The original Bentley Motors Ltd. was founded in 1919 by W.O. Bentley. Throughout the 1920’s the company produced cars of outstanding quality and performance and the marque became associated with some of the greatest achievements in motorsport history. Bentley was victorious at Le Mans and many other international racing events. Sadly by 1931, despite producing some of the greatest cars of the period with legendary success on the track, the company found it impossible to continue and a receiver was appointed to wind up the business and sell off the assets.

It is well known W.O. Bentley’s last design, the mighty 8 Litre, had attracted the attention of Rolls Royce being a direct competitor to the latter company’s Phantom 11. Rolls Royce decided to acquire the Bentley name and quickly make use of the goodwill and the marque’s reputation for building high quality sports cars. In designing a new model Rolls Royce were able to employ their very well designed 18 h.p. chassis fitted with a tuned up twin carburettor version of their 20/25 h.p. engine. The Bentley 3.5 Litre was born and introduced to the public at Ascot in August 1933. The design was an instant success and Rolls Royce went on to produce 1191 units between 1933 and 1937, after which they increased the engine size to 4.25 Litres to power the heavier later 1930’s cars. They set up production at their factory in Derby and the cars became known as the “Derby Bentley” to distinguish them from the ‘W.O.” cars. They were fast, responsive, much lighter than the “W.O.”s, but most importantly still with the distinctive feel of a thoroughbred sports car. They were also remarkably reliable and perhaps are the most useable of all the high quality 1930’s designs. A real long distance touring car. Coachwork was bespoke and although the company offered the standard Park Ward saloon most buyers opted to choose a coachbuilder to specify their own requirements.

Chassis B103EJ was first delivered to C. Gordon Thompson, London W1, who selected the highly distinguished coachbuilder Arthur Mulliner of Bridge Street Northampton to build a very good looking saloon. There are photographs of the car with its original coachwork in the extensive history file that accompanies the car along with a list of 5 past owners. There is also correspondence, and a comprehensive record of the rebuild and maintenance history. The car retained its original body well into the 1950’S, when it was owned by Commander John F.H. Lawrence RN who died in 1992. It then passed to Capt. Vince Twomey (RAF) who had a collection of cars. It formed part of a collection of cars sold after his death in 1998 by Sothebys at Hendon.

The car came into the ownership of the current owner in the early 2000’s. Apart from a recent mechanical rebuild carried out to the highest standards the car has had wonderful 4 seater touring coachwork fitted. The body design, which is reminiscent of a W.O. Bentley 4.5 Litre Le Mans , makes for a brilliant touring car. It’s good looking, light, and perfect for long distant family touring events, or competitive rallies. With the light body the car is capable of sparkling performance with delightful steering. It has been equipped with overdrive and is quite capable of sustained speeds over 70 MPH! It’s rare to find a Derby Bentley which has been so well restored and with so much attention to detail. The comprehensive weather equipment is well designed and all the instruments work. In common with many Derby Bentleys the rebuild included a new aluminium Fiennes cylinder head, a very important upgrade the original cast iron heads being almost always beyond repair. This allows the engine to now run on unleaded fuel. In addition, the engine block and pistons have been replaced. A delightful and very useable Derby Bentley with real performance.