"In 1988 or 1989, I (Matt Sysak) started investigating the possibility of purchasing a vintage Bentley... The second car I looked at was a standard 3 liter chassis no. 424, engine no. 432. This 1923 was a December delivery and was one of the earliest cars equipped with 4-wheel brakes which Bentley Motors commenced installing on their new production cars in September 1923. It was owned by Connie Lampert at the time and when my wife Carol and I visited with them to inspect the car, I took a series of photos during the inspection."

"424 was in very good condition as the photos show and ran well to boot. It still has its original Boon and Porter body. Boon and Porter were known to be builders of bodies for the French-built Amilicar which were small mostly open cars of the twenties at least. I know nothing of them so my comments are surmise on my part at best. Below is a much earlier photo from Johnnie Green's book - "50 Years of the Marque" showing the front helmet-type wings which may also be cycle-types that turn with the front wheels."

Click on thumbnail for larger view

"In any event the front wings have been changed to the full length tourer wings more typical of the period bodies made by Harrison and Vanden Plas. I think the appearance is greatly improved."

"The car has a dickey seat (rumble seat) and is quite roomy. All of the trim was in pretty good serviceable condition when I inspected the car."

"The car, in all likelihood, originally came with a Bentley-Draper carburetor. It has been replaced with vertical SU dual carbs as the photos show, which was the only mechanical departure from its original specification."

"It was amazingly original and is a delightful car as one can see. Unfortunately, the current condition is that the body and wings have been removed and disassembled, the paint striped and primered some years ago. The engine is out and is also disassembled. All of this was done in anticipation of restoring the car which never happened. It remains, as of this date, in that state and condition."

"I bought the car in 1961 from a Col. in the US Army who had bought the car in London, had the engine overhauled and shipped it to Washington DC. I repaired the cracked flange on the differential by having a new flange made and welded on to the diff casting. I then shipped the car to Los Angeles Calif. I became friends with Amhurst Villiers and he gave me some parts, such as the engine valves which we used in rebuilding the engine.

I replaced the cracked and badly repaired engine cover with a good one from England. I also had new steel fenders made and new running boards. In 1968, I shipped the car to Montreal Canada, had a new dashboard made. I shipped the car back to London in 1971 and sold the car to Coys of Kensington in 1979 and bought a Porsche which I drove for the next 19 years."