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Forget the sat-nav and all those high-tech,
brightly lit instruments. If you're looking for a car
with true dashboard derring-do, then this specially
modified 1924
Bentley 3/8 litre sports roadster is the vehicle
for you.
With more knobs, dials and buttons
per square inch than your average aircraft, this classic
car requires a driver with a sure hand, fast reflexes,
and an ability to monitor a terrifying array of instruments
all at the same time — and that's just to get the
car started. But as the dashboard proves, this is no
ordinary vintage car. With a top speed of 170 miles
per hour, this customised Bentley could give many modern
cars a run for their money.
Bought in 1928, by an Australian marine engineer names
John 'Jumbo' Goddard, for the princely sum of £350
(about £15,000 today), the car was altered by
Goddard in 1954 when he replaced the original three-litre
engine with a Bentley eight-litre motor he had bought
second-hand after the war. The car was also given a
new sporty body and hydraulic brakes — a necessity
considering the astonishing speed the vehicle was now
capable of.
Its specifications are unique for a car of its type:
550bhp, eight-litre inline six-cylinder engine with
dual SU carburettors and twin Garrett turbochargers,
heavy-duty Bentley live axels and four wheel hydraulic
brakes.
It was one of the 98 vintage, rare and valuable cars
auctioned by RM Auctions this week at a special London
sale, including a 1955 Ford Thunderbird formerly owned
by John Travolta, and the 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California
Sydre driven by Cameron Diaz in the Charlie's Angels
movies.
The unique Bentley attracted bids of £475,000,
but failed to sell.
Any new owner should take heed, however. With such a
complicated process of ignition, it takes close to five
minutes to start the car, and at high speeds the front
has a terrifying tendency to take off. So fast and furious
is this motor that Jumbo Goddard's wife once warned
him: "If you drive that thing again, I'm going
to divorce you."
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