1931 Bentley 4.5 Litre Two-Seater Sports

This Bentley was completed in 1931 but would remain unsold for two years, due to Bentley Motors' receivership, before being finally bodied with a new four-passenger tourer body, number 1829, by Vanden Plas in 1933. It was delivered, with its original supercharger, to A. Ansell and registered as JB 1850. (It is believed that the supercharger that it left the factory is still with the car.) This was the last W.O. Bentley to be given the Vanden Plas coachwork.

The car was purchased as early as 1933 by R. S. Mead, and the by April 1934, it was acquired by C.E. Robinson, who purchased the car through the showroom of W.O. Bentley's brother, H.M. The car was sold back to H.M. Bentley by Mr. Robinson; next passing in 1936 to J.M. Campbell before being shipped out of the UK to Cape Town, South Africa, in late 1937 by the next owner, Dr. T.W. Stephens. During World War II, the car remained in South Africa, being returned by the U.K. by a friend of Dr. Stephens, believed to have been M.C.C. Haycraft.

The Bentley was exported to the United States in 1957 by J.D. Clark. In 1962, it was sold to C.M. Crowhurst, then to E.S. Nisbet, and then in February 1969 to John Webb de Campi. During his 10 year ownership, Mr. de Campi restored the Bentley with its original Vanden Plas bodywork.

In 1979 the Bentley returned to the United Kingdom and was acquired in 1987 by its current owner. IN 1990, a fresh restoration was undertaken. During the work, Ulf Smith, of Sweden, built the present body and fenders for the car. The body is a copy fo the lightweight fabric two-seater sports body built by Vanden Plas for the famous #1 Bentley, chassis number HB3402. The original Vanden Plas body has been preserved and is currently with the car today.

By Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2015

Tim Birkin would be convinced the 4 1/2 –liter supercharged engine was the answer to Bentley's growing deficiency compared to the threatening competition coming from Italy. He would push ahead with his plans going head-to-head, essentially, with W.O. Bentley's purity of displacement. The result would be one of the most memorable Bentleys of the late 1920s and early 1930s, but certainly not the most successful.

W.O. disagreed with Birkin, but the company's namesake had little to know authority given the financial straits the company was going through. Hello Tim Birkin and supercharging. Aided by Dorothy Paget, a wealthy financier who had been a part of the wildly-successful Supermarine seaplanes, the supercharged Bentley would go ahead.

The costs would be great and only a total of 50 examples would ever be built. This number could have been greater had the example enjoyed success on the racetrack, exactly where the car was designed to dominate. It would be remarkable that the car would end up as revered as it is today.

One of those fifty examples, MS3929 would be a fine representation of what Birkin believed, and what should have been. Still bearing its original Vanden Plas bodywork, the car would be a virtual time capsule being the last W.O. Bentley produced to bear a Vanden Plas body. Despite its age, MS3929 remains highly original right down to its original chassis, engine, D-Type gearbox and supercharger. To look upon it is to step back in time when Bentley enjoyed near unrivaled success at Le Mans and financial turmoil was poised to bring it all crashing down.

Completed in 1931, amazingly, the car would remain unsold for a couple of years. The financial fallout had come home to roost and this chassis paid for it. However, some time would pass and the car would be finally finished being fitted with a four-passenger touring body designed by Vanden Plas.

R.S. Mead would seemingly purchase the car in 1933 and would turn around and sell it to C.E. Robinson the following year. The car would be sold to W.O. Bentley's brother, H.M. a couple of years later. Not long after, the car would pass on to J.M. Campbell. Campbell's ownership would be brief and soon the car would find itself on a ship heading to Cape Town, South Africa.

The Bentley would remain in South America through World War II and would finally return to England a few years after the end of the war. The car would change hands a couple more times before making the voyage across the Atlantic to the United States where it would be joined with its new owner J.D. Clark.

The car would continue to be a popular buy and would change hands between C.M. Crowhurst, E.S. Nisbet and John Webb de Campi. Mr. de Campi would end up being one of the longest tenured owners and he would take great consideration of the Bentley's originality. He would carefully restore the car, even with its Vanden Plas body.

Mr. de Campi would part with the car in 1979 and the car would then return to England. The car's current owner would come to own the car in 1987 and, in 1990, would have the car freshly restored. Ulf Smith, of Sweden, would be called upon to make a new body and fenders for the car. Although this would be a deviation from the originality of the car, the original Vanden Plas body remains with the car to this very day and can be found in its own crate.

Unlike many Bentley's of that era, in which racing would take a heavy toll on a particular car's originality, MS3929 has remained highly original and has been verified through original surviving factory documents and other historical pieces of information. All told, this would have to be one of the most complete, and, therefore, sought-after examples of Birkin's vision.

Provenance assured, originality verified and place in Bentley's history to never be forgotten, the 1931 Bentley 4 1/2 –liter Supercharged Two-Seater Sports, with its original Vanden Plas body, would be an absolute highlight of RM Sotheby's record-breaking 2015 Monterey auction. As a result of the car's history and purity the Bentley would garner a sale price of some $4,015,000, inclusive of buyer's premium.

By Jeremy McMullen