(Fox News) – A World War II veteran’s musty old Bentley that was left sitting
in a garage for three decades sold for $600,000 this week, much more than
was expected. But the amount paid may have been more of a tribute to the
owner than the car.

To be sure, the 1936 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Vanden Plas Tourer is rare. It’s just
1 of 6 like it made, and the only one left with its original body. No one really
cared much about that when retired Royal Air Force navigator and pilot
Charles Blackham purchased it from its original owner in 1952, fixed it up
and turned it into his daily driver.

Blackham had been a member of the squadron that bombed Hitler’s “Eagles
Nest” retreat in April 1945, and he later made food drops in Europe after the
fall of the Nazi regime.

He used the Bentley until 1988 when it became too much trouble to keep it
running, and parked it in the garage at his home near Manchester, where
it sat rotting away until his death in January at age 96.

Blackham, center, and members of his squadron in WWII.
(H&H Classics)