Sold | 1938 Bentley 4¼-Litre Drophead Coupé

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£74,750 (Est: £70,000 - £90,000)

1938 Bentley 4¼-Litre Drophead Coupé

United Kingdom • 13 Sept 2025

Vehicle Details

AI Listing Summary

This 1938 Bentley 4¼-Litre Drophead Coupé was originally exported to Czechoslovakia and rebodied in VDP style in the early 1990s. It has a known ownership history with documented restoration work and maintenance.

Condition

6

The car has been restored and re-bodied, indicating it required significant work. The listing mentions that in 1981 the 'Utility' (shooting brake) body was cut down to pickup style and there are photographs of the car from this period, before being restored to its original VDP design.

/ 10

Transmission:

[Transmission]

Chassis No:

B 53 LE

Odometer:

63,700 miles

Reg Number:

FUW 415

RHD/LHD:

[RHD/LHD]

• Exported new to Czechoslovakia • Originally a drophead coupé by Vanden Plas • Known ownership history • Restored and re-bodied in VDP style the early 1990s This beautiful Derby Bentley was delivered in August 1938 to Ernst Leow Beer in Czechoslovakia having been bodied as a drophead coupé by Vanden Plas.

On 4th November 1938, 'B 53 LE' was reimported into the UK and registered as 'FUW 415', though the first logbook is dated 1st February 1939.

The logbook described the car's colour as 'Beige', while the registered keeper was recorded as Ernest Leow-Beer of London W2, whose family, like many Jewish Czechs, had fled that country following Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland.

Previous owner Malcolm Hobbs purchased 'FUW 415' in 2010, and the following description is a shortened version of his thoroughly researched history (on file).

The second owner from 31st May 1939 was Charles John Clarke, proprietor of E Clarke & Company of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

A continuation logbo...