To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' Monterey event, 15 - 17
August 2019.
Estimate:
$900,000 - $1,200,000
- An original 6�-Litre with its original frame, engine, and rear
axle
- Painstakingly restored and uprated to Le Mans Works team-car
specifications
- Veteran of a 3,000-mile Bentley Drivers Club tour of Europe and
two Colorado Grands
- Offered with build information, service records, and
restoration photographs
- Exceptional presentation and evocative history�and outstanding
performance to match
Like its future corporate stablemate, Rolls-Royce, Bentley Motors
in the W.O. era practiced steady evolution of a proven design. The
original 3-Litre begat the 4�-Litre, then grew again into the
6�-Litre, an overhead-cam six-cylinder design with four valves per
cylinder and a single-piece iron engine block and cylinder head,
resulting in impressive power (147 hp in standard tune), massive
torque, and robust strength. Its chassis was upgraded with a
dry-plate clutch and power-assisted four-wheel brakes with finned
drums.
While originally designed for touring use�to carry heavier
coachwork while maintaining Bentley's level of performance�it was
the 6�-Litre that propelled Bentley to its competition zenith by
winning the Bentley team victory at Le Mans in 1929 and 1930. It
grew the legends of the men who piloted it: Barnato, Birkin, and
Kidston, "Bentley Boys" all.
CHASSIS NUMBER BX2416
According to information on file from the W.O. Bentley Memorial
Foundation, 6�-Litre chassis no. BX2416 was originally supplied to
Dr. Rudolph de Trafford of London, as a 12'6" (150 in.) wheelbase
model with a Weymann saloon body by J. Gurney Nutting. In this form
the car underwent maintenance by Bentley Motors through 1930. The
next known owner, C. Willis of Basingstroke, acquired the car in
1932 and is known to have maintained it for at least the next three
years.
Following the Second World War, the car appears to have been
acquired by Major Jack Bailey, a sportsman who rebuilt it as a
special, shortening its chassis to 124 in., lowering the radiator,
and fitting a rudimentary two-seater body, as well as the
registration plate PF 6204 of his 3-Litre. In this form the car was
used extensively for regional racing and touring.
The Bentley's next definite owner was R.G.S. Burnett, who
registered it with the Club in 1962. Barry Graham Burnett
registered it in 1972 and by the following decade had fitted the
car with a Vanden Plas-style Le Mans fabric tourer body, as well as
reunited it with its original registration plate, YF 4648.
Well-known marque specialist David Ayres acquired the 6�-Litre from
Burnett in 2008 and shortly thereafter sold it to noted enthusiast
Ron Rezek of Ashland, Oregon.
In an accompanying book documenting the car and its restoration,
Mr. Rezek notes his delight at finding that the car retained much
of its original chassis frame, as well as the original engine,
steering box, and rear axle. He commissioned Mr. Ayres to restore
the car as authentically as possible to 1930 Le Mans team-car
specification with numerous Speed Six features. This included
modifying the engine to full competition specification, with twin
HV5 carburetors fitted with 8-liter float chambers, an 8-liter
water pump, special oil feed to the camshaft, and a large-capacity
oil pump; it is fed by a Le Mans-style 40-gallon fuel tank,
custom-made to the original Works team specifications, and produces
some 200 horsepower.
The 132 in. chassis was outfitted with Andre Hartford friction
shock absorbers, 3:1 gears, and all-new brake drums and spindles,
while the correct Rexine-covered body was dressed with proper Zeiss
headlamps in Le Mans-style frames. Great care was taken to finish
the car as properly as possible while also setting it up for
continued long-distance enjoyment.
Mr. Rezek enjoyed the car for several years, exhibiting it at the
Bentley Club Concours d'Elegance in 2010 and winning Best
Restoration. He was proud that it was a fit road machine, something
that he demonstrated on two editions of the Colorado Grand and an
epic 3,000-mile tour of Europe with the Bentley Drivers Club,
conquering the Stelvio Pass and other formidable stretches through
the Alps.
This is a 6�-Litre Bentley true to the legend�every enthusiast's
image of the rip-snorting, all-conquering fabric tourer of Bentley
Boys fame, restored and presented for high-speed driving enjoyment
well into the future.To view this car and others currently
consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/mo19.
