Rescue of 3 Litre Bentley MD 9756, May 1958
Contributed by Colin Scrivener
There was quite a motoring interest at the Manor House besides Mr. Peregrine and his Bentleys. Tony Hartridge, an architect who had one of the offices, ran a smart Lancia Aprillia and had a number of friends in the V.S.C.C. During May 1958 he asked me if I would use PN 148 to help with a project. A friend of his, Gerry Crozier, had heard that one of the oldest Bentley cars, chassis No. 5 and engine No.1, was lying abandoned in a ramshackle lock up garage in Kent that was about to be demolished by some developers. He had located the owner and was told if we wanted to save the car we could take it.
On a fine Sunday morning my workmate Tony Bullock and I met Tony Hartridge and his wife, who had prepared a large picnic hamper, at the Manor House. We drove down to Chiselhurst where we met Gerry who was waiting in his bubble car and he led us to the site. At the end of a track we found a group of ramshackle garages. The old Bentley looked in a very sorry state when we dragged it from the tumbledown asbestos shed. Fortunately after inflation the tyres held air and after checking the brake and steering system and greasing all the moving parts we thought it was safe to try towing. Very carefully we pushed it down the track and onto the road and fortunately all seemed well. We connected up the tow and drove onto the Chiselhurst common and after re-checking the car opened up the hamper and had a celebratory picnic.
When we left our procession of two Bentleys piloted by a bright blue bubble car created quite some interest from the public. Gerry led us to London Bridge and the start of the A10 before leaving. On arriving back in Royston No.5 was settled into a garage that Tony had organised. During the next few weeks we cleaned the car up and managed to start it but this proved to be only a holding operation. During the 1960s the car was acquired by a man who lived at Atherstone and he did a complete restoration. I sent him copies of the pictures of the rescue and he sent back the picture of the restored car.
PN 148 helping in the rescue operation
