Vehicle Description
This is a most desirable chrome bumper era Bentley T, finished in
beautiful Dawn blue with gold fine lines to the body waist-lines
and hub-cap beauty rings. The Connolly interior is finished in an
elegant mid grey-with a lighter grey floor rugs and moutons. The
colour ensemble is very classic. The Bentley T ("T1 ") is the rare
derivative of the Silver Shadow. It was the twin sister to the
Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and is differentiated by a Bentley
radiator grille, mascot and "Flying B". It has a slightly lower
bonnet (hood) with different shaping in the sheet metal and is
distinguished further with "Bentley" hubcaps and boot badging.
Unique to these earlier Bentleys, is the fitment of "B" logos on
the speedometer and brake pedal (a nice touch - something that was
sadly deleted by Rolls-Royce in later years). Out of some 32,000 4
door Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow sedans produced, only 1,700 of these
were Bentley Ts (that is only some 5% of the model series). Take
into account that the number of remaining survivors would be
considerably less and discount further those that are in poor
condition, then this T1 Bentley may well be 1 out of only a few
dozen examples in the US in this very fine condition. As important,
is the history of this car having been owned by a member of the
Coors beer family, a sportsman, recognised war veteran and
politician. The first owner of this Bentley T was The Honourable
Hartland de Montarville Molson. He was a member of the Molson
family of brewers (now Molson Coors), an athlete and hockey player,
a Battle of Britain Pilot, and a Canadian Senator. Molson enlisted
in Montreal, Quebec on 21 September 1939 within weeks of the onset
of World War II becoming a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
He earned his wings on 11 April 1940 and was assigned to Number 115
Squadron in Montreal. He was one of a handful of No.115 Squadron
pilots transferred to Number 1 Squadron In the RCAF in the spring
of 1940 to bolster its numbers in preparation for shipment to the
United Kingdom. Arriving in England in June 1940, the squadron
underwent rapid training in the Royal Air Force (RAF) procedures
before being thrown into the desperate battles in the skies over
the UK. During the Battle of Britain he damaged a Dornier DO17 on
26 August, damaged two Messerschmitt BF110s on 4 September and
claimed a Heinkel HE111 destroyed on 11 September. Molson was shot
down during combat with enemy fighters over Canterbury on 5
October, baled out, wounded, and was admitted to Chartham Hospital.
His Hurricane, P3873, crashed at Deering Farm, Smarden. It was his
last operational flight. Molson had flown 62 combat missions. For
this he was made an Officer of the Order of The British Empire in
1946. In 1786, Hartland's Grandfather English immigrant John Molson
founded Canada's oldest beer brewery on the banks of the St.
Lawrence River in Montreal. Hartland was the President of the
family business Molson Breweries between 1953 and 1966, then
Chairman until 1974 and Chairman emeritus until 1983, retiring
completely in 1988. During his tenure, the company experienced
substantial growth, expanding operations across Canada. Outside of
the Molson family businesses, Hartland Molson served on the Board
of Directors of The Bank of Montreal and Sun Life Assurance. In
1957 Hartland and his brother Thomas purchased The Montreal
Canadiens Hockey team and he retired in 1968 after The Canadiens
won The Stanley Cup ending The Detroit Red Wings dominance. His
name was engraved on the Stanley Cup 6 times 1958-59-60-65-66-68.
In 1973, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the
'builders category'. From 1948 to 1968 he was president of
Montreal's McGill University. In 1955, Prime Minister Louis St
Laurent appointed Molson to the Senate of Canada. Hartland Molson
retired from the Senate in 1993 at the age of 86-one of the last
Senators to serve past the mandatory retirement age of 75 as he was
appointed prior to the institution o
