Geoffrey Herdman with his 1956 Bristol 405 Drophead Coupe

Geoffrey Herdman with his 1956 Bristol 405 Drophead Coupe (Pic: PA)

A RETIRED couple who drove their classic car on the toughest roads on Earth during a 33,000 mile trip round the world without so much as a scrape, got home and suffered a dent at their local supermarket.

Geoffrey Herdman, 68, and wife Hilary, 70, spent 16 months on a "wrinkly gap year" in the 1956 Bristol 405 Drophead Coupe, worth £90,000 and only had two punctures and a few repairs. Then they went to Sainsbury's.

Ex-chartered accountant Geoffrey, of Sussex, said: "I was walking to the car and I thought, 'gosh, that doesn't look right' and there was a large dent in the near-side front wing, someone had obviously overly crocked it parking next to me. I couldn't believe it."

Mr Herdman, a retired chartered accountant, said while they were travelling they were constantly warned about the dangers - from theft of the vehicle to kidnap and worse - but other than a few minor repairs, including a couple of punctures, they did not have any problems.

"It was very nice reflection on human nature. The bad thing is when we got back I leave the car in Sainsbury's car park and find there is a large dent in the front wing," he said.

"A car is for using, it's not a work of art ... well, it is a work of art, but it is to be used rather than put in a glass cage and admire. And so these are things you have to face up to."

During the couple's first 24,000 miles they only had to spend 125 US dollars (£79.50) on repairs. But the dent in the car could cost them around £300.

"I was just walking back towards the car and I thought 'gosh, that doesn't look right' and there was a large dent in the near-side front wing, someone had obviously overly crocked it parking next to me and put a dent in," Mr Herdman, 68, said.

He lovingly finished off the restoration of the car - started by its previous owner - after buying it in 1999.

In April 2001 Mr Herdman, a member of the Royal Automobile Club and president of the Bristol Owners Club, finally got the classic car back on the road.

The car - registration 10 DPG and the 29th to roll off the production line - is now believed to be worth around £90,000.

Mr Herdman has travelled 135,000 miles in the car since 2001 and believes it would have completed around 500,000 miles in total.

"We love driving it to bits, it's a very, very comfortable car, both of us can fall asleep when the other one is driving," he said. "It's just a lovely car to drive."

Mr Herdman and his wife, a retired lawyer, started the incredible journey in July 2010 from Miami, driving up the east coast of North America to Halifax before crossing Canada and then heading south down the west coast.

After a couple of months in South America, they headed across to Australia before the car was shipped back via Turkey for the drive home through Europe.

The couple, who are from London, and currently living in Sussex, eventually returned to the UK in November.

Mr Herdman said: "We never had a gap year when we were kids - people didn't in our days - so we decided having retired we had the opportunity and so we'd go off and have a wrinkly gap year.

"My daughter thought that we'd kill each other within three months, but we're still talking and thinking about what we are going to do for the next one now.

"Probably the most exciting time was going through Guatemala. We had to climb in first gear for about an hour going up the side of a volcano on precipitous narrow roads and there were no sign posts anywhere in central America.

"GPS doesn't work in central America and we were supposed to be going to Lake Atitlan, which is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, but it was 8pm at night, it was dark and we suddenly saw a sign post saying the road was closed ahead.

"We rang the hotel and it meant a huge deviation without any signs so we stayed at a hotel at about 8,500 feet and we were the first people that stayed in that hotel in 20 years I should think.

"There was no central heating, it was bitterly cold, the bed was damp and we said: 'Where can we have some food?'

"They said: 'The restaurant is closed but we have some eggs and we can do you a boiled egg.' My wife said: 'Right, come into the kitchen and I'll show you how to make an omelette.'

"So she went into the kitchen and made them an omelette and the one saving grace was that they had a lot of wine."

The father-of-one continued: "We lost count of how many times we were stopped by the police in Spanish America, but the record was five times in three hours driving through Honduras.

"We enjoyed it, I have to say, we had a wonderful time."

As they toured the world, Mr Herdman and his wife shared the driving of the convertible car. "If we had a dollar for every photograph taken of that car we'd be very rich," Mr Herdman said.

"In Nicaragua, in a particularly narrow street, the car in front just stopped so we couldn't pass it. A father and son jumped out and without saying anything, the son stood by the car, the father took five photographs of him, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap and they both went into their car and drove off.

"Whenever we left the car to go sightseeing, anywhere in Latin America, we would always find a crowd of people around the car. Other would also pull alongside you on the road and with people taking photographs."

Mr Herdman said that as they approached home his wife had wanted to keep going. "But it had done so well, we just didn't want to push our luck with it," he joked.

To celebrate the achievement, the Royal Automobile Club is to put the Bristol 405, registration 10 DPG, on display in the rotunda of its Pall Mall clubhouse from January 3.

Ben Cussons, chairman of the Royal Automobile Club motoring committee, said: "We are always pleased to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our club members and Geoffrey Herdman's is clearly one of the most remarkable."