1927 Bentley 6½ Litre Le Mans Sports

This car, Lot 48, sold for $1,210,000, including buyer’s premium, at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction at the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center on August 15, 2015.

Ettore Bugatti derisively called them “trucks.” And compared to such elegantly engineered machines as the Type 35 Bugatti, Bentley’s contemporary racers would have appeared ungainly and indelicate.

But while Signore Bugatti’s creations — including the decidedly porcine Type 57G “Tank” — won the 24 Hours of Le Mans only twice, these big English lorries took the checkered flag five times in seven years. Add the 2003 win under Volkswagen’s ownership, and Bentley counts six overall victories at Circuit de la Sarthe.

Those successes leave behind such legendary 24-hour victors as Alfa Romeo, Ford, Matra and Mercedes-Benz. And only Audi, Ferrari and Porsche can claim better serial dominance at the twice-around-the-clock classic, still arguably Europe’s biggest motor race.

Clearly, these “trucks” were rugged, fast, and contrary to the trash talk, well engineered. Their legendary status in the pantheon of motorsport history has been hard earned and is well-deserved.

The first trio of Le Mans victories were with 4-cylinder cars, but it was clear that to remain competitive Bentley would need more power. Founder W.O. Bentley was an early advocate of there being no substitute for cubic inches, so it was the adaptation of the 6½-liter, 6-cylinder engine for racing that powered Bentley’s final pre-war victories in a car known as Old Number One.

The 6½-liter engine was initially developed to provide adequate performance for large passenger cars with heavy saloon-style coachwork. A new, sturdier chassis, offered in several different wheelbases, was laid out to further support these bigger cars. It was from this overbuilt chassis and engine combination that the Bentley Speed Six was born.

Swapping bodies? No problem!

It is important to remember that Bentley — along with many other high-end marques of the time — sold cars without bodies, so it was not especially difficult to swap them out. Many cars lost their original bodies as a result of changing tastes, wartime scrap drives or change in ownership. Others yet were abandoned simply because of age.

A lot of Bentleys of the period, for both street and track use, were fitted with lightweight, treated “cloth” bodies, not unlike early airplane fuselages. Our subject vehicle was just such a car, as the original Weymann-style cloth saloon body was formed over an ash wood structure. For any car to still be wearing its original cloth body after almost 90 years would be highly unusual and would have conferred a hefty premium on our subject car’s purchase price had it been in place.

This begins to scratch at the long-held belief in Bentley circles that it is perfectly acceptable for one of their beloved to be less than original.

I don’t know if that philosophy was thrust onto them by necessity, but if the Bentley Drivers Club were to insist their members comply with what other marque clubs considered original, it would likely make for a small gathering. I suspect very few of the remaining examples could claim to be genuinely original, in the purest sense of the word.

This point is further acknowledged on the authoritative website vintagebentleys.org:

“Unlike standard cars, vintage Bentleys are constantly being rebuilt, parts exchanged from one car to another, etc.… The fact that we are well aware of the questionable authenticity of vintage Bentleys has led to our objective of determining how authentic the cars are by dealing with current and past owners and getting them to validate modifications that have been made to their cars.”

This less-than-precise forensic approach has serious limitations, and to some degree indicates the futility of a narrow definition of originality when discussing early Bentleys. This passage was written by a man who has researched the early cars for over 40 years.

So you can surmise the life our subject car, the rebodied BX2416, had led until its restoration is not unusual. Arguably, the car is more unique for the fact that it retains so many of its original parts: the chassis, engine, steering box and rear axle it was born with are still with BX2416.

Still racing

The header on the Bentley Drivers Club webpage reads, “Racers. Adventurers. Connoisseurs. Perfectionists. Bentley Drivers.” I find the prioritization of these attributes speaks volumes about the spirit of the Bentley community, especially in the U.K., where full grids of these old warhorses can be found on race tracks on a regular basis.

While I do not own an old Bentley, I would submit that one of the most appealing aspects for the lucky few would be to actually drive it without the fear of breaking the irreplaceable. Remember, originality is only a relative term for the cars from Cricklewood.

A road warrior

It is within this context of regular use that our subject car carries tremendous value. BX2416, since its restoration in 2010, has competed in many concours and rallies and logged almost 10,000 miles. In fact, placed on the right flank of its cowl are decals from two editions of the Colorado Grand, as well as one from the “Europe by Bentley” tour, a 3,000-mile journey with the Bentley Drivers Club that went from London to Italy and back.

This was one of four cars consigned by Mr. Ron Rezek, who stood nearby answering questions every day of the auction preview. Restored and prepared to a very high standard, this car exudes the brutish presence of a contemporary Speed Six. It was one of my favorites at the auction.

And I was far from alone in my admiration. I watched as a very prominent collector spent the better part of an hour inspecting and learning how to operate BX2416. I sincerely hope he, or someone like him, was the winning bidder. If so, it bodes very well for the future of this automobile and it will be used as it should.

More than 90 years since its first Le Mans victory, the Bentley legend is still strong, and this car brought fair, market-correct money. But given its unquestionable usability and quality, I believe this car was exceptionally well bought. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of Gooding & Company.)