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1927 BENTLEY 6½ LITRE 'BOB-TAIL'
Bonhams | 26-Sep-2015 | The Frederiksen Auction
Category : Classic Cars
Lot No. : 8
Year : 1927
Engine Size : -
Chassis No. : # WK2658
Engine No. : # WK2653
DKK 4,600,000 - 6,000,000 Estimate
6,597 cc OHV Inline 6-Cylinder Engine
Twin SU Carburetors, Four Valves Per Cylinder
160 bhp at 3,500rpm
4-Speed Manual Transmission
Front and Rear Leaf Spring Suspension
4-Wheel Drum Brakes
*One of 20 11 foot short wheelbase Chassis completed
*Wonderful W.O. Bentley for Tours and Rallies
*Matching numbers Chassis and Engine and other components
*Researched by W.O. Bentley expert Clare Hay
*Powerful and light car with an exciting look
Chassis WK2658 is an exciting sporting Bentley that has been thoroughly enjoyed as its list of dedicated owners will testify. The car spent many years of its life in Australia, where its first registered owner was a Mr. David MacKay in 1927, followed by a certain Mr. McGill of Molong, New South Wales. According to Clare Hay, a world leading W.O. Bentley authority and historian, WK2658 was re-bodied for Mr. McGill in the early 1930s. The original taper-tail 2-seater body, finished in mottled aluminium, which McGill's wife found too draughty, was mounted on a 3 Litre chassis which has since been re-bodied yet again. As a result, little trace remains of the first body on WK2658, although it may exist fitted to a 1924 Sunbeam 20/60. To please his wife, McGill had a close-coupled four-seater Coupe constructed by a coachbuilder in Sydney.
In 1940, he sold WK2658 to Jack Jeffery with little more than 19,000 miles on the odometer. Jeffery went to Mr. McGill's property and was entertained for a day, during which he was surreptitiously scrutinised so that the owner could be sure that he was the right type to own the Bentley. After Jeffery's acquisition, WK2658 lay idle for some time while he mulled over what he wanted to do with the car. At some point, Jeffery then removed the body and dismantled the chassis. The engine was completely refurbished, while the chassis was stripped and repainted, and the drivetrain overhauled, including a new prop-shaft, as well as a special outside exhaust system.
Jeffery then wrote to the Bentley Drivers' Club... for a set of photographs from different angles of the famous Forrest Lycett 8 Litre record breaker (chassis YX5121 bodied by Corsica), on which he intended to pattern the new body for his car. These duly arrived, but the general shortage of materials and workmen caused by the war caused a further cessation of work until, a couple of years later, Jack...made a clean swap of the Bentley with George Pearse for a speedboat... Pearse commissioned new coachwork, but sold WK 2658 back to Jack Jeffrey after the car was dubbed Pearse's Folly by local wits in the chosen bodyshop due to its size when compared to the Midget racers they normally built. Jack finally completed this enticing Bentley, and the result is the very handsome sporting car that is on offer today.
The earliest known photograph of WK2658 shows the car in its current configuration and was taken in connection with an article on the car printed in the September 1950 issue of the Australian magazine Australian Motor Sports. In spite of the efforts Jack Jeffrey put into WK2658, he used the car only little in the ensuing ten years. In 1950, he sold the car to John Barraclough, who re-sold it to a D.M. Pittendrigh in 1951. In 1955, WK2658 was acquired by A.R Turner, followed by D.C. Mann in 1958. In 1971, the car was in the USA with new owner B. Moser, who sold it to W.E. Blackaby in 1975. From 1982 to 1984, it was in the hands of Barry D. Cooney. That year Jack Goffette became the new owner. The car was later part of the Seattle-based Vintage Racing Motors Collection, before being acquired by Henrik Frederiksen.
According to Clare Hay, the 1927 specification has the dynamo under the scuttle driven off the back of camshaft, plain bonnet sides with two opening panels on each side, a light pattern front axle beam and rod-operated brakes. Bentley Motors converted 1927 models to 1928 specification at the company's expense, and sent out a 1928 pattern radiator and dynamo, but these were never fitted. Hence, WK2658 is possibly the only remaining unconverted car. It has its original plain bonnet (with the two opening panels to the offside missing due to the temporary outside exhaust fitted by Jeffrey) and its original dynamo driven off the camshaft. The front axle beam is a light pattern, the front brakes are assumed to be the early rod pattern with no brake servo. The car retains its original crankcase, steering box and other major parts.
WK 2658 is a powerful and exciting car that looks just right, irrespective of the angle from which it is contemplated. This is a rare opportunity to acquire a scarce short-chassis Bentley that will provide exhilarating wind-in-the-hair motoring accompanied by the distinctive throaty exhaust note from its big-six engine.
This car
is for sale as of September 24, 2015. |
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