Sold for US$ 390,000

Excerpt from article by Peter C. T. Elsworth, Journal Staff Writer for "The Providence Journal" appeared in the Sep. 15, 2007 issue.

Dr. Paul Sydlowski loves to thrash his 1924 3-liter Bentley.

The green convertible tourer is a fine looking car. With its massive hood and headlights, racing seats and exterior gas tank, it looks every bit the kind of racer that dominated race tracks in the late 1920s.

But the semi-retired ophthalmologist is not interested in owning a trailer queen. What he loves about the car is being able to thrash it, to drive it hard and fast on racetracks and at rallies.

"I owned a Bentley for 10 years before I took it out on a track, and then I realized what a hell of a car it was," he said. He has owned a number of vintage Bentleys over the years.

"This car will keep up with modern traffic," he added as he took a reporter and a photographer out for a 60-mile spin on a recent sunny afternoon. "You drive a Model A on the roads and you're a menace to yourself and everyone else."

But Sydlowski was being coy; his modified 3-liter during restoration he had the new block bored out to 5.3 liters can more than keep up. He has raced it at over 100 mph, and the recent ride included pounding down Route 24 in Massachusetts at (slightly) over the speed limit, leaving poor noodles in their modern cars simply in the dust.

"Look at how well it's balanced," he yelled as he lifted both hands from the steering wheel while the car was flying along at over 70 mph. His hat blew off, but the car held its course, smooth as silk.

He said he had the car built up light and fast to imitate the cars that raced. "(The car) is up to factory specs as in 1924; I'm still breaking in the engine," he said.

Not only is Sydlowski's Bentley fast, it's also astonishingly maneuverable, sticking to the road like glue as he steered it with a racer's finesse through tight curves at 60-plus mph.

"The faster you go, the lighter they are to handle," he said. "From 80-to-90 (mph) there's a little bit of a wobble, but after 90 it's like glass. The car is not stressed when driven with verve."

In 2006, following restoration, he shipped his 1924 Bentley to South Africa for a 3,000-plus mile rally of about 28 vintage Bentleys.

"The car was trucked back and we returned to Paris on the Orient Express," he said, smiling. "That set the hook."

Following last year's South African Rally, he sent the 1924 Bentley back to Britain and had some minor repair work done before having it shipped over here. It arrived in May of this year.

 

The car is chassis 712 and is now on a long wheelbase built up as a LeMans rep with the original engine uprated to 5.3 litres and putting out 200+ HP. We took possession of the car in South Africa where it was shipped for the October Tour with John White and did very well until we noted excessive oil leaking from the engine. Inspection revealed two block studs broken and several backing out. Evidently the block studs were not designed for such output and were failing at a rapid rate. So, we puttered on for the next 2000 miles at low rpm and with a large jug of oil in the back. Car went back to England for rectification and is now coming home at long last.