On the market: a unique, concours-star Bentley

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The summer might seem a long way off yet, but time flies, and it'll be concours season before you know it. Amelia Island will be with us in early March, and then it's only a couple of months until Villa d'Este by the beautiful Lake Como. Wouldn't it be nice to be one of those happy people, lounging on an immaculate sun-drenched lawn and sipping from flutes of golden Moët et Chandon, surrounded by the world's finest cars...

Rakish one-off bodywork

This beautiful Bentley is just the thing you need. It's a 1937 4¼-Litre model, chassis b7JY, and it sports the most exquisite coachwork by Hooper of London. The all-weather body was a one-off for this car and typifies Hooper's elegant designs. With the top raised, the rakishly low roofline really becomes apparent, and gives the Bentley a really dashing sense of urgency. The flashy chrome dash, original to the car, is a particularly interesting feature.

When new, it was registered in England as DXV 141 and sold to an elderly owner, Mr. R. L. Jump. It is thought that perhaps the roofline was a touch too low to be comfortable for him, so it was returned to Hooper after less than a year. In the 1950s, it received an extensive overhaul from Bentley, and since then it has only been used sparingly. From 1965 to 2009, it resided in America, where it only covered 6000 miles, spending much of its time as a showroom exhibit in Indiana.

Recent concours restoration

Lately, the Bentley has benefitted from a comprehensive cosmetic restoration, including repainting, retrimming and brightwork replating, and has had an engine rebuild by Bentley specialist Werner Mork. The finished car is a truly thing of beauty, so it's no surprise that it's already appeared at two major concours, Villa d'Este and Masterpieces at Schloss Dyck.

It is located in Austria and is being sold by Vintage & Prestige for £325,000, complete with Austrian and British registrations.

Words: Zack Stiling; pictures: Vintage & Prestige
 

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