A Bentley marathon

Sir,

My brother Ted Dexter’s letter about his continental trip last spring in an R-type Bentley Continental has provoked correspondence in your columns describing similar feats of reliability and economy.

It may be of interest that in May 1972 the 1927 Bentley 3 litre reg. YE 9455 (ex-Leckie, known as BETSY) owned jointly by Norman Nuttall and myself was driven solo by the former from Milan to Dieppe (6o1 miles) in 20 hours ao minutes. Regrettably his attempts to record accurate details of petrol and oil consumption were lost in a haze of instant coffee, barley sugar, minor repairs, incipient starvation, etc., etc.

Incidentally, my brother and his wife Suzan visited us in Italy during their trip and the R-type and the 3 litre met for the first time. They were duly positioned for a ritual photograph when Betsy lost hold of her handbrake and trundled forward trying to bury her angular nose in the ample bosom of her younger half-sister. We all stood aghast at the impending impact. Fortunately the damage was nothing that a few clouts with a soft headed hammer could not remedy.

Como, Italy JOHN DEXTER