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Sep 12, 2016: Sold for £406,940
Found on Bonhams website on September 3, 2016
Lot 147
Goodwood Revival
10 Sep 2016
Chichester, Goodwood
Property of a deceased's estate
1928 Bentley 6½/8-Litre Sports
Registration no. YW 3277 ~
Chassis no. MD 2461
£320,000 - 380,000
- Originally a Hooper-bodied sports saloon
- Matching chassis and engine numbers
- 8-Litre cylinder block
- Hydraulic brakes
- FIA and FIVA papers
Footnotes
'It is extraordinarily difficult to explain in words or writing the exact fascination of a big, fast car of the type so ably represented by the big Bentley speed model.' The Autocar on the Bentley Speed Six, September 5th, 1930.
With characteristic humility 'W O' was constantly amazed by the enthusiasm of later generations for the products of Bentley Motors Limited, and it is testimony to the soundness of his engineering design skills that so many of his products have survived. From the humblest of beginnings in a mews garage off Baker Street, London in 1919 the Bentley rapidly achieved fame as an exciting fast touring car, well able to compete with the best of European and American sports cars in the tough world of motor sport in the 1920s. Bentley's domination at Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930 is legendary, and one can only admire the Herculean efforts of such giants as Woolf Barnato, Jack Dunfee, Tim Birkin and Sammy Davis, consistently wrestling the British Racing Green sports cars to victory.
W O Bentley proudly unveiled the new 3-litre car bearing his name on Stand 126 at the 1919 Olympia Motor Exhibition, the prototype engine having fired up for the first time just a few weeks earlier. Bentley's four-cylinder 'fixed head' engine incorporated a single overhead camshaft, four-valves per cylinder and a bore/stroke of 80x149mm. Twin ML magnetos provided the ignition and power was transmitted via a four-speed gearbox with right-hand change. The pressed-steel chassis started off with a wheelbase of 9' 9½", then adopted dimensions of 10' 10" ('Standard Long') in 1923, the shorter frame being reserved for the TT Replica and subsequent Speed Model. Rear wheel brakes only were employed up to 1924 when four-wheel Perrot-type brakes were introduced.
In only mildly developed form, this was the model that was to become a legend in motor racing history and which, with its leather-strapped bonnet, classical radiator design and British Racing Green livery, has become the archetypal Vintage sports car.
Early success in the 1922 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, when Bentleys finished second, fourth, and fifth to take the Team Prize, led to the introduction of the TT Replica (later known as the Speed Model) on the existing 9' 9½" wheelbase, short standard chassis.
However, by the middle of the decade the 3-Litre's competitiveness was on the wane and this, together with the fact that too many customers had been tempted to fit unsuitably heavy coachwork to the excellent 3-Litre chassis, led to the introduction in 1926 of a larger car: the 6½-Litre. Known as the 'Silent Six', the latter perpetuated the 3-Litre's mechanical theme but with greatly increased refinement.
Although the 6½-Litre had been conceived as a touring car to compete with Rolls-Royce's New Phantom, in Speed Six form it proved admirably suited to competition: in 1929 Barnato/Birkin's Speed Six won the Le Mans 24 Hour Race ahead of a trio of 4½-Litre Bentleys, and Barnato/Kidston repeated the feat in the following year's Grand Prix d'Endurance at the Sarthe circuit ahead of similarly-mounted Clement/Watney. Small wonder then, that the fast yet refined 6½-Litre Speed Six was W O Bentley's favourite car. The 6½-Litre was produced for four years, during which time 544 chassis were completed, 182 of these to Speed Six specification.
According to Michael Hay's authoritative work, Bentley The Vintage Years, this 6½-Litre car was originally fitted with four-seat sports saloon coachwork by Hooper & Co. Its first owner is recorded as Captain G R C Wyndham, otherwise known as 'Dick' Wyndham, father of celebrated writer Joan Wyndham. Hay records that 'MD2461' was rebuilt in 1992 as a two-seater sports with an 8-Litre cylinder block, hydraulic brakes, and body by Stanley Mann. The Bentley's accompanying FIA Historic Vehicle Identity Form lists the following owners: Wyndham (1928-1933); W B Thompson (1933-1947); F J Cobb (1947-1990); S I Mann (1990-1998); and P Godehardt (26th December 1998 onwards). A copy of an old V5 on file shows that there have been two additional owners, both in the 1990s: George Minden (former co-owner of Aston Martin) and Dr Michael Rudhig, from whom the car was purchased by Peter Godehardt. A FIVA Identity Card (on file) was issued to Peter Godehardt in 2000, and he competed with the Bentley at Montlhéry in 2001.
The current owner (now deceased) purchased 'YW 3277' in 2004 and used the Bentley as his daily driver around Monaco(!) where it was registered until recently. It now has a current UK V5C Registration Certificate and is MoT'd. Benefiting from a recent service by marque specialists Clark & Carter, this magnificent Vintage-era supercar also comes with an album of photographs recording events attended and works carried out. |
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