Hampton Court Palace Concours, 2014

Bentley 4½ litre 1929 Drophead Coupe with Dickey by Martin Walter Ltd.
Black with black hood and dark red hide upholstery. All original and in excellent condition. Full history. Very attractive coachwork.

£510,000

This car is for sale as of October 17, 2011.

BDC Concours, 2010

 

In USA in 2006 / Owned by a BDC & RROC member

This photograph was taken during the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Aug. 8-17, 2005.

Motoring Classic Departs. (Photo: Bruce Whitaker)

2004 Kirkland, WA Concours. Photo by Dave Quick.

 

Coachwork by Martin Walter License No KP7913 (UK) Chassis No HB3405 Engine No 3394.

To many, the 4 1/2-Liter Bentley is the archetypal vintage car. Launched in 1927 as a logical development of the much-loved 3-Liter model, and powered by a similar 16-valve fixed-head overhead camshaft engine, in 1928 the 4 1/2-Liter brought the marque the third of its five Le Mans victories. However, it was also a very fine fast touring car capable of taking any kind of coachwork. Perhaps the most practical coachwork on the 4 1/2-Liter was the drophead coupe, yet few 4 1/2-Liter Bentleys survive with this type of body.

This most handsome 4 1/2-Liter is rare indeed, for not only is it a "matching number" car with its original engine and chassis but it still carries the elegant drophead body that was fitted to it when it was delivered to its original owner, Dr. P.E.Kendall, in July 1929. Moreover, the distinguished coachbuilding firm of Martin Walter of Folkestone, Kent, is recorded in the painstaking analysis of Bentley Works Service Records by the late Stanley Sedgwick as only having bodied half a dozen 4 1/2-Liter Bentleys out of the total production of 665 chassis - a tourer, three Weymann saloons and two coupes, of which this is one. The English society magazine "Tatler" was greatly impressed by the flexibility of the 4 1/2-Liter Bentley: "What is very much to the point is that this car can be 'punka-te-punkaed' round the West End on top-gear at a veritable crawl. That combination of dash and docility - as unusual as it is desirable — seems always to characterize Bentley design, and it puts the car almost in a class by itself."

Was at Bonhams auction, 2003. (Did not sell)

"1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Drophead Martin Walter body"