A selection of Bentleys is heading to RM Sotheby’s auction at Woodcote Park on Wednesday 8 July in partnership with the Royal Automobile Club Concours.
Seven Bentley are entered for the Epsom sale, with a 1932 4/8-Litre Supercharged Two-Seater Sports heading the bill with an estimate of £450,000-£650,000.
Restored in the 1990s in the style of Old No.1, this car has a 4-Litre chassis with supercharged 8-Litre engine to make a very fast vintage machine.
The car was originally fitted with a Vanden Plas Drophead Coupé body and has invoices for £270,000 for work in recent years.
The oldest Bentley listed for sale is a 1924 3-Litre Speed Model Tourist Trophy Two-Seater with a body in the style of Jarvis.
Estimated at a modest £90,000-£110,000, this 3-Litre has been built to look like Woold Barnato’s Jarvis-bodied 3-Litre and it has been used extensively for European tours and rallies.
The other vintage Bentley in RM Sotheby’s auction is a 1931 4-Litre Sports Tourer by Vanden Plas estimated at £330,000-£370,000.
This handsome blue tourer is believed to be the only one left of its kind in original configuration and retains many period features, such as an altimeter from a Hawker Fury fighter plane.
Similar in style but built in 1950 is a 3-4½-Litre ‘Special’ Tourer with Vanden Plas-style bodywork, which has an estimate of £180,000-£220,000.
Built by Syd Lawrence in 1950 using a 1924 3-Litre chassis and fitted with a 4.5-litre engine, this car competed at Goodwood, Silverstone and other period race circuits.
A very different take on post-war Bentley motoring comes for the 1948 Mark VI Sedanca Coupé by Gurney Nutting that’s estimated at £40,000-£60,000.
The unusual bodywork of this two-door car stands out, which explains why it was shown on the Bentley stand at the 1948 Earls Court Motor Show before it was delivered to its first owner in Egypt where it remained until the early 2000s.
Another Bentley coupé sure to generate plenty of interest is the 1955 R-Type Continental with bodywork by HJ Mulliner and estimated at £420,000-£460,000.
This well-known car was fitted with the factory ‘OPWAS’ modification in period, which added larger valves and improved porting for increased performance.
Rounding out this bevy of Bentleys is a 1952 R-Type saloon with period Rallye Monte Carlo history.
Prepared by the factory for Mike Couper to tackle the 1953 event, it won the Concours de Comfort and the Coupe d’Or that year.
Finished in the correct Moss Green with beige leather, this car also has a factory-fitted performance cylinder engine and is estimated at a surprisingly modest £15,000-£30,000.
Images courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
