Description
H&H Classic Auction @ The Imperial War Museum, Duxford/ Cambridgeshire
9th October, 2024 13:00
1948 Bentley MkVI James Young Saloon
Registration No: KKL 847
Chassis No: B292BH
MOT: Exempt
A highly original, matching numbers example and just over 80, 000 miles from new
Just four owners from new with copies of much period correspondence and early service history
The twelfth of just forty-nine MkVI vehicles fitted with elegant James Young 'Design C11' coachwork
Introduced in 1946, the Bentley MkVI was the first post-war Bentley of Rolls-Royce design. Rolls-Royce survived the war in somewhat good health, as it produced aero engines for the Royal Air Force, along with other engines for military vehicles. The first Bentley MkVI was delivered to its owner in September 1946, 16 months after VE Day. It was powered by a new 4. 3-litre F-head six-cylinder engine featuring overhead intake, side-mounted exhaust valves, and an aluminium alloy cylinder head.
The MkVI was also the first Bentley with standard factory-designed bodywork built by the Pressed Steel Company of Oxford, with ex-Gurney Nutting chief designer John Blatchley applying the refined detailing. The bodies were fitted to the chassis and trimmed and painted to a standard that rivaled the best coachbuilders. Custom coachwork, like that on this car, remained available at the buyer’s discretion. This was quite a change in philosophy by Bentley’s parent company, yet it reflected the reality that standardised bodies could be built in greater numbers at its new factory in Crewe, England. Through 1952, there were 4, 949 examples of the MkVI produced. Both a lovely and stately automobile, MkVIs boasted of a separate chassis featuring coil-spring independent front suspension, quite an engineering advance in its day. Sporting handsome aluminium coachwork by James Young, Ltd, considered by many to be the builder of the most handsome bodies to be worn by Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars, chassis number B292BH carries body number 1911 and design C11 from the London coachbuilder.
Supplied new via Jack Barclay Ltd at a cost of £5, 550 on the 20th February 1948 and registered as ‘KKL 847’, chassis B292BH was delivered new to Mr Charles Soukup, a Czechoslovakian-born businessman who was Managing Director of Richard Klinger Ltd based in Sidcup, Kent. Described in a James Young inter-departmental memorandum as a 'man of very small stature', Soukup was clearly a demanding individual and supplying a vehicle to his exacting standards proved to be an onerous task for all parties involved. Copies of much period correspondence relating to the various (fairly trivial) issues encountered throughout his two-year ownership are included within the car's history file. By October 1950, ‘KKL 847’ had passed into the hands of Norfolk farmer Stephen Farrow Esq and would remain in his custodianship until the car was offered for sale at auction, consigned by his family in a non-running state, during the Spring of 2013. By this time, the car is thought to have spent approximately 23 years off the road, however dry storage in one Mr. Farrow's barns did a great job of preserving the superb patina. The previous owner purchased the car at the auction and expeditiously set about putting it back into road-worthy order - this process was fully documented. This recommissioning included the removal and cleaning of the fuel tank, overhaul of the fuel pumps (by Burlen Services), replacement of brake seals and hoses and repainting of parts of the front and rear wings in period-correct cellulose which has also accumulated a well-matched patina to the rest of the car.
Having enjoyed eight years with the previous owner, the hand-built Bentley was to be sold via H&H to the current owner in 2021. Being a gentleman who is fastidious with his motorcars who served his apprenticeship as a coachbuilder, he immediately set about lifting the Bentley further with the first job being repair to the nearside rear door frame to exacting standards, as it was found that the sheer weight of the James Young doors had nearly torn the door hinges from its mountings. Further improving the exterior, the vendor had the unique mountings for the Notek spotlights re-chromed due to what he deemed to be excessive corrosion, and he also elected to spend many hours feeding the leather interior with as he describes ‘every brand of hide cream imaginable’. The vendor has kept the car in a well serviced, road-going order and much of this work is documented within the history file; and so trusting is he of B292BH that he enjoyed a tour of the continent during 2023. The vendor has also elected to discretely add flashing winkers within the original light fittings for safety reasons. The recent acquisition of another coach built post-war Bentley has made B292BH redundant in his life, and therefore he has taken the decision to offer it for sale. The vendor rates the mechanical condition as being ‘very good’, with the bodywork condition as also being ‘very good’, factoring in that this is a survivor car that would almost be a great shame to restore.
Offered with an extensive history file, including copies of the original servicing notes within the owners manual, B292BH should bring hours of enjoyment to any prospective new owner.
