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In the mid '70s I lived and worked at a country recording
studio called 'The Manor', owned by Virgin Records, just outside Oxford,
U.K. When I first moved there, I couldn't help but notice the cars
parked in the driveway. There was a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud 1, an
S1 and an S3. I remember thinking that there must be somebody famous
working in the studio.
Not the case (at that moment, anyway).
My friend Phil Newell, who was already working at 'The Manor' and
who helped me get the job, informed me that the SC1 belonged to Tom
Newman, the S1 belonged to Simon Heyworth, both staff engineers at
the studio, and the S3 belonged to Richard Branson, who owned the
place. I was impressed - and I thought they were the most beautiful
cars I had ever seen.
A few months later, Phil acquired the SC1 by swapping some tape recorders
for it. Richard gave his S3 to Mike Oldfield, as a thank you for 'Tubular
Bells'. Mike later gave it to Tom Newman, to thank him for his work
as producer/engineer on 'Tubular Bells'. Tom promptly painted the
Bentley camouflage green/grey - with a paint roller! A few months
later, he crashed it, and Jack Barclay's bought it off him for spares.
One day in '75, I was at Jack Barclay's in Oxford with Phil, collecting
his car after being serviced. The Service Manager was a very distinguished
looking gentleman by the name of Mr. Ashley-Carter. He was always
impeccably dressed in a black suit, and was very friendly, even to
us young, hairy types. He knew the cars inside out, and wouldn't think
twice about rolling up his sleeves and diving under the hood to make
an adjustment.
During this particular visit, he informed us that he had an S2 for
sale. 1500 pounds. The owner had brought it in to have a lot of work
done. When the car was ready, he couldn't pay the bill, so he agreed
to let Jack Barclay's sell the car to recoup the costs. I was tempted,
but I didn't have anywhere near that kind of money. Phil was very
excited and said he'd be able to help me gat a loan. So I agreed.
I became the proud but nervous owner of a 1960 Bentley S2.
I needed a guarantor to co-sign the loan form and Phil had to get
Richard to sign some papers the next day. He managed to slip my loan
form in with the other papers. Richard was a little less careful then
than I'm sure he is now, and unwittingly became the guarantor for
my loan. I paid the loan off without a problem so I don't think he
ever knew.
I enjoyed the S2 for a number of years until I sadly sold it prior
to moving to Vancouver, Canada.
My love of the S type Bentley never went away, and last year, thirty
years after getting the S2, I acquired a 1958 S1 on ebay (eek). It
turned out to need more work than I thought it would - no huge surprise
there, but I'm enjoying tinkering with it in my spare time, and hope
to have it on the road before too long.
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