Ben and Ruth Armishaw are convinced their car is haunted.

So if they were shivering yesterday, it was not just because of the unseasonably icy winds which had chilled them to their bones during the Beamish Reliability Rally Run, but also the ghostly spirit of the car's previous owner.

Nursing welcome mugs of hot tea after the event's landmark 30th year, the couple were among many rally motorists with tales about their cars.

But, unlike the course, their tale had an extra twist and turn.

Mr Armishaw, of Consett, County Durham, said: "Strange things have happened. Sometimes a door will open without any explanation. At other times, the horn might mysteriously go off without the ignition being on.

"When that happens we say 'Oh that must be Ronnie again'."

Ronnie, or Ronnie Hardman to be precise, had owned the 1934 Wolsley 9 for about 50 years when he died of a heart attack behind the wheel.

Mr Armishaw said: "The car rolled, and it had to be recovered. When we bought it from the salvage yard, his trilby was still in the back seat.

"We have felt his presence in it ever since."

The car was already familiar to the couple, who were regular visitors to Ulverston, in Cumbria, where Ronnie was known as one of most colourful characters in the community.

A bus driver, who took generations of children to school, his car was part of the street scene when he was off duty.

So, when Mr Armishaw returns to the town occasionally, many residents could be forgiven for thinking Ronnie has returned from the dead.

Mr Armishaw said: "Whenever I go there, people recognise the car straight away."

He has had the rare honour of meeting the car's very first driver.

He said: "We were at rally in Flookborough ten years ago when, in a real-life fluke, a man well into his eighties came up to us and told us he was the first person to drive the car.

"His father, who owned the Co-op in Barrow-in-Furness, bought the car in 1934, but did not know how to drive. So his son, who was then 17, had to chauffeur him around. He was amazed to see the car was still going."

The Wolsley was sold to a doctor in 1936 and then to Ronnie Hardman in 1938.

Others, too, had their tales. There was George Dalgarno, whose 1948 Riley Roadster was, valued for £20 in scrap 22 years ago. It is now worth about £20,000.

Dave Bond, of Spennymoor, County Durham, was on his 20th Beamish Reliability Run, in his 1936 Morris 8 Tourer.

He said: "It has been a shortened version this year because of foot-and-mouth disease - and the weather has been cold. But at least it has not been cancelled, as many other rallies have had to be."

Rally organiser George Jolley, of the North-East Club for Pre-War Austins, praised Durham Police for their helping ensure the smooth passage of 93 vehicles, all dating from pre-1950.

The event, sponsored by The Northern Echo and Land Rover dealer Dutton Forshaw, followed a 91-mile course from Beamish Open Air Museum, near Stanley, and back.

And there was one last turn to the tale of Mr Armishaw's car.

Mr Jolley said: "On one rally, Ben left a pint of milk on the back of his open boot lid. He travelled from Bollihope to Beamish without realising he had left it there - and not a drop was spilled."

Surely, the helping hand of Ronnie.