1937 Bentley 4 ¼ Litre Open Tourer
The Bentley 4½ Litre is a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 litres (270 cubic inches). A racing variant was known as the Blower Bentley.
Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles, mostly saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley’s cars.
The design has the touring spare placed in the front wing rather than the boot lid. It has Ace deluxe wheel discs (also known as ‘Easi-Clean’), a vintage Bentley-type fold-down twin aeroscreen (often called the Brooklands windscreen), a correct slanted Winged B mascot, and its original Marschal headlamps and centrally mounted driving lamp. Under the bonnet is a correctly restored engine. It is finished in its period-correct color scheme of midnight blue with a saddle tan interior.
Bentley was acquired by Rolls Royce in 1931 during the height of the great depression. The Rolls Royce Bentley venture had difficulties becoming successful. The first “Rolls Bentley” had an engine upgrade to 4 ¼ liters by using the Rolls-Royce 25/30 horsepower engine and chassis with a higher compression ratio. This gave the Bentley 4 ¼ Litre the nickname, “Silent Sports Car”.
The sporty chassis would be sent to a coachbuilder, with this specific car being sent to Carlton, a more exclusive body builder. There were only four 4 ¼ Bentleys bodied by Carlton, and this was the only two-seater open tourer ever built. The first owner of the car was quite the enthusiast as he ordered it “for use in town and touring.” The interior of the car features special ordered instruments including a Smiths tachometer with a clock built into its center top. Today rare Bentleys with original engines and coachwork are in great demand to righteous collectors.
The Carlton Carriage Company built just four bodies on the 4¼-Litre chassis. This particular exampleis the only two-seater open tourer ever built. The others were a sedanca coupe, a saloon, and a four-seater drophead coupe.
This 1937 Bentley 4 ¼ Litre Open Tourer is a superb example of a remarkably rare pre-war design, produced by one of the most exclusive and renowned coachbuilders of its era. Given its significant appeal to collectors of vintage Bentleys, we anticipate this lot will attract serious interest from around the world. Wherever its next home is located, the next owner is certain to relish this Bentley 4 ¼ Litre Open Tourer, whether out on the road or simply admiring it within their garage.
