Sold | 1935 Bentley 3½ litre Close Coupled Sports Saloon by Thrupp & Maberly

Page Contents

Track live values and receive listing alerts

Enquire Now

View All Images

£33,525

1935 Bentley 3½ litre Close Coupled Sports Saloon by Thrupp & Maberly

United Kingdom • 25 Sept 2010 • Lot 58

Vehicle Details

AI Listing Summary

This Derby Bentley, a product of Rolls-Royce's acquisition of Bentley, presents an elegant design with a Thrupp & Maberly-inspired 'Airflow Saloon' body. Mechanically sound, it benefits from a rebuilt engine and numerous replaced components, with extensive documentation available. Cosmetically, the body requires attention, balancing its mechanical strengths with some needed refurbishment.

Condition

6

The car is mechanically sound with considerable work done, including engine rebuild and replacements of various parts. However, the body requires some attention, indicating cosmetic issues. The car comes with extensive documentation and original parts, but the need for bodywork suggests it's not in pristine condition.

/ 10

Transmission:

[Transmission]

Chassis No:

B172CR

Odometer:

5,505 miles

Reg Number:

BLX 996

RHD/LHD:

RHD

The 3½ litre and later 4¼ litre) was presented to the public in September 1933, shortly after the death of Henry Royce, and was the first new Bentley model following Rolls-Royce's acquisition of the Bentley brand in 1931 and were known as ""Derby Bentleys"" due to the location of the factory.

From the outset, the car was intended to compete on quality and grace rather than sporting reputation which had been the cornerstone of the pre-1931 Bentley company.

The cars retained the famous curved radiator shape based on earlier Bentley models, and were well received by the wider Bentley customer base.

Even W.O.

Bentley himself was reported as saying that he would ""rather own this Bentley than any other car produced under that name."" The Rolls-Royce Engineer in charge of the development project, Ernest Hives (later Lord Hives), underlined the Rolls-Royce modus operandus in a memo addressed to company staff ""our recommendation is that we should make the car as good as we know how and th...