1939 Bentley 4¼-Litre Sports Coupé “Honeymoon Express”

Bentley Motors was purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1931. One of the first of the Bentley vehicles produced after this merge was the 1933 3-1/2 Liter, a vehicle similar to the Rolls Royce 20/25. Bentley automobiles personified racing and the 3 1/2 Liter vehicle followed this tradition. It had a more powerful engine than its 20/25 counterpart. This had been achieved by adding a second carburetor and modification of the compression ratio.

Rolls Royce introduced the 25/30 in 1936 and Bentley introduced its counterpart, the 4 1/4 Liter. The Bentley featured 2 SU carburetors and a naturally aspirated straight-six engine producing 125 horsepower. It could achieve sixty mph in around fourteen seconds with the top speed just below 100 mph. The front-engine designed was matted to a four-speed manual gearbox and drove the rear wheels. Production lasted from 1936 through 1939 during which over 1240 examples were produced. This was the most vehicles of a single series Bentley had ever produced up to this time.

This 1939 Bentley 4.25 Litre Sports Coupe is known as the ‘Honeymoon Express.’ It was built for the chairman of the coachbuilder Park Ward and was shown at the Earls Court Motor Show in London in 1938. It is one of very few two-passenger cars built on the 4.25 Litre ‘Derby’ chassis and was lavishly outfitted with bespoke features, including a sunshine roof, frameless Triplex side windows, deluxe wheel discs and unique rear wheel spats. A particularly racy feature is the power-operated blind for the rear window. During the war it was used by London Rolls-Royce dealer R.A. Robertson, who had it painted in camouflage in a successful effort to avoid the German bombs. In the 1960s it was acquired by Maurice Richmond while on active duty in the US military and was brought to the United States for restoration.