Bentley JPG 378 – a One Shot Story.

Of what follows almost nothing could be true, or it all could be. The problem is that it comes mainly from my childhood memories and there is no-one left to corroborate or not.

What I do know is that my grandfather took the photo on a 35mm camera that was not his Leica as that had long gone. The film came from the same box as the other films I have written about, but was the worst preserved, the images almost obscured by scratches and grime. Going by the other photos on the film it was taken in late winter/early spring 1956, not long after my Grandparents, Dad, and Uncle had moved to the dairy farm in Sussex where I was brought up. At this point my parents probably hadn’t even met.

The people shown are left to right; my grandmother sat in the Bentley, Dad, and a man who I am sure is Ted Strick. The Bentley is his, the Ford Consul my grandfather’s. Grandma is no doubt wishing Grandpa would buy one instead of the war-surplus Jeep she had at the time. From the position of the cars it looks as if Grandpa was driving out of the farm as the Bentley drove in. Quite possibly then the first time Ted came to the farm as later they would have known roughly when to expect him. Quite what they made then of a Bentley driving in to the farm on the muddy track is a mystery, it would certainly have been different to what other reps were driving in the 50’s, or at any time. In the 1970’s it certainly stood out from the Ford Cortinas and Austin 1800s.

I don’t know Ted’s official position, but he was sales manager for feed and fertiliser, and corn buyer, later possibly a director at Attlee’s of Dorking (same family as Clement was descended from) a long established corn milling and animal feed company. He always had this Bentley, even into the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I am sure someone told me he bought the car cheaply during or soon after WW2 and never changed it. Seeing it parked by the farm workshop meant Ted was somewhere on the farm chatting, probably about nothing related to cow feed. When this photo was taken he must have been in his mid-50’s. He was still working and doing some of the same rounds into his 80’s. I was told by a reliable source that his wife wouldn’t have him in the house between breakfast and dinner, so he saw no point in retiring as he would have nowhere to go.

The dog by the way is my Dad’s spaniel Lass, you can see where her loyalties lay.

The car according to the DVLA (1) is a green 1939 Bentley Derby. First registered in November 1939 and still existing somewhere as it has a SORN (2) certificate, though the various Bentley owners clubs have no record of who owns it or where it is now. The bodywork looks like that made by Park Ward, who made bodywork for nearly half the Derby built Bentleys.

But do note my memory may be suspect, the man does look like Ted, but I first remember him from 15 or so years later, the car may just be one like the one I think I remember.

Below is some supporting evidence in the form of photos from the same film:

1. DVLA = Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
2. SORN = Statutory Off Road Notification i.e. it is not taxed or insured for the road but is still in the system. It could be in a collection somewhere or being restored.

Share this post: