Unique Bentleys going under the hammer

By Lizzie Pope

| 13 Aug 2018

Classic & Sports Car – Unique Bentleys going under the hammer

If you’ve always felt that a one-of-a-kind Bentley is what’s missing from your classic car life, then H&H Classics might be able to help.

These two notable Bentleys feature in H&H’s sale at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, on 17 October and each has a rather special tale to tell.

You’re looking at a 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre ‘Le Mans’-style Tourer and a 1937 Bentley 3½ Litre Vanden Plas Drophead Coupé – but what makes them so special?

This 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre has enjoyed recent mechanical attention

With its first owner being no other than arguably the greatest 'Bentley boy' of them all, this 1929 ‘Le Mans’-style Tourer, ‘GU 1927’, is sure to attract attention.

Woolf ‘Babe’ Barnato was the man who funded four of Bentley’s five Le Mans 24 Hours wins in the vintage era, in 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930, and he was behind the wheel for the latter three.

‘GU 1927’ is one of two naturally aspirated 4½ Litre Bentleys Barnato took delivery of and as the other, ‘YH 3196’, isn’t in its original form any more, this is a unique survivor in the marque’s history.

Left: Barnato (right) with Clement and Birkin. Right: Barnato in the white overalls having just won the 1928 Le Mans

Barnato’s unblemished starts-to-wins ratio at La Sarthe meant he was christened ‘Mr 100%’ by the event’s organisers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

In the left-hand image, he’s on the right, pictured with fellow ‘Bentley boys’ Frank Clement and Tim Birkin – Clement and Birkin claimed one Le Mans win each for Bentley.

The other image shows Barnato wearing white overalls, sat on his other normally aspirated 4½ Litre in which he’d just been victorious at the 1928 Le Mans 24 Hours.

History refresher over, let’s return to the car in question…

It is estimated that it will sell for £750,000-850,000

The car crossing the block at H&H’s October sale is chassis number NX3457, the first of the NX-series cars to be delivered in March 1929, and is being sold with a copy of the factory’s maintenance record and details of the many people who’ve owned it in the last 89 years.

And it’s great to see it still wears its original registration number, ‘GU 1927’.

It’s been the subject of two comprehensive restorations, the first in the 1960s by John James Pennington, the latter a few decades later, commissioned and overseen by Reg Parker.

This 1929 Bentley still wears its original registration number

During the latter, Bentley specialist Tony Townsend refreshed the mechanicals and the car was fitted with a new Vanden Plas-style 'Le Mans’ body by H&H Coachworks of Henley, Oxfordshire.

It has also benefited from attention by its latest owner, including an engine overhaul and work to the suspension, brakes and steering.

It's estimated that this 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre ‘Le Mans’-style Tourer will sell for £750,000-850,000 at the autumn auction.

This Bentley has covered just 15,500 miles in 81 years

This 1937 3½ Litre Vanden Plas Drophead Coupé is the second really-rather-special Bentley in October’s H&H Classics sale.

In fact, and this is quite some claim, the auction house describes it as, “the most original and best-preserved Derby Bentley in the world”.

This is backed up by the fact that it’s done only 15,500 miles and it has had just three owners in over eight decades.

It is also the last of only four 3½ Litre cars to wear Vanden Plas Drophead Coupé coachwork.

Not only is the car a low-mile example, it has been extensively recommissioned

Chassis number B135FC also has its original two-tone red paintwork, red leather upholstery, engine, gearbox, front axle, rear axle, steering, suspension, brakes, brightwork, wood veneers, instrumentation, tools, glass, pedal rubbers and even chassis paint.

This car was first registered as ‘DLO 936’ on 1 March 1937 and its first owner was Robert S Hayward of The Hawthorns, Galashiels, a director of the nearby R&A Sanderson Woollen Mill – and it was during his ownership that the Bentley covered most of its miles, 11,000 to be precise.

Its next owner was W Randolph Angell, who took ownership in May 1954, used it sparingly and kept it in a professional storage facility. It was sold to its current owner in October 2013, following Angell’s passing.

Four of these were built – and this is the last remaining example

As well as getting this fabulous car, the winner bidder will also take home is the car’s original Bentley Motors Guarantee complete with covering letter and cardboard tube (dated 11 March 1937), a continuation buff logbook, old MOTs, assorted storage bills, two Bentley 3½ Litre Instruction Books (both with B135FC on the inside front cover), copies of RREC chassis cards, false starts to Mr Angell’s handwritten memoirs (as they relate to the Bentley), sundry Bentley Drivers Club correspondence and other paperwork.

This matching numbers Bentley has a pre-sale estimate of £450,000-550,000.

For more details on the H&H Classics sale at Duxford on 17 October, please click here.

Can't wait until October? Check out the other Bentleys on our classic cars for sale pages