A MAN made a more than 300-mile round-trip to Coventry to have a ‘lost’ Thrust 2 painting was re-signed by Richard Noble- four decades after he broke the Land Speed Record in it.
The artwork, by Dutch-born Arthur Benjamins, was located forty years after it was purchased by a private buyer, and Richard was reunited with the painting he signed shortly after breaking the land speed record back in 1983.
Dave Rathbone from Essex was attending an event shortly after celebrating the incredible feat when he saw and bought Arthur Benjamins’ image of Thrust 2 for £300.
Benjamins signed the painting, and they managed to get Thrust pilot Richard Noble to sign it too.
The Rathbone family have been the owners of the painting ever since, and as Benjamins’ fame and renown grew over time, his original works started selling for tens of thousands of pounds.
Dave’s Thrust 2 became something of a lost work, as he kept it as a private piece, its existence largely fell out of general knowledge and through the years both the signatures began to fade.
But when Dave spotted the announcement online that Richard Noble would be reunited with the Thrust 2 at Coventry Transport Museum for the land-speed records 40th anniversary, he and his wife wrapped the painting up and made the trip.
Once there, he presented the painting to Richard, who once again added his signature to the piece.
Dave said: “As we’ve been approaching forty years the painting has been on my mind quite a lot.
“It’s been a tough few months personally for our family and we were supposed to be on holiday when the event at the Transport Museum was on.
“But due to various reasons, we were unable to go, meaning we were free to make the trip to Coventry and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to meet Richard again after all these years and ask him to re-sign it, which he was only too happy to do.”
“But it’s got such a strong place in my heart I’m not sure if I can bring myself to sell it just yet. I’d be happy to lend it to a museum or an art gallery – somewhere it would be safe and looked after where the public could see it.
“I’ve loved attending the anniversary event and seeing Richard. Having him sign the painting again has been brilliant and I’m incredibly grateful and a bit relieved I managed to get it here.”
