1l7CcRC

‘Motoring in its very highest form,’ eulogised The Autocar inDecember 1930, having recorded a top speed of 101.12mph in WO Bentley’s own saloon-bodied 8-Litre over the half-mile. Between1930 and 1939, Britain’s foremost motoring magazine betteredthat figure only once, while testing an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. The8-Litre was destined to remain the fastest production Bentley untilthe R-Type Continental’s arrival in 1953.Completed in September 1931 and the 62nd of the 100 typeproduced, Bentley 8-Litre chassis number ‘YM 5042’, completewith F-type gearbox number ‘8068’, was delivered to leadingLondon coachbuilder Freestone & Webb for bodying as anenclosed limousine. Factory records show that the car was builton the longer (13’) wheelbase chassis to ‘our own body order’.However, one unusual feature was the hinged door in the back ofthe body, supposedly for the accommodation of a passenger in abath chair, which presumably was incorporated at the request ofthe original owner, Mr John Russell of Parrock Manor, Gravesend.‘YM5042’ was delivered via Bentley agents Lion Garage ofGravesend, Kent and first registered ‘KJ 3154’. The only other ownerlisted in the pre-war factory records is Harold Lewis Good (1939).After the war, ‘YM5042’ was owned by a J Ellis in 1949 followedby Billie North (1953), R H Owthwaite (1955), Major F R Ingham(1959 and P S Petrie of Cross-in-Hand, Sussex (1960). In 1966Mr Petrie took the Bentley to Hofmann & Burton of Henley-on-Thames, one of the leading marque specialists of the day, andasked them to rebuild it as a copy of another 8-Litre, ‘YM5047’,which had recently been rebuilt by H&B with an open sportsbody on a shortened chassis with lowered bulkhead and radiator.‘YM5042’ was duly modified in similar manner, the chassis beingshortened by 18” to a wheelbase of 11’ 6” and the bulkhead andradiator shortened. To maintain cooling area, the original dynamowas dispensed with and replaced with a modern one driven offthe clutch shaft.232 | Goodwood festival of speed