Salon Retromobile Paris, February 2016

Flying Scotsman Rally, April 2014

1928 Bentley Speed Six Tourer
Registration No. XV 1430; Chassis No. WT 2265; Engine No. WT 2270

Engine: six cylinders in line, water-cooled monobloc, overhead valve, overhead camshaft, bore 100 mm, stroke 140 mm, capacity 6,597 cc. Four speed right hand change gearbox; single plate clutch; bevel Back axle. Semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear. Wheelbase 11 ft 8½ in. Tyres 7.00 x 21 in.

"A fine production in which high speed and exceptional acceleration are combined with flexible and silent running." That is how The Motor headlined their article when they road-tested the 6½ Litre Silent Speed Six — this very car — in April 1929. The big six cylinder Bentleys were of course well established and enormously successful when the first Speed Model chassis was announced before the Olympia Show in 1928. The first Speed Chassis to be produced was WT 2265 -again this very car. The new model had the compression ratio raised to about 5½ to 1, had twin S.U. carburettors and was to be offered with C or D type gearboxes and different axle ratios. Originally fitted with Gurney Nutting Weymann saloon coachwork, WT 2265 was taken to Brooklands by The Motor, where it achieved a comfortable 90mph and recorded 10-60mph acceleration in less than 18 seconds. Externally the car featured a parallel-sided radiator distinguishing it from the tapered radiator of the Standard model.

Later in its career WT 2265 was fitted with a shooting brake body and in 1954 was sold by a London car dealer for £110. It was rebodied in 1954/55 by M and D Motors of Brixton Hill, with the four seat touring coachwork it now sports.

The instrumentation is partly original, a Smith's temperature gauge is fitted, speedometer and clock are by Jaeger and the ammeter is from a 3 litre Bentley. The car now has Marchal headlamps and spotlights fitted, is equipped with cycle wings, a later windscreen and twin side-mounted spare wheels. In original form it is illustrated on P.75 and P.55 of Michael Hay's Bentley Book.

WT 2265 was actively used in the nineteen sixties during which time the engine was rebuilt but was laid up on blocks about 15 years ago and apart from an occasional turn of the engine has lain undisturbed in a country village.

The car now offers exciting scope to the restorer and must represent one of the most interesting re-discoveries in recent years. It is offered with old and new style registration documents.

Chassis no: WT2265
Registration no: XV 1430
Coachbuilder: Gurney Nutting