Coys Auction - True Greats
Royal Horticultural Halls
Elverton St
Westminster
London SW1
Tuesday 1st December 2009
Registration Number: VBC 788 Chassis Number: B117MX
Following Rolls-Royce‘s takeover of Bentley in 1931, the first new Bentley had been the 3½ Litre of 1933. Basically a sporting version of the Rolls-Royce 20/25, it utilised the shorter chassis of the stillborn smaller Rolls-Royce, code-named the Peregrine, together with a more powerful version of the 20/25‘s six cylinder engine with new crossflow cylinder head. Producing 105bhp and mated to a four-speed synchromesh transmission, the 3,699cc engine provided the 3½ Litre with 90mph plus performance. This first of the Derby Bentleys was also notable as the first to be marketed as ‘The Silent Sports Car’, such was its considerable refinement.
For 1936 Rolls-Royce enlarged the 20/25 engine to 4,257cc, the increase in capacity also being adopted for the Bentley which now became the 4¼ Litre model. Retaining the 3½ Li