Larry Riches – assisted by wife and navigator Christine – had driven their 1929 Rolls Royce 20 (so named as it had 20 horsepower) more than 2,000 miles, to Gibraltar and back, and arrived after a month on the road,
The pair were welcomed back to The Rose and Crown in the village with a guard of honour of other Rolls Royce and Bentley’s – with the car park gleaming with polished classic cars.
The collection of dream cars included others dating back 100 years – and some more modern vehicles.
Larry said: “We’ve just completed 2029 miles since we left here a month ago.
“The car has been in Downton Abbey, a small part, but it played a much bigger part in the TV series Mr Selfridge.
"They are a wonderful car. They were named the best car in the world in the early 1900s and the quality continues with these models. The pre war cars were probably a little bit better built, but technology moves on and things change.
“Two years ago I went to an auction, and the last words from Christine were ‘do not bring another car home.’
"As I was leaving the auction, this came up, and I thought it was inexpensive, so I threw a bid. The auctioneer said ‘Mr Riches, you are not taking it home for that today.’
"Before I left the car park, it was mine. But I daren’t take it home, so I sent it to a friends.
"It does turn heads, but more so in Europe. In Spain, everybody waves, through the villages. Probably Rolls Royce is less known in there.
"We had one ‘failure to proceed’ – that’s the Rolls Royce technical term for a breakdown, and that was when the handbrake jammed on two miles from Gibraltar. We had to take the wheel off and release the handbrake.”
Christine has now come round to the owning the Rolls, saying: “They are an elegant car aren’t they?”
Julian Foster, chairman of the East Anglian section of the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club.
When asked what made Rolls Royces and Bentleys so special, he said: “It is the attention to detail. That was driven in by Henry (Sir Henry Royce, who was born in Peterborough), who was a genius. He was doing mathematical calculation on stresses in engines, when people hadn’t even thought about it.”
He said the old cars dating back decades still stood the test of time.
He said: “If you are buying an old car from the 1930s, you can certainly keep up with modern traffic. I wouldn’t say you’ll be racing in front of them, but you can keep up. You come along to the newer cars, from the 1950s, it is very advanced engineering for its time. I have a 1962 Continental, and if I compare that to the same era Ford Cortina I had as my first car, no wonder you felt superior in the Continental. It felt like you were in a space rocket.”
Prof Roy Seaman, president of the East Anglia branch, added: “For a number of years RR has been recognised as the most beautiful and reliable car in the world.
“When I’m driving mine, people stop, people wave, and all you can hear is the sound of the clock ticking.”
