"A foible of the Vintage owner is the claim that you cannot really drive a Cricklewood Bentley until you have mastered the crash gearbox. By this they mean changing through all gears WITHOUT using the clutch.

Don't try it — unless you like your gear oil liberally laced with iron filings. It can also make a noice like an angle grinder making love to a circular saw. If the great WO, in his wisdom, felt it necessary to provide a clutch, it seems churlish not to use it.

In most cases, WO also provided his Bentleys with a gadget called a clutch-stop. (Don't ask what it is — but it is meant to make for easier gearchanging.)

Clutch-stops are never correctly adjusted — so you might as well try clutchless gearchanges after all."