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1929 Bentley 6½ Litre |
Chassis No. KF2400
Engine No. KF2400 / WB2556
Registration No. PK 9460 / JD 9961 |
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2004 |
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3 Sep 2004: Chichester, Goodwood
Collectors' Motor Cars
1929 Bentley Speed Six Boat-Tail
Two-Seater
Coachwork by Barker & Company
Registration no. JD 9961
Chassis no. KF2400
Engine no. WB2556 (originally KF2400)
Sold for
£309,500 inc. premium
Few cars have the sheer
presence of a big vintage Bentley,
and few could outrank this stunning
two-seater Speed Six with its extravagant
11ft 6in wheelbase. It is reputed
to have originally been ordered by
the Duke of Kent, but when he decided
not to take delivery, the car was
sold to stockbroker Ralph Jump of
Guildford, Surrey, in July 1929. Beneath
its flamboyant bodywork, this car
has a similar mechanical specification
to the car that won Le Mans in 1929
and 1930. This was one of three Speed
Sixes of similar design built by Barker,
of which one is lost and one is in
America.
In 1937 it was acquired by Mr Deryck
Hyland, an American working in England,
who used the car to drive from his
home in Hampstead to his office in
the City of London every day. In 1974
he told George Milligen: I do recall
one weekend causing a great scene
in Bournemouth when I towed my speedboat
to our house in Canford Cliffs and
when I stopped for a drink at the
Pembroke Grill the police asked if
I would move on as the tout ensemble
measured some 40 feet and there was
a crowd of sightseeing people all
gaping at the behemoth!
He sold the car in 1938 to H.B.Sayer,
and in late 1940 it was acquired by
the Brooklands racing motorcyclist
Charles Mortimer.
Laid up during most of the war, it
was found in Bristol in fairly rough
condition by veteran and vintage car
expert Leonard Taylor, who restored
it with the help of Leslie Pennall,
a master mechanic who had worked on
W.O. Bentleys at the works right from
the 1919 prototype. Aided by Pennall,
Mr Taylor replaced the badly worn
power unit with the engine from his
crashed Corsica-bodied car, an early
6.5-litre unit that had been rebuilt
to Speed Six specification by the
great L.C.McKenzie, the leading W.O.
Bentley expert of the 1930s. Mr Taylor
re-registered the car KYA 639 to take
advantage of the recently-introduced
£10 flat rate road tax that
was then only available on newly-registered
cars.
It behaved beautifully and would cruise
all day at any speed with the engine
turning over at 1000 rpm per 30 mph,
he recalled. On that car I could change
down from top to third at 80 mph without
a sound.
Soon after completing the rebuild,
Mr Taylor sold the car to his friend
Cyril Miers of Harrogate, a well-known
Veteran Car Club member and most meticulous
engineer. During the next 25 years,
he only covered some 2000 miles with
the Speed Six, selling it to George
Milligen in 1974 for £15,000.
Mr Milligen attempted to regain the
original registration to replace the
1940s number, but it was not available,
so he obtained the more suitable JD
9961 index from a series first issued
in 1929. Over the next 25 years he
covered some 70,000 miles in the Bentley
in Britain and on the Continent, and
maintained it with his customary attention
to detail, the many bills in the file
including an engine rebuild by Arthur
Archer of Dunmow.
This Bentley's supremely elegant bodywork
led to its being one of only two W.O.
Bentleys to be selected for the exclusive
display of British coachbuilt cars
organised in 1986 at Ragley Hall by
the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers
and Coach Harness Makers to celebrate
the Centenary of the Motor Car.
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Source:
Bonhams
Posted: May 30, 2013 |
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Source:
MotorSnippets
Posted: Feb 14, 2009 |
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2003 |
In
England in 2003 / Owned by a BDC member |
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1929 Bentley Speed
Six 2-Seater by Freestone & Webb.
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Source:
A History of Sports Cars by G.
N. Georgano, 1970
Posted:
Jun 01, 2007 |
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The car in above
photograph has been identified as
Chassis no. KF2400 by our reader Ernst
Jan Krudop. Ernst provides two references:
Ref: Bentley, The Vintage Years,
page 60; Ref: A Pride of Bentleys,
page 52-53. May 13, 2009
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Source:
From Chariot to Car by Robert
J. Priest, 1930, which was produced
for Barker & Co. (Coachbuilders)
Ltd.
Posted: Apr 23, 2007 |
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EARLIEST
RECORD OF HISTORICAL FACTS & INFORMATION |
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Chassis No. |
KF2400 |
Engine No.
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KF2400 |
Registration
No. |
PK 9460 |
Date of Delivery: |
Jul 1929 |
Type
of Body: |
2-seater |
Coachbuilder:
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Barker |
Type of Car: |
SP2 |
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First Owner: |
Ralph Jump |
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More Info:
Michael Hay, in his book Bentley:
The Vintage Years, 1997, states:
"Olympia show car. Reg KYA 639
- now JD 9961. Eng 2556 ex WB 2558." |
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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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