1931 Bentley 8-Liter Sports Coupe Cabriolet

The 8-Litre Bentley was very tall and was over 20 feet long, with an engine compartment similar to that of a locomotive. They were ideally proportioned for elegant custom coachwork and were capable of reaching and exceeding speeds of 100 mph. The 8-Litre Bentley was certainly one of the greatest British automobiles ever produced, yet only 100 chassis were built before the cost of developing and building drove the company into receivership. Most of the 8-Litre chassis were given heavy, closed bodies.

This 8-Litre Bentley, chassis number YR 5099, was the forty-ninth 8-Litre Bentley built and one of thirty-four 12-foot wheelbase chassis intended for sporting bodywork. The car was ordered by Sir P. Malcolm Stewart, who was the owner of the London Brick Company, the largest brick manufacturer in the United Kingdom at the time. Barker was tasked with providing the sports coupe cabriolet coachwork. The car remained with him for five years, and in 1934, it underwent minor maintenance, which was followed by the addition of a D.W.S. jacking system.

The second owner, G. Stewart Ferguson of Birmingham, England became the car's second owner in February of 1935. At some point before or during World War II, the car was taken to Scotland. After the war, it was owned by J.A. MacHarg. Mr. MacHarg modified the rear of the body to convert it into a four-passenger car.

In the late 1970s, the car was acquired from Mr. MacHarg by Peter Agg. While in Mr. Agg's care, it was given a restoration and brought back to its original form, which included reshaping the rear of the body in the style of its original Baker design. The car won First Place at the Bentley Drivers Club Concours at Kensington Garden in 1983, prior to being sold stateside to Bentley expert Frank Miller. In 1987, Mr. Miller displayed the car at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it wore a two-tone blue finish.

The car has the 18-inch Bluemel-sprung steering wheel, original special-order Twin Delco distributors, SU H08 carburetors, a Bosch starter, a Whittle belt-drive fan, a Tecalemit one-shot pump, Smithermet shutter controls, Bosch fuse boxes, and a Bosch FG12 horn and bracket. It has a larger-than-standard AT speedometer and odometer, a Jaeger clock, a Weston ammeter, a Cambridge thermometer, a Bosch ignition switch and lighting/starter switch, a Lucas headlamp dimmer switch, a rectangular Hobson 25-gallon telegauge, and a Smiths 0–100 pound oil pressure gauge. Lucas P100DB headlamps are still fitted, as are the Lucas snail-pattern sidelights and twin Lucas S220 metal-bodied 'diver's helmet' taillights. There is a rare Grebel spotlight, which is easily adjustable by the driver to be used for reading road signs.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2014