– and richlydeserved,too.

ThenI closedup the Bentley’s

roofbecauseI felt a few spotsof

rain,and spentthe next threehours

enjoyablywanderingaroundthe

rest of the concourscars.Special

favouriteswerePaulKnapfield’s

Saoutchik Ta lbotLagoT26and

DavidBeck’s delectable(andclass-

winning)FerrariLusso.I stood

mesmerised for longminutesin

frontof the surrealFerrariDaytona

shootingbrake,awonderfullydotty

car that I had seenin picturesback

in the day, but neverin the metal.

You can see moreof it on page132.

Backat my car mid-afternoon,

I was astonishedto see a rosettehad

beenput on the Bentley’s wind-

screen,whichmeantthatI had

beenplacedin the class.Rosettes

werealso on the Delahayeand the

Lagonda. So it seemed that I must

havebeenawardedthirdplace!

Thenthe rosette-wearingcars

werecalledforward,andI was

directedintothe slowlymoving

queuebehindthe Lagondaand the

Delahaye.As we nearedthe frontof

the line I heardover the loudspeak-

ers the headof the judgingpanel,

DerekBell,announcingthatthe

Lagondawas third...the Delahaye

was second...andthen,dumb-

founded,I was rollingforwardto

the judges’ table, Andrew Bagley

was presentingme witha trophy,

Derekwas handingover a magnum

of Pommery, a posseof photog-

raphersweresnappingand flashing

away, and Lord Bamford and Rich-

ard Adatto,whowas representing

PeterMullin,werecongratulating

me. It was heart-warmingto realise

that someotherpeople,and inter-

nationalexpertsat that,seemto

agreewithme thatmy Sedanca

actuallyis quitespecial.

I wenthometo Londonin the

familyQashqai,leavingthe Bentley

sittingon the (security-patrolled)

concoursfield,becausethe next day

I was busydownat Beaulieu,chair-

ing the forumon classiccar values

that HagertyInsuranceorganises

eachyearoverthe Autojumble

weekend.Backat Blenheimon

Saturdaywe all got the chanceto

join in a massiveparade,including

the best of the modernsupercars,

wendingits slowway aroundthe

groundsandpastthe immense

façadeof the Palace.The McLaren

P1 in frontof me neededto do

three-pointturnsroundsomeof

the tighterpathwaysof the park.

Thensuddenlyit was all over,

and the Bentleyand I wereon the

M40andtrundlinghome.As I

cruisedalongin the middlelane at a

restful70mph– thanksto our over-

drive,that’s only2700rpm– I

moutheda heartfeltthankyou to

the specialistswhoworkedtheir

patient magic duringthose long

monthsand yearsof the rebuild,

muchof whichis now 10 yearsold:

MilesRenton-Skinnerfor the body

and ash frame, Sean Watson for the

perfectpaint,MikeThomasfor the

flawlessinteriorand thatlovely

fittedluggage,and PaulBrownfor

the engineand runninggear. I still

couldn’t believethat my babyhad

beenvotedbonnierthanthe other

babiesat the babyshow.

A coupleof weekslaterthe Bent-

ley was on the roadagain,this time

biddento acountryvillagewedding

in Gloucestershire.Pearland I

drovedownin our gladrags,we

strungwhiteribbonfromradiator

mascotto windscreen,and I took

brideand fatherto the churchand

thenbrideand groomto the recep-

tion at Thornbury Castle – so that’s

twostatelyhomesin the same

month.It was a lovelyoccasion,but

it’ll takeme a whileto cleanthe

confettiout of the nooksand cran-

nies.I bet that’s not a problemthat

bothers the meticulous minions.

December 2015 Classic&SportsCar 171

Fromtop: beauteousBeck

250 Lusso;Bentley’s tax

disc and boot;Sedanca’s

rivals,FigoniDelahaye

andV12 LagondaRapide

‘Whenthejudgesgottome,

theywerecourteousbut

serious,with probing,

well-informedquestions’