Tales of the Mongrel
An Email from Mark Davenport

Please check this email out that I recently received from an English friend Mark Davenport. A very interesting find of a car with a history!! Sarah is my wife's younger sister!

Ralph

I hope this email finds its way to you, and you and Sue are well? Sarah’s recent retirement means she is now free to do as she wants all day so hopefully we will all see more of her and Ted in the future, my reason for contacting you is purely to “show off” as I have been out “hunting and gathering” again..

A few months back a guy working on one of my cars mentioned he knew where there was an old car like my car that was for sale, and that it had not been used for 10 years plus since the cars owner had passed away, and his widow wanted to sell the car, my ears picked and after more investigation I managed to get an email address, despite trying for a week or two I didn’t get an answer from the email.
One Sunday I decided to try and find a telephone number and eventually managed to speak to the lady, who told me she had moved the car from her garage a few years ago into a shipping container located in the back of a local farmers barn, she did want to sell the car as the family had no use for it anymore, I arranged to go and see the car the following weekend.

I arrived in a yard and met the lady, after a lot of digging and moving of kit and rubbish we found the shipping container doors, luckily the barn and container were dry and no water had got in......when we prized the container doors open the light revealed a 1924 Bentley 3 litre red label sports car .... just one of those moments we all dream of, the car was in good condition, although the engine was seized through standing, after a lot of negotiation and discussion I made an offer and she went away to think about it, the next few days were a little nerve wracking as I awaited the call, eventually she contacted me and accepted my offer.

I researched the history of the car and the amazing history file that came with the car and found that the car really had a life, very few owners, one in particular who had been a WW2 naval hero, and he had used the Bentley to help with the war effort – way too long to explain but really interesting, anyway as I said I’m showing off so here are some pictures of the car on my trailer, as I said the engine is seized and the mice have held a party in the hood so its not very weather proof anymore but its a hansom old gent that has been well loved just needs some TLC, come and play next time you are over in the UK, I hope you like my story.


Best wishes
Mark

Mark Davenport

~~ Ralph Arata