Story and History

1 of only 2 produced

Extremely low owners

A usuable example

In 1931 Bentley Motors were on the brink of bankruptcy and in the middle of a deal with Napier & Sons to save the company when Rolls-Royce, using a pseudonym, swooped in and bought the company out from under Napier's nose.

W.O. stayed on and oversaw the development & production of all Bentley's now to be produced at Rolls-Royce's Derby factory.

The ultimate aim was for the new Derby Bentley to be an amalgamation of Bentley's sporting prowess and Rolls-Royce's refinement and comfort. It was a match made in heaven W.O. himself saying he would “rather own this Bentley than any other car”

Production of the 3 ½ litre ran between 1933 & 1936, 1,177 examples were produced, of those only 2 were 3 position Drophead Coupes with coach work from Thrupp & Maberly so this really is an extremely rare car.

Incredibly there are only two registered keepers to 2005. The first had her until 1974 when she was still wearing the attractive blue and ivory combination seen today.

The latter of the two, a Mr John Routley, decided to undertake a restoration project on her which started in 1992 and completed in 1998, a thorough and complete job then all of which is detailed in the history file

During the restoration an overdrive system was fitted by Tim Payne in order to ease wear on the engine in future and improve performance.

It was John Reynolds who undertook the restoration and detailed correspondence between him and Mr & Mrs Routley shows the level of care and attention allowed to the car. Fiennes Engineering were used as well for some specific testing.

During the restoration MoT records began to be filed and as such the first in the file is dated April 1994 showing 71,700 miles.

Mr Routley kept the car until 2005, bringing the mileage up to 77,000, when she was sold from his estate to Captain Christopher Robert Pack.

Capt Pack was, as you might expect, a mechanically gifted man and kept a chronicled record of the maintenance during his ownership.

She was then next sold in August 2014 to Mr and Mrs Forbes who immediately admitted her to A and S Engineering for another body off restoration, although they left the interior as was given that it was so charming anyway.

A and S carried out the restoration over the course of 2 and a half years overhauling all mechanical components and realigning the chassis too.

Within the file there is a more than specific description of the restoration and photographs documenting progress over the two years from start to finish.

Two of our customers have owned her since, both having fine selections of Bentley and other classic.

One thing to note at that the doors are dropping, so will need a bit of work to sort out - we can do this for you of course, although the price at which she is offered, does not include the works