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1931
Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged |
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Original 1930 Numbers
Chassis
No. SM3918
Engine No. SM3920
Registration No. GK 150
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This car - updated
Chassis No.
Engine No.
Registration No. GK 150
(Current owner / former owners, please come forward with further updates. - July 2019) |
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February
2009 |
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1930 Bentley 4½
Litre Supercharged
Billy Fiske was a remarkable character,
a young multi-millionaire socialite
who was a true Bentley Boy and a close
friend of Tim Birkin. Fiske came to
England as a Cambridge undergraduate
spending his time on the continent
bobsleighing, leading the USA bobsleigh
team in the Winter Olympics at St
Moritz in 1928 and setting a long-time
unbroken Cresta run record.
In 1939, more than two years before
the Americans entered the war, Billy
Fiske (after pulling some strings
with influential friends) joined the
RAF, becoming the first American citizen
to join the RAF after the outbreak
of the hostilities. He was attached
to 601 Squadron, also known as the
Legionnaires and Millionaires
Squadron due to the fact that
it had been founded in 1924 from volunteer
members of Londons famous Whites
Club. Flying Hurricanes out of Tangmere
and quickly racking up many strikes
against the formidable German Juncker
87s, he was downed after only
a month of active service, succumbing
to severe burns at the Royal West
Hospital in Chichester. The epitaph
on his memorial tablet in the crypt
of St Pauls Cathedral reads
An American citizen who died
that England may live.
It was his friendship with Birkin
that helped him secure the opportunity
of acquiring a genuine Blower Bentley.
Typically, he was not satisfied with
just a normal Blower so Chassis SM
3918 was built to the specification
of Birkin team car to include a fully
split pinned chassis, long bonnet,
42 gallon fuel tank, Le Mans dash
board, inboard adjustable brakes and
oil tank as well as a quick release
hood and windscreen. Once completed
it was delivered to Fiskes home
in Paris in its original colour of
Bentley Racing Green.
Fiske kept the Bentley until 1933
before, through W.O. Bentleys
brothers dealership H.M Bentley
& Partners, selling it to Dr Apergis.
Not a man to waste an opportunity,
he soon stripped the Bentley down
for high speed runs at Brooklands,
bagging the much coveted Outer Circuit
Banking Badge for achieving a top
speed of 121.4mph. Apergis had, by
this point, changed the Bentley from
its original green to its current
black and had removed the Le Mans
underscuttle as well as the onboard
oil tank as it was playing havoc with
the stockings of his lady friends!
The Doctor kept the car until 1936,
Commander MacGregor of HMS Dolphin
safeguarding the Bentley through the
war before, in 1952, passing it into
the long term care of Roy Stanwell.
It was over 50 years before the present
owner acquired it directly from Mr
Stanwell, entrusting its restoration
to fabled marque expert Tony Townsend
who had previously restored two of
the three other Birkin team cars.
GK150 is offered here on the open
market for the first time in its extraordinary
life, providing the chance to acquire
not just one of the original 50 Blower
Bentleys but a Blower that was built
to Birkins own full Le Mans
specification. A unique and unheard
of opportunity. |
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Source:
Gregor Fisken
Posted: Feb 11, 2009 |
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2006 |
In
England in 2006 / Owned by a BDC member |
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2002
- 2006 |
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This car was owned
by Roy Waltham Stanwell from 2002
to 2006.
We have received the following
information from his daughter Ellen
Stanwell:
"A small detail; my father
Roy Waltham Stanwell never sold the
car, but she passed to family after
his death in Feb 2002. I reluctantly
sold her privately some years later.
My father's little red book of 50
years of mechanical info went with
her. I was most upset to learn she
had appeared on the open market. We
have a number of family photos of
her..." |
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Source:
Ellen Stanwell (Daughter of former owner)
Posted: Jun 14, 2012 |
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Source:
Gregor Fisken
Posted: Feb 11, 2009 |
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Source:
James E. Pearce
Posted: Jul 18, 2006 |
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Source:
Gregor Fisken
Posted: Feb 11, 2009 |
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Source:
Gregor Fisken
Posted: Feb 11, 2009 |
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The first 25 production Supercharged 4½
Litre cars where Chassis Nos. SM3901-SM3925, all with
"smooth-case" blowers. The next 25 were Chassis
Nos. MS3926-MS3950 and had "rib-case" blowers.
Production Blower Bentleys had handbrake handles made
from rectangular stainless steel, whereas the five 4½
litre race cars for Tim Birkin had the "H" section
handle, but were drilled for lightness. |
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Source: Robert McLellan
Posted: Feb 20, 2008 |
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EARLIEST
RECORD OF HISTORICAL FACTS & INFORMATION |
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Chassis No. |
SM3918 |
Engine No. |
SM3920 |
Registration
No. |
GK 150 |
Date of Delivery: |
Sep 1930 |
Type of Body: |
4-seater |
Coachbuilder: |
Vanden Plas |
Type of Car: |
116 |
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First Owner: |
HEATONT T |
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More Info:
According to original Vanden Plas Coachbuilder
records, this car was originally fitted
with Body No. 1685 with a supercharged;
Le Mans Sports, long bonnet, to Vanden
Plas sketch 539; 9/1930.
Michael Hay, in his book Bentley:
The Vintage Years, 1997, states:
"D/7224. Vanden Plas body no.1685.
Le Mans type chassis, 42 gallon tank,
split-pinned all round." |
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Updated: Jul 06, 2007
Posted: Mar 01, 2007 |
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Submit
more information on this car |
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BACK |
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Sep 30, 2020 - Info and photograph received from Simon Hunt for Chassis No. RL3439 |
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Sep 30, 2020 - Info and photographs received from Dick Clay for Chassis No. 147 |
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Sep 29, 2020 - Info and photographs received from Ernst Jan Krudop for his Chassis No. AX1651 |
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Sep 28, 2020 - Info and photographs received from Lars Hedborg
for his Chassis No. KL3590 |
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Sep 25, 2020 - Info and photograph added for Registration No. XV 3207 |
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Sep 24, 2020 - Info and photograph added for Registration No. YM 7165 |
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