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1929 Bentley 4½ Litre |
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Original 1929 Numbers
Chassis No. NX3464
Engine No. NX3465
Registration No. GU 2021
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This car - updated
Chassis No. -
Engine No. -
Registration No. OB 1929
(Current owner / former owners, please come forward with further updates. - July 2018) |
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Click
on thumbnail for larger view |
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"Lucy Wills, the original owner of this car, chassis NX3464, shared a profoundly deaf condition with her brother, Matthew, perhaps
accounting for the Le Mans dimension of the rev counter. The car was delivered from Vanden Plas in April 1929, joining her brother-in-law Bill Hamilton’s car, chassis HF3198, in their natural habitat, the High Country of the South Island. Tony and Nicky Tripp still use
this marvellous car as it was intended to be used. The details, including the nets for oddments, Marchal headlamps, and the probably
correct interpretation of British Racing Green, all reward a few minutes spent." |
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Source:
New Zealand Rolls-Royce & Bentley Club Inc, Newsletter Issue 17-2 2017
Posted: Jul 18, 2018 |
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Click
on thumbnail for larger view |
Car in the photograph
bears Reg. No. OB 1929
on the number plate |
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On the Road
Nicky Tripp reminisces about the
Bentley that's been in the family
for more than 80 years!
"It was Lucy Wills, a great
friend of my mother. Marjorie Farnsworth,
who first purchased the Bentley. Lucy's
sister Peggy had married a gentleman
named Bill Hamilton; they farmed at
Irishman Greek Station in the Mackenzie
High Country in New Zealand. Lucy
was so captivated by the area when
she went to visit them that she decided
to purchase a nearby property. Lake
Tekapo Station.
She asked my mother to come out to
New Zealand with her and help run
the station. She wrote to Bill, who
was a self-taught engineer and very
knowledgeable about cars (he owned
a Sunbeam and a Bentley, which he
later raced very successfully at Brooklands),
asking which car would be suitable
for the rough, shingle roads of the
Mackenzie Country. He replied. "A
Bentley of course."
So, in 1929 Lucy purchased a new 4½
Litre Touring model and had it shipped
out from (Cricklewood, ahead of her
arrival, to Jones Motors in Fairlie,
where it was uncrated and got ready
for the road. In those days, it was
a necessity to have a decent car in
the back roads.
Lucy drove it continuously for the
next 20 plus years. Later she purchased
a Riley in conjunction with my parents
and the Bentley was used less often
but she drove it until her death in
1981 at the age of 79, when she left
it to my husband, Tony, with whom
she had enjoyed many rallies and trips.
My family has been closely linked
with Lucy since my birth; I grew up
driving in it so it has always been
very much a family car and it, is
still in our possession today. Two
owners in 82 years but in the same
family!
The car is painted in black and original
touring green; it has a fabric body,
which was repaired in the 1960s, and
the original green leather upholstery
by Vanden Plas. Because Lucy was profoundly
deaf. Bill recommended that she have
a Rev Counter (tachometer) installed
to help gauge the gear changes; he
also recommended Marshall headlights
(as he considered the Bentley lights
to be inferior) and the addition of
a fog lamp. The original tyres were
620 x 21 but Lucy moved to 525 x 21
to make the steering easier on the
shingle roads. On Bill's recommendation
Bentley Motors supplied double skinned
mudguards and leather and metal baffles
over the petrol tank and lights for
protection from the shingle, and the
addition of running boards. Lucy also
had a special padded canvas radiator
'waistcoat' made for protection against
the severe winter frosts.
In its heyday, Lucy drove the Bentley
all over New Zealand, sometimes towing
a small collapsible caravan. In the
winter, she fitted special mud grip
tyres and she used to feed Lucerne
(alfalfa) hay to her beloved merino
sheep over the back seat or from a
trailer towed behind.
There are many stories of camping
holidays and river crossings with
the Bentley having stalled in the
middle of a river after the flywheel
sprayed water onto the magnetos. Lucy
always used to say you could not drive
too slowly or it would boil!
One of my earliest memories as a little
girl was driving in the Bentley. I
always got carsick but for some reason
1 never got sick in the Bentley. I
can remember listening to the shingles
hit the underside of the car.
Later, I learned how to drive in the
Bentley. Lucy taught me herself!" |
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Source:
The Bentley Magazine, Issue 40, Spring
2012
Posted: May 29, 2013 |
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EARLIEST
RECORD OF HISTORICAL FACTS & INFORMATION |
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Chassis No. |
NX3464 |
Engine No. |
NX3465 |
Registration
No. |
GU 2021 |
Date of Delivery: |
Apr 1929 |
Type of Body: |
4-seater |
Coachbuilder: |
Vanden Plas |
Type of Car: |
No
info |
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First Owner: |
WILLS Miss L B N |
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More Info:
According to original Vanden Plas Coachbuilder
records, this car was originally fitted
with Body No. 1545 with a standard Sports
4-seater; black; 4/1929.
Michael Hay, in his book Bentley:
The Vintage Years, 1997, states:
"Vanden Plas body no. 1545. One
owner from new, exported to NZ 1930." |
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Updated: Jul 05, 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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