Lot 26: Bentley 4 1/4-litre Sports Special

One of the most famous of all the Derby Bentleys is the E R Hall car that competed in the 1934, 1935 and 1936 TT.  Eddie Hall was a well-known racing driver with associations to Bentley, Brooklands and to MG in the 1920s and 1930s, but is best remembered for the TT campaigns with his Derby Bentley.  Hall's car, a 3½-litre, chassis B35EA, was originally delivered in March 1934 with a smart two-seat open sports body by Abbot of Farnham.  Hall had entered his MG K3 Magnette for the 1934 Mille Miglia and took his Bentley to Italy to use as a practice car.  On his return he wrote to Rolls-Royce explaining how he had covered 4,000 miles at racing speeds in the car and requesting that he be allowed to use the car for the 1934 Ulster TT.  Although they had not raced since 1906, Rolls-Royce agreed and the car was returned to the factory for modifications to be carried out.  The Abbot body was also replaced with special bodywork by Offord and Sons Ltd, using no wood framing and incorporating lightweight alloys, said to weigh in at just 1 cwt. The sole Bentley entered in the 1934 TT, B35EA, finished second on handicap, and this result was repeated for the successive entries in 1935 and 1936.  For 1936, the car had again been re-bodied and now carried a 4¼-litre unit (again tuned by the factory).  Hall's and B35EA's racing career did not end here, for in 1950 the Bentley was entered for Le Mans (originally the intention had been to enter in 1936, but the race was cancelled at short notice) and carried a streamlined hard-top, finishing eighth, just 20 laps behind the winning Talbot Largo and ahead of the Briggs Cunningham-entered Cadillacs and the Jaguar XK120s.  This had obviously impressed Cunningham as the car (restored to its 1936 TT appearance) later became part of the Briggs Cunningham Collection and has subsequently passed into the collection of Miles Collier in Florida.The car offered here, chassis B183KU, was first delivered to Hooper and bodied as a four-door sports saloon before being sold in September 1938 to its first owner, a Mr B Nichols of Bilston, Staffordshire, and it is indicated that he still owned the car as late as 1946.  Later Bentley Drivers' Club records show B183KU as being owned in 1964 by Vincent J Simmons of Long Eaton, Derbyshire, still with the Hooper body.  Simmons owned other Bentleys and at this time the car is recorded as having had the registration VS 4.  The car then passed in 1968 to Mrs I E Dronsfield, who also is recorded as having other ex-Simmons cars at this time.  A 1971 note in the BDC record shows the car belonging to Mr Anthony Reynolds of Derby and it is subsequently recorded in the ownership of Mr R Heelis where, for the first time, it is noted as an open two seater.  While in the Heelis period the car was raced (BDC Review 102: August Silverstone 1971), although it is understood that the car actually belonged to Reynolds, who is attributed as being Chairman of the Midlands Branch of the Bentley Drivers' Club.  In 1972 the car had passed to a J R Petersen, with what is undoubtedly its original registration of EVY 211.  Petersen in turn sold the car to a Mr Robinson of Buckinghamshire. The car was then shipped to the USA and the importer noted as Mr K L Robinson of Indiana, but it appears not to have been registered in that State until 1979.  Little is known of the car's history in the USA until it was purchased by the well-know enthusiast, Dale W Powers, a keen racer of a J2X Allard, Lister Chevrolet, Corvettes, etc. and the ex-Brian Redwood 4¼-litre Bentley.  He believed there was a chance that B183KU may have been one of the Hall bodies, Eddie Hall having swapped the bodies of his four Bentleys on several occasions.  Eventually he sold it to the current owner, believing it to have a damaged cylinder head.  Since repatriation the car has undergone considerable refurbishment with the original head found to be good after crack and pressure testing.  Nonetheless a complete overhaul was undertaken, including the re-cutting of the valve seats and a slight raise of the compression ratio.  The reassembled engine was then treated to a new starter motor and given a clean bill of health.  The steel side-mounted exhaust was discarded and a replacement fabricated in stainless steel and the car restored to running order and registered with the DVLA, retaining the number EVY 211.  When viewed and photographed, the car ran well and the engine seemed particularly good, starting instantly, idling well and pulling strongly under load.  A fair impression of the road-holding could not be gained, the dampers having been removed at the time, but the basic cockpit, view down the long bonnet through the aero screens and the bark from the high-level exhaust all gave an immense feeling of purposefulness.Since repatriation the car has undergone considerable refurbishment with the original head found to be good after crack and pressure testing.  Nonetheless a complete overhaul was undertaken, including the re-cutting of the valve seats and a slight raise of the compression ratio.  The reassembled engine was then treated to a new starter motor and given a clean bill of health.  The steel side-mounted exhaust was discarded and a replacement fabricated in stainless steel and the car restored to running order and registered with the DVLA, retaining the number EVY 211.  When viewed and photographed, the car ran well and the engine seemed particularly good, starting instantly, idling well and pulling strongly under load.  A fair impression of the road-holding could not be gained, the dampers having been removed at the time, but the basic cockpit, view down the long bonnet through the aero screens and the bark from the high-level exhaust all gave an immense feeling of purposefulness.With a little more fettling and tailoring to the new owner's satisfaction this Bentley would make a very enjoyable 'arrive and drive' entrant for speed events, hill-climbs and sprints.  Included in the documents supplied are a V5C registration document and the previous Florida Certificate of Title, a 'Motor Historica' history and owner trace for the car, plus copies of articles and photographs relating to the Eddie Hall TT car in its various incarnations from a number of publications.