Bentley 4 1/4 Pillarless Saloon par Vanvooren – 1936 - Lot 30

Bentley 4 1/4 Pillarless Saloon par Vanvooren – 1936 English registration title Sold without contrôle technique SANS RÉSERVE In the 1920s, Bentley expanded its reputation and cemented its status by winning one of the most prestigious and demanding motor races of the time: the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. The British firm racked up no fewer than five victories between 1924 and 1930 (including four consecutive wins between 1927 and 1930). Despite these successes, Walter Owen Bentley found himself in serious financial difficulty and was forced to sell the company that bore his name to his long-time rival, Rolls-Royce. Although the new Bentleys made in Derby (the Rolls-Royce factory where their production was relocated) retained a touch of sportiness, they were now designed to be elegant and comfortable. They were, in a way, Rolls-Royce bis. The ‘new’ 3½ Litre was produced until 1936, before being replaced by the famous 4¼ Litre, capable of travelling at over 150 km/h in complete comfort. A total of 1,234 Bentley Derby 4¼ Litre cars were produced between 1936 and 1939, replaced in 1940 by the Mk V. After purchasing a chassis, the customer had the car bodywork done at the workshop of their choice from among the myriad specialists on the market. #B244GA was thus bodied by Vanvooren in 1936 at the request of Jean-Paul Boucheron, owner of the largest music publishing house in Paris, parliamentary secretary, golf champion and son of one of the richest families in France. He owned a large collection of luxury cars, mainly Bugattis, Bentleys and Hispano-Suizas. He died in 1944, aged just 29. His father kept the car until his own death in 1952, when it was acquired by a family friend, an English doctor who repatriated it across the Channel. It remained parked in his house filled with antiques, unused, until 2001, when it was acquired by a Bentley enthusiast named Graham Firth, who simply had the upholstery redone in 2015, a year before the current owner purchased it. A veritable time capsule, this extremely rare Bentley Vanvooren (two only survivors in this configuration out of the 70 Bentleys bodied by Vanvooren) awaits a complete mechanical restoration and bodywork before regaining its lustre and hitting the road to the most beautiful events of its kind, offering comfort, luxury and performance to its occupants.