Lot 341: 1934 Bentley 3 1/2 Liter Three-Position Drophead Coupé

Launched in 1933, the first of what would become know as the ‘Derby Bentleys’ continued the marque’s sporting associations but in a manner even more refined than before. Even W O Bentley himself acknowledged that the 3.5-Litre model was the finest ever to bear his name. Based on the contemporary Rolls-Royce 20/25hp, the 3.5-Litre Bentley was slightly shorter in the wheelbase and employed a tuned (115bhp) twin-SU-carburettor version of the former’s overhead-valve six. Add to this already remarkable package an all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox and servo-assisted brakes, and the result was a vehicle offering the driver effortless sportscar performance in almost absolute silence. ‘The Silent Sports Car’, as it was swiftly dubbed, had few peers as a tireless long-distance tourer, combining as it did traditional Rolls-Royce refinement with Bentley performance and handling.

The Derby Bentley was, of course, an exclusively coachbuilt automobile. Of the 2,442 manufactured (including the subsequent 4.25-Litre model) almost 50 percent were bodied by Park Ward in a limited number of styles. Most of the other great British coachbuilding firms offered designs, many of them unique, on the Derby Bentley chassis, ‘B120AH’ being despatched on May 9th 1934 to the respected London-based firm of Thrupp & Maberly, a concern noted for a succession of coachbuilding innovations during the 1920s and 1930s. Somewhat unusually, the build sheet does not record the style of coachwork, but 161 out of the 214 cars Derby Bentleys sent to Thrupp & Maberly were bodied as sedans.

Believed re-bodied in the late 1930s or 1940s, ‘B120AH’ was a ‘barn find’ discovery in Minnesota where it had been kept in dry storage for the last 35years. The vendor reports that the car, which has been fitted with new tyres, runs and drives well but is in need of complete cosmetic restoration. The vehicle is offered with (copy) factory build sheet.