1931 Bentley 8.0 Litre Weyman Saloon by H.J. Mulliner
Chassis Number: YM5038
Registration number: GW2386
An amazing original time warp car. The car is documented to have covered 27.500 miles since having an engine rebuild by Mckenzie Guppy in 1967 at which time the odometer was set back to zero. The car prior to this had covered around 85,000 miles. The car is well documented in James Taylors book " Bentley six cylinder models in Detail" with a full 9 pages devoted to it.
Bodywork is an enclosed limousine by H.J Mulliner of Bedford Park Works in Chiswick West London. The body is built to the Weyman patent with a plaque denoting license number 19951 next to the Mulliner sill plate. The roof is a Weyman fabric affair with its construction clearly visible where dew formed on it during our early morning photo shoot.
The exterior of the car is finished in Green over black with the paintwork being in very fine order all round. To the interior the car is a benchmark as to how these cars were when new. The front is upholstered in its original brown leather to the seats & door cards along with brown carpets. All woodwork is original with the finish as when it left Mulliners works. To the rear is patinated west of England cloth again in utterly original preserved condition. Twin occasional seats fold out of the bulkhead making the car a true 7 seater. The occasional seats being hidden from sunlight give an idea of the fabrics original colour when new. A wind up/down division is installed in the bulkhead.
Under the bonnet the car is equally well preserved. Its original engine number YM5038 is fitted & in absolutely super order. The car has an F type gear box & 14/53 rear axle ratio. All original items have been preserved including the Galley Radiator Co Ltd Plaque on the Radiator back header tank.
Delivered new to a Mrs E Brown of 37 Cavendish Square, London W1, there are detailed records up to 1939 of the cars maintenance & incremental mileage covered. During the war the car was requisitioned by the war department & became the official car for GOC Western Command. The post war ownership chain is well documented in the history files buff log book including no less the 3 Army Majors at different times.
With the car comes a copious history file evidencing a maintenance regime conducted without expense by such luminaries as Arthur Archer, P & A Wood & also Jonathan Wood. The bills are detailed & total large sums. The history file is far too copious to photograph in its entirety so we have just photographed an assortment of the more recent ones.
The current onwer of over a decade has kept the car in his collection of a dozen or so pre war Bentley & Rolls Royce motor cars. During this time the car has motored as far afield as Denmark & the Black Forest in addition to traversing all of South America from North to South along the western side. During this trip the only problem to arise was fuel vaporization at altitude in the high Andes mountains. To counter this an electrical fuel pump has been discreetly added to augment the autovac. It is activated by a separate switch so goes unused unless called for under extreme operating conditions.
Available now, we expect to display the car on our stand at Retromobile in Paris if unsold by then. Please note that the upper two of the front mounted badges are personal to the owner & will not be included in the sale.
