Sunday 16th December 2018

Bentley 4 1/2 across America: Pic of the Week

5,000 miles, 22 days, two coasts, and one incredible 90 year-old Bentley...

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We all enjoy an epic roadtrip adventure, right? Bring together a great car, a huge journey and the company of your choosing and there's certainly going to be one or two stories to tell...

Some trips are always going to be more extraordinary than others though, as is the case with this Pic of the Week. Over the summer Bill and Julie Holroyd took their incredible 1927 Bentley 4 ½ - prepared by William Medcalf - to the Trans America Challenge, run by The Endurance Rally Association. Taking in 5,000 miles across the United States over three weeks, it's a journey of attrition for any car involved - let alone one now in its tenth decade.

The Challenge took in everything the US could throw at a car, including 40-degree heat, tropical storms, Pikes Peak, drag races and more. Bill described the driving as feeling "like I had undergone a full-body workout each day." That sounds easier than we'd have expected!

Anyway, driving such an amazing old car across the entire United States was guaranteed to create some fantastic images, as seen here. It comes from day 20 of the tour, and the drive from Boise in Idaho to Bend in Oregon. In the middle of a forest on a gravel path the vintage Bentley looks right at home, like it's part of some grand race of the Bentley Boys. After a feast of modern metal in this slot, it seemed high time something more historic took pride of place - enjoy!

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Image: Gerard Brown for William Medcalf Bentley

[BBL-Sean]

Wacky!

[0a]

Wow. What an adventure, and fantastic to see an old vehicle being used like this! Hopefully there’s some good YouTube content coming out on this.

[Kawasicki]

Great to see a Bentley doing it’s thing.

[AlexiusG55]

My uncle took his over to Normandy to take his D-day veteran father-in-law to the 65th anniversary commemoration. I thought that was impressive enough.

[irocfan]

Fantastic

[ntiz]

I love these cars. Something about these trips always seems so epic.

[XJSJohn]

Saw one of these back in 2000 in the rush hour traffic on teh Autobahn south of Frankfurt. Pissing rain, miserable and grey, there was this massive Bentley, complete with shiny GB plate, luggage on rack at back, old boy complete in tweeds, flat cap and pipe behind the wheel (hood down), the good lady wife next to him under an umbrella ducked up behind the windscreen, and he was still bashing along at about 80 KPH with the traffic!

made my trip and a very lasting memory whoever you were, i tip my hat to you!

[RSTurboPaul]

If you're interested in this sort of thing, check out the Flying Scotsman in the UK - from England to somewhere north of Edinburgh over 3-4 days or so, avoiding as many main roads as possible, on the basis they wouldn't have existed when the cars were built:

https://www.endurorally.com/events/the-10th-flying...

They are always looking for marshalls, I believe, and it's good fun to see some lovely old cars being driven as they should be


The 2019 event looks to be shorter in south-to-north terms but still should be excellent:
https://www.endurorally.com/events/the-11th-flying...

Edited by RSTurboPaul on Sunday 23 December 14:29