Car was the star in friends' 4,000-mile road trip (From Watford Observer)

Jowett Jupiter visited 11 capital cities in 21 days

2:30pm Wednesday 26th September 2012 in News By Rebecca Perring, Reporter

A widower from Kings Langley has returned from a trip of a lifetime, driving a classic car around Europe to raise awareness of the charities which supported his wife through her cancer treatment.

Keith Clements , 65, returned from his 4,000-mile journey with co-driver Scott Renner, who flew in from California especially.

The 60-year-old car, which has visited 27 countries in its time, visited 11 capital cities in 21 days on this particular road trip.

The pair have raised £5,385 towards the Mount Vernon Marie Curie Research Wing Trust and the Hospice of St Francis - two organisations which supported Keith’s wife Jenny in the months before her death from throat cancer last December.

The feat was completed in an award-winning Jowett Jupiter lovingly restored by Keith, his daughter Amy and her husband Jack Moon.

Keith said: "The drive went very well and it was a fantastic experience. "A memory was made every day and things seemed to follow on from one another.

"We met many people along the way to raise the awareness of cancer and a Rotary club in Lithuania said they would continue to raise the awareness.

"It wasn’t so much about just raising money. It was about raising awareness of cancer."

After leaving for their trip on August 21, the duo returned 21 days later on Wednesday, September 12, after completing their route taking them from London to Brussels, The Hague, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw, Berlin, Bonn and Luxembourg.

Although this is not the first rally the Jupiter has been a part of, it is the first time it is being used alone, without any support vehicles.

The British-built car is one of only 900 ever manufactured and has been on the road since Keith bought it in 1966.

After a few minor glitches, one where a car reversed into the Jupiter at traffic lights in Lithuania, the car will be fixed and up to scratch in no time now it is back at home.

The 21-day trip saw the pair having to deal with being stopped by Lithuanian police requesting to see a valid driving licence and more impressively they were shown around a personal collection of cars by Stasys Brundza, a famous Lithuanian rally driver.

Keith said: "I was most impressed by his 100-strong collection ranging from Cadillacs, American Aston Martins and British Rolls-Royces.

"Although we didn’t a lot of much time in each country, people were very welcoming and look the time to listen and were very interested in what we were doing."

To make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/Keith-Clements.