Bentley 3.5-Litre

SALE AGREED


This car is a particularly lovely example, which in recent times has been treated to a full, bare metal re-spray to a very high standard in Old English White, complete re-chrome, rejuvenation of the leather, fitting of an overdrive and more besides. The result is a car which is wonderfully sound, very smart and mechanically excellent. It drives absolutely superbly, with tight, rattle-free coachwork, plenty of ‘get up and go’, and is truly one of the nicest driving Derby Bentleys that we have owned, being responsive, with a sweet engine, light steering, good brakes and comfortable ride. The cosmetic condition is lovely, ideal to use and enjoy, without being so pristine that it becomes a liability! As well as considerable documentation for work carried out on the car, the history file includes the original buff logbook from 1935, which includes some wartime period petroleum department stamps!

Chassis No. B170EF Reg No. BYK 889 £125,000.


Snippets: The Scottish Connections
Ordered by Mildred, 2nd Viscountess of Scarsdale & registered at her London home in Park Lane – other family members had town-houses in Cadogan Place, Porchester Close and Easton Place. The Scarsdales family home was none other than Kedlestone Hall which had been designed by Robert Adam a Scottish MP & architect. The 2nd Viscount & Viscountess married in 1923 just 2 years prior to the death Nathanial Curzon the 1st Viscount (Viceroy of India 1899/1905), as he died without a son the title was inherited by his nephew. In 1938 the couple applied for a divorce which was overturned by the courts and not made final until after the war, the 2nd Viscount immediately remarried to the lady in question. B170EF was only with the Viscountess for 2 years and in April 1937 the car had been acquired by Robert McCosh MC from Edinburgh. The McCosh family were involved in the firms of Baird Steel, North British Railway, J & J McCosh (solicitors) and finance. In 1911 Andrew Kirkwood McCosh (Robert’s father) purchased a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and from there the family interest in cars developed with Robert owning several early 20hps and later a Bentley MKVI. There is a delightful family tale of one of the cars being sent by train from Scotland to London during the 1940s as it was deemed too ostentatious at that time – the car never arrived at its destination!! Perhaps the train had been hit by a bomb and the car stolen in the chaos by black-marketeers!! During WWI Robert was stationed at Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine and was the recipient of OBE, MC and the Order of the Nile (for exceptional services to the nation), during WWI his brother Edward MC (Glasgow Highlanders( supplied the fireworks for the Hogmanay Celebrations of 1916/1917 whilst at Gorenflos, France, sadly Edward did not return from WWI dying just months before the end of hostilities. A later owner of B170EF was Robert Walpole whose family had been Captains of industry and commerce, making a fortune in the thriving linen industry throughout the 19thC in Eire, in the mid 1880s Edward Walpole used the family fortune to acquire Mount Usher in Ashford, Co Wicklow which he transformed into a garden of outstanding beauty planted with many rare species.