07/09/2022
1936 Bentley one off ! i was my privilege to work in this beautiful project , Thanks to Mr. G. Moore .
1936 Bentley 4 1/4 litre Roadster coachwork by Chalmers and Gathings built as a homage to Georges Paulin, above, won the Peoples Choice Award.
The first Bentley model produced after Rolls-Royce's acquisition of the Bentley company, the \"Derby Bentleys\" were so named because they were built at Rolls-Royce's Derby Factory (rather than Crewe). Ultimately, these would be the last cars built at that factory because it was converted to Merlin aircraft engine production during World War II, and in fact remained dedicated to aircraft engine production from that point onward.
Initially available as the 3 ½ Litre starting in 1933, the Derby Bentley evolved into the 4 ¼ in 1936. Originally intended to supplement the smaller engine car, the new model's popularity soon resulted in the discontinuation of the 3 ½. Both cars were refined and elegant, earn the famous \"silent sports car\" moniker that would become synonymous with Bentley. With 4-wheel servo-assisted brakes, the cars stopped well and had other sophisticated features such as synchromesh 3rd and 4th gears with overdrive top gear on late production cars, and cross flow cylinder heads. As was customary, the cars could be fitted with bodies from a variety of coach builders. About half of all cars built employed Park Ward bodies, with the remainder supplied from the standard (and not-so-standard) coachbuilders.
This particular example is an award-winning one-of-a-kind car. It was designed and constructed over an 18 year period by its enthusiastic owner, who is a graduate of Art Center College of Design (which along with the College for Creative Studies, supplies the majority of American car designers) and founder of a design consultancy. He is also a longtime Bentley enthusiast who in addition to an R-Type Continental he owned for over thirty years, has owned many Derby Bentleys, including a one-off Vanvooren drophead that placed second in class at Pebble Beach during his ownership.
The design of this car began as a series of sketches in 1992. He purchased this 4 ¼ liter Derby Bentley in 1993, selling the Gurney Nutting coachwork to another enthusiast and comprehensively restoring the rolling chassis and driveline over the next eight years with MD Coachworks in Van Nuys. Meanwhile, along with other Art Center collaborators, the sketches were realized as full scale lofts, proper drawings created, and a wooden body buck and ash frame were constructed by Doug Chalmers. The all aluminum body was hand built by Bill Gathings. The styling draws heavily on the work of Georges Paulin, who designed among other cars, the famous Embiricos Bentley to which this car bears considerable resemblance.
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