Bonhams’ Bentley Bonanza
Bonhams is the auction house most associated with the iconic English marque Bentley, and holds the world record for the most valuable Bentley ever publicly sold – Ralph Stanley “Tim” Birkin's original Bentley Blower No. 1. At their summer Quail Lodge Auction, held during the world-famous Monterey Car Week in concert with The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Bonhams will offer some very special Bentley models.
The track can expose a weakness before you've completed a lap. On the unforgiving tarmac, flaws have no place to hide. Among all the Brooklands habitués of the 1920-30s, perhaps the most glamorous and charismatic of all celebrity pilots was the diminutive Bentley-driving Baronet, Sir Henry Ralph Stanley “Tim” Birkin.
Combining his “Bentley Boy” high-society image with a fearless driving talent, he was celebrated as a style icon and a national figure. Rakish, daring, impeccably mannered with appropriate lapses of playboy character, the militarily-mustachioed, be-goggled figure in his neat wind cap and trademark silk polka-dot scarf fluttering in the slipstream, personified the English ideal for generations of British motoring enthusiasts.
In truth, Birkin embodied far more than mere celebrity flirting with motor racing. He was intensely competitive, a born sportsman who relished racing for racing's sake, dedicated to maximizing his chances on the track, and committed wholeheartedly to making the most of whatever natural talent he possessed. And as one of motoring history's most alluring figures, the car eternally identified with Birkin is the supercharged, or “Blower”, Bentley model.
Having achieved victory in a Bentley at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1929 with co-driver Woolf Barnato, Birkin set out to create an ever better champion, convinced the secret lay in a car boosted by a supercharger. Interestingly, however, the vintage model of Bentley that is today the most iconic and sought after – the Blower – was initially totally resisted by company founder W.O. Bentley.
Undeterred, “Tiger Tim” charged forward with the help of Bentley engineer Clive Gallop, supercharger specialist Amherst Villiers, and financial backing from heiress Dorothy Paget. Birkin then convinced Barnato, an investor in Bentley Motors, to persuade (or force, depending on one's perspective) W.O. to build the mandatory 50 commercial Blower models needed in order to qualify for Le Mans. Thus one of the most fabled motorcars in British history was born.
No stranger to Bentleys, Bonhams is the auction house most associated with the iconic English marque and holds the world record for the most valuable Bentley ever publicly sold – Birkin's original Bentley Blower No. 1.
At their summer Quail Lodge Auction, held during the world-famous Monterey Car Week in concert with The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Bonhams will offer some very special Bentley models.
Taking starring roles are a 1922 3-Liter Sports Tourer – one of the oldest surviving Bentleys in the world, a desirable late model specification 1930 Speed Six Le Mans Replica Tourer, and la pièce de résistance – a 1931 4½-Liter Supercharged Birkin Le Mans Replica Tourer. This Blower is one of the hallowed 50 factory examples and was a Brooklands BARC winner in period. Over its lifetime, the rare sports-racer has been part of the highly respected private collections of the late Virgil Millett and Frederick Simeone, and represents an extremely uncommon opportunity for acquisition.
Befitting its legendary stature – in motoring history, British identity, and popular culture (James Bond's first car, as specified by author Ian Fleming, was a 4½-Liter Bentley with Amherst Villiers supercharger) – the Bentley 4½-Liter Blower model is truly a star in the automotive pantheon. Better still, as this summer marks Bentley's 100th anniversary, there is no better make or model more appropriate to celebrate.
For those with more continental tastes, the Bentleys will be accompanied by an impressive assembly of post-war automobiles, including an incredibly rare brace of Italian 8Vs – a 1953 FIAT Supersonic with coachwork by Ghia that was owned by American motorsport legend Briggs Cunningham and is one of only 15 ever built, and a one-off, bespoke-designed 1952 SIATA Berlinetta with coachwork by Bertone that was the Paris and New York Auto Shows car.