1937 Bentley 4¼ Litre Vanden Plas ‘Allweather’ Tourer

A delightfully mature and shabby, but sound and characterful, six cylinder vintage tourer. All original in specification, full of charm and running very nicely, with a sweet engine, and some lovely ‘vintage noises’ coming from the gearbox! (see the video). The car comes with considerable history, particularly from the 1960s to the 1990s, including invoices for very useful work done and some interesting correspondence from earlier owners. There are also have MoT certificates going back to 1988 and a correct, original handbook. Use it just as it is – not quite ‘oily rag’, but heading in that direction! Mot tested until September 2024.

Price £125,000

Snippets: Doris Skinner

B179JY was bought by Sir Sydney Martyn Skinner (Chairman of John Barker & Co.) as a gift for his eldest daughter Doris Irene Skinner (1903/95). Doris never married and became an astute business lady – by 1931 she had several commercial properties registered in her name – 152, 152A & 154 Rye Lane plus Nrs 1 to 6 of The Market, Choumert Road, Peckham. In May 1927 Doris was involved in a collision with a motor cyclist Mr. Maurice Verrall of Crowborough– there is no mention of what she was driving at the time! Her brother, Percy Martyn Skinner (1906/93) was not only a pig farmer but also a poet of some relevance with his most noted being “Letters to Malaya” and “The Return of Arthur. It is understood that during WWII Doris gave B179JY to Percy for use on his pig farm, in order to take advantage of war-time petrol rationing he converted B179JY to an Estate Car! Her business acumen was such that when she died she left an estate in excess of £950,000 and she still lived in the same village as she did 1927. Her younger sister, Constance Muriel, married Henry John Kingerlee, a scion of the Oxford construction firm whose roots can be traced back to the mid1800s with Thomas Kingerlee a plumber & glazier. Today the company is very much a family concern and is in the hands of the fifth generation of Kingerlees. Family members who didn’t join the firm became drapers, chemists, film printers & a private secretary to Lord Nuffield. Later owners of B179JY included a garden specialist (Bostock), a clock maker (de Save), Benetton Formula 1 technician and Rally enthusiast (Grant) and Granger Telecom Director (Verth).