Celebrating Bentley at Pebble Beach

As we approach the third Sunday in August this year that will end yet another epic week of cargeist, let’s look back at the celebration of Bentley from 2019. Over 50 Bentleys were on display at Pebble that day, an incredible array of historic cars from one marque. As with them all, the two featured below from the British manufacturer also have their stories.

This 1921 Two Seater is the third Bentley ever built and the very first to be delivered to a customer. It was delivered August 3, 1921 to Ivor Llewelyn of Monmouthshire, Wales. Ivor happened to be the father of Desmond Llewelyn, famous for his part as the techno-wizard “Q” in the James Bond films. Despite all odds, this car has survived with all its original parts. The scratched aluminum and varnished body is also largely original except for the rear, which was re-fabricated in aluminum after, at his wife’s request, Ivor added a rumble seat made from steel. The car came into the hands of the current owner in 2011 at the Gooding Pebble Beach auction where $962,500 was paid. Thurston Twigg-Smith, Jr., the previous owner, opportunistically obtained the car in pieces from his dentist-friend’s wife after their divorce in 1994. I wonder how that went over.

Pictured above is yet another car guy who doesn’t mind showing his enthusiasm. Australian Peter Briggs show off his period correct white racing overalls. Peter is seen here talking cars and in the title picture above fussing over his wonderful, aluminum-bodied 4-seater. As a nod to authenticity and the history of this automobile, Peter also has the name of the car’s first owner, John Duff, emblazoned on his whites. Based in London, Duff, who was one of the first official Bentley dealers, had Bentley prepare this car for the first 24 Hours of LeMans in 1923. 

At that time the roads of LeMans were dirt and gravel. As a result, the car (along with many others) suffered on this terrible track, strewn with stones that seemed to specialize in taking out radiators and puncturing tires. Still, Duff and his co-driver, Bentley works racer Frank Clement, managed to finish fourth. Interestingly, it was the only non-French car to compete that year.

The following year John Duff and Frank Clements returned as a fully Bentley-sponsored team. It resulted in victory, and started a run of Bentley teams that yielded five victories in the intervening seven years, including those of the famous Bentley Boys Woolf Barnato (three times) and Tim Birkin.

The car went on to a more humble life as a daily driver for several decades before collector Tom Wheatcroft discovered it. Tom sold the car to Peter, who returned it to the original LeMans specification we see here.

This is another Gurney Nutting-bodied car built for Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato. Since both he and two-time LeMans winner (and, of course, fellow Bentley Boy) Tim Birkin talked W.O. Bentley into offering a supercharged car, it seems more than appropriate Barnato should have owned one of the 50 production versions that were built. Tim Birkin certainly did. In fact, his race team fielded 4 Blower Bentleys at LeMans between 1928 and 1930. W.O. never liked the idea, maintaining supercharging would “pervert the design and corrupt the performance” of his engine. Birkin’s LeMans cars proved him right with reliability issues and less dominance than envisioned (For more on the Bentley Boys, see my post “1926 Bentley 6-1/2 Liter “Woolfe” Speed Six“).

Like the “Blue Train” Gurney Nutting Speed Six from the previous page, this car reflects Barnato’s taste for extravagantly-bodied sports cars. The boattail rear end and flared fenders made it a stunning partner to his fabulous 3-seat “Blue Train.”

All 5,456 pre-1940 Bentleys were hand-made, coach-built cars involving almost 200 different coachbuilders. Of those, Vanden Plas built the most with 664 cars. Gurney Nutting was next with 371.

In celebrating Bentley’s 100th year, the 50 Bentleys at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours were displayed in six classes , an absolutely incredible exhibition.