Lot 217: 1956 Bentley S1 Sports Saloon
Coachwork by Hooper & Co

Although the popularity of Rolls-Royce and Bentley’s ‘standard steel’ bodies meant that demand for coachbuilt alternatives continued to decline, the fact that the new Silver Cloud and S-Series cars retained a separate chassis kept the bespoke market afloat for a few more years. Among the few practitioners surviving in the mid-1950s was Hooper & Co. London-based carriage makers to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII and arguably the finest of all British coachbuilders, Hooper was never far from the motoring headlines in the post-war years thanks to a succession of often outrageous ‘Docker Specials’ featuring bodies on Daimler chassis.
Typical of Hooper’s style of this period, the Bentley S1 offered here was one of the sensations of the 1956 Earls Court Motor Show. Chassis number ‘B460AN’ carries body number ‘10218’, a dramatically flowing creation in aluminium weighing some 80lbs less than the ‘standard steel’ version. Autocar magazine’s report described the car as ‘attractive’ with a ‘superlative finish’, finding the cross-banded eucalyptus wood interior embellishment particularly impressive. Indeed, Motor went so far as to compare the quality of the work to that of legendary furniture maker Thomas Sheraton. Needless to say, such exacting attention to detail did not come cheap; Hooper’s saloon on the ‘S’ chassis cost £7,074, making it a staggering 43% more expensive than the factory-bodied car.
Commissioned and first owned by Lady Janet White, of Felixstowe, Suffolk, the Bentley was imported into the USA in 1970 by Robert and Rita Irwin, who kept it for the next 37 years. The car has been well preserved, reflecting the gentle use and assiduous car of its owners, and remains completely original, even retaining the shearling carpet in the rear compartment. Radio, heater and electric windows function correctly and the car, which has automatic transmission, is said to drive well. Finished in Alpine Mist with parchment leather upholstery, it displays a total of 86,000 miles on the odometer and comes with full service history/provenance from new and possesses a current MoT. One of only four Bentley S1s completed by Hooper with this style of coachwork, ‘B460AN’ represents a rare opportunity to acquire a former Motor Show car possessing excellent provenance.