1929 Bentley 4½-Liter Tourer by Vanden Plas

I’d put this price down to the mystique of an auction and congratulate the owner on courage worthy of a Bentley Boy

by Simon Kidston

Walter Owen Bentley’s automotive efforts were directed from the outset toward sporting motor cars, and the initial 4-cylinder, 3-liter models proved lively until burdened with saloon bodies. Bentley’s solution was to double displacement and horsepower to 6½ liters, but disappointing sales figures and steep production costs threatened the company’s financial stability.

Luckily, “Bentley Boy” Woolf Barnato purchased the company in 1926, and after a second victory at Le Mans in 1927, he introduced a sportier 4½-Liter available as a two-seat roadster, tourer, and refined saloon. With Barnato at the company’s helm, Bentley scored two more wins at Le Mans and many at Brooklands. Like other exclusive automakers, Bentley offered custom coachwork. Freestone & Webb, Gurney Nutting, Vickers, and Vanden Plas all produced tourer bodies for Bentleys. Vanden Plas was also employed by Rolls-Royce, Daimler, Alvis, and Lagonda.

A limited number of early Vanden...