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1930 Bentley 6½ Litre |
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Original 1930 Numbers
Chassis No. HM2856
Engine No. HM2868
Registration No. PG 7832
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This car - updated
Chassis No. HM2856
Engine No. -
Registration No. PG 7832
(Updated with information from The Revs Institute. - July 2018) |
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on thumbnail for larger view |
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1930 Bentley 6½ Litre Speed Six
Serial No: HM2856
Engine No: Six-cylinder in-line engine, single port block, single overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder, 6597 cc (402.5 cubic inches), 180 hp at 3500 rpm.
Wheelbase: 132 inches
Glory and heroics didn’t interest him, W.O. Bentley insisted. He was in racing strictly for business.
Bentley’s competition policy – if he couldn’t win a race, he wouldn’t bother to enter – meant that one never saw the Cricklewood cars on winding circuits or narrow road courses. The big Bentley needed plenty of room.
Ettore Bugatti’s famous remark that W.O. built the “fastest truck in the world” was perhaps tinged with a bit of envy, for Bentley’s record of winning Le Mans in four successive years was indeed impressive. In 1929 and 1930 victory was gained by the Speed Six, a Bentley so formidable in sports car races of the era that entries from competing factory teams declined. W.O. began to worry that big news would only be made with a “Bentley Doesn’t Win” headline. The headline never appeared. Because W.O. didn’t allow his cars to show any more speed than necessary to win, competitors never really knew how fast the Speed Six was. In 1931 what one scribe called an “old and tired” example won the Brooklands 500-Mile Race at the “colossal” average of 118.39 mph. It had already won Le Mans – twice...
Just 182 Speed Sixes were built. The car on display was built to team specification for Mrs. W.B. (Jill) Scott, racing wife of a more famous Brooklands racer. However, this Bentley only came into its competitive own after World War II, when it was acquired by the charming young Jean-Pierre Marechal who drove it to such good effect in races and hillclimbs that it was judged “best performer” in both Vintage Sports Car Club and Bentley Drivers Club events during 1947. Marechal’s burning ambition was to enter “PG” – his pet name for his Speed Six – for the first postwar Le Mans 24-hours in 1949, but the huge cost deterred him. Instead, he drove for Aston Martin, crashed and was fatally injured. Marechal’s dream of a vintage Bentley winning a postwar Le Mans inspired the 1950s novel “Speed Six”, but the project had died with him.
Photos – Peter Harholdt |
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Source:
The Revs Institute
Posted: Jul 26, 2018 |
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2010 |
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"Still in Miles
Collier ownership. In remarkable original
condition. Still finished in green.
Fitted with D type gear box. And chassis
is split pinned like team speed sixes. |
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Source:
Greg Porter
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 |
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on thumbnail for larger view |
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This 1930 6½
Litre had California license plates
#PIZ 532 when photo was taken. |
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Source:
Rolls-Royce by George
Fenn, 1983
Posted: Feb 02, 2007 |
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This previously
'unidentified' vintage Bentley has
been identified as Chassis No. HM2856
by Olle Ljungström.
"Photograph shows hydraulic shock
absorbers and clamp type perrot shaft/headlamp
brackets, as also fitted to Team Cars
HM2868 and HM2869. The same type of
brackets were also fitted to at least
one other Speed Six, LR2788,
G. Nutting fhc. This car was also
prepared for competition use in the
Monte Carlo Rally." |
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Source:
Olle Ljungström
Posted: Feb 15, 2008 |
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on thumbnail for larger view |
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1930 Bentley 6½
Litre by Vanden Plas was owned by
Miles C. Collier of Naples, Florida,
in the late 1980s. |
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Source:
The Classic Car: The Ultimate Book
About the World's Grandest Automobiles
by Beverly Rae Kimes, 1990.
Posted:
May 26, 2007 |
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This previously
'unidentified' vintage Bentley has
been identified as Chassis No. HM2856
by Olle Ljungström. |
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Posted:
Feb 14, 2008 |
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on thumbnail for larger view |
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Car was in the Briggs
Cunningham Automotive Museum in 1979. |
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Source:
Connoisseurs Choice
Racing, Sports & Touring Cars
by Briggs S. Cunningham and John W.
Burgess, 1979
Posted: Feb 02, 2007 |
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This previously
'unidentified' vintage Bentley has
been identified as Chassis No. HM2856
by Olle Ljungström.
"One of four 11' Speed Sixes,
the other three being factory Team
Cars. In Briggs Cunningam Museum,
Costa Mesa California from 1949." |
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Source:
Olle Ljungström
Posted: Jan 24, 2008 |
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EARLIEST
RECORD OF HISTORICAL FACTS & INFORMATION |
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Chassis No. |
HM2856 |
Engine No. |
HM2868 |
Registration
No. |
PG 7832 |
Date of Delivery: |
May 1930 |
Type of Body: |
4-seater |
Coachbuilder: |
Vanden Plas |
Type of Car: |
SP1 |
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First Owner: |
SCOTT Mrs W B |
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More Info:
According to original Vanden Plas Coachbuilder
records, this car was originally fitted
with Body No. 1658 with a 11' 1"
wheelbase Le Mans type to Vanden Plas
sketch 501; 4/1930.
Michael Hay, in his book Bentley:
The Vintage Years, 1997, states:
"D/7210. The 4th 11'WB car, raced
post war Pierre Marechal. "Split pinned
throughout. Bosh started and electrical
equipment, Autopulses, Hartfords, bar
type rad cap." USA. Vanden Plas body
no. 1658." |
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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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