Washington's axe

Sir,

The subhead to June’s story on the 3-litre team Bentley describes it as “the only intact survivor” of the 1927 Le Mans crash. Then as we read on we discover that firstly, the chassis was replaced in 1928 then the gearbox and front axle in 1932, and finally it seems the engine is from “an earlier 3-litre”.

“Intact survivor” indeed.

I am yours etc,

Mark Keith Benenson, New York USA (It all depends on howyou interpret intact.’ If its meaning is applied literally, then any car which has had so much as a tyre changed in its Iife fails to meet the definition. In this case, I chose to describe it so because almost all of the car that you can see is original and, therefore. I believe its essential identity to be unarguable. AF)