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1936 Bentley 4¼ Litre Veth & Zoon
#27
1936 Bentley 4¼ by Veth & Zoon
Owner Michael Dacre
BELOW Veth & Zoon was commissioned to mimic the style of contemporary Mercedes models. OPPOSITE This elegant Bentley spent many years in the US before returning to the United Kingdom. THE BENTLEY 4¼ LITRE WAS A DEVELOPMENT OF THE previous 3½ litre, a car famed for its strong yet light chassis.
However, coachwork was getting ever heavier and the car’s rivals were challenging its performance status, so the Rolls-Royce-derived straight-six was bored out to 4.3 litres to bring Bentley to the forefront of performance luxury cars.
Many of the 1234 built were bodied by Park Ward, but this unique and stunning Derby Bentley is the only Derby 4¼ to have been bodied by Dutch coachbuilding firm Veth & Zoon, coachbuilders to the Dutch Royal Family.
The chassis was despatched to the Netherlands in March 1936 and delivered to Mr S Van Linge in Amsterdam for the sum of £870. He allegedly preferred the luxuriously elegant looks of the Mercedes of the time, but admired the Bentley’s chassis and therefore requested that the Bentley’s styling should reflect this, getting the best of both worlds. Production records show Mr Van Linge requested B90GA to be ‘springs rather stiff – to be driven at high speed’.
After World War Two, B90GA was bought by a US officer and taken home to the United States in 1946, where it remained for the next 46 years. During this period, the car was for some considerable time dismantled by an American restorer. Handwritten notes from the time show that this particular person had a modus operandi of drawing out long and expensive restorations, often resulting in the owner giving up on the car, or even worse, passing away leaving the car in his hands.
Thankfully, B90GA did not succumb to this fate, and in 1992 the car was returned to the United Kingdom by C Horsley. In 1994 it was purchased by D Mason, who regularly campaigned the car and attended numerous Bentley Drivers Club (BDC) events, winning a BDC Concours award in 1996. In 2008 the car was transferred to G Howitt, who during his ownership undertook a full restoration to concours standard with Alpine Eagle.
In 2017 the car was bought by T Lister who enjoyed showing the car, gaining a Special Prize award in 2019 at Chantilly Arts & Elegance Concours d’Elegance.
Now part of the Labora Collection, the car has been subtly and sympathetically revised, removing modern additions so that the car presents as it was intended originally. Retaining all of its original matching numbers components, B90GA has clocked well over 100,000km on its travels and is a testament to the durability and endurance of Bentley.
ENGINE
4.3-litre, in-line six-cylinder, 12 valves, water-cooled, 125bhp, twin SU carburettors
CONFIGURATION Front-engine, four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive, steel body, rigid axles front and rear with semielliptic leaf springs and dampers, drum brakes all-round
