Sold | 1929 Bentley 4.5 litre Open Tourer by Vanden Plas

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£510,000

1929 Bentley 4.5 litre Open Tourer by Vanden Plas

United Kingdom • 6 Jun 2015 • Lot 170

Vehicle Details

AI Listing Summary

This 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre was originally bodied by Maythorne and Sons, but re-bodied by Vanden Plas circa 1965. It has a substantial history file dating back to 1964, a matching numbers example and is fitted with a Le Mans fuel tank and radiator cap, electric fuel pumps, double Hartford shock absorbers, and correct P100 headlamps.

Condition

8

The car is described as being in splendid order with significant sums spent on it over a long period. Aesthetically, everything is right, and mechanically it appears to be in very good order. The condition throughout is excellent.

/ 10

Transmission:

[Transmission]

Chassis No:

FB3322

Odometer:

30,808 miles

Reg Number:

UU6 794

RHD/LHD:

RHD

W.

O.

Bentley proudly debuted the new 3-litre car bearing his name at the 1919 Olympia Motor Exhibition, the prototype engine having fired up for the first time just a few weeks earlier.

In only mildly developed form, this was the model which 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 sportscar.

The new 4½ litre model effectively employed the chassis, transmission and brakes of the 3 litre, combined with an engine that was in essence two-thirds of the six-cylinder 6½ litre unit.

Thus the new four-cylinder motor retained the six's 100x140mm bore/stroke and Bentley's familiar four-valves-per-cylinder fixedhead architecture but reverted to the front-end vertical camshaft drive of the 3 litre.

Bentley Motors lost no time in race-proving its new car.

It is believed that the first prototype engine went into the 3 litre chassis of the 1927 Le Mans...