[ MONTH IN CARS ] Barn finds
Almost 80-year-old saloon emerges from a near-five-decade hibernation
Recommission Bentley as-is or make it all shiny again?
A 1936 Bentley 3½-litre Park Ward saloon was ordered brand-new by Captain Archie Frazer-Nash, creator of the famous chain-driven sports cars of the same name. Frazer Nash had relinquished control of the car business to HJ Aldington in 1929 but found some new success with a variety of engineering interests. These clearly provided enough income to live well, as he kept this rakish four-door Bentley for only a short time before trading it in against the new 4¼-litre version that Bentley introduced the same year.
It remained in London with a second owner until 1945, thereafter moving to Birmingham, finding its most recent keeper in April 1964. At the time, this gentleman lived in West Bromwich, later moving to Great Barr, where the car has been laid up since 1978. It was apparently in useable condition at the time of it entering storage, having a fresh MoT when parked up. The reason for the internment remains unclear but it may well have been decided with an intention to improve the car’s cosmetics – a job that was sadly never started. The car was recently extracted from a Birmingham lock-up after not turning a wheel in more than 45 years, though, and has now arrived with early Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialist the Real Car Company in Bangor, North Wales.
‘The Bentley has a really nice, correct feel,’ says Real Car’s Ray Arnold, ‘and it seems structurally good, too. The front doors in particular shut with a lovely “click”. We’ve had the car up and running on a temporary fuel supply and even driven it around the yard a little, and overall, it sounds pretty good, bar a noisy exhaust. Pleasingly, it does indeed seem to have been mechanically sound when laid up. The paint is flaking off though, and the interior hide looks non-original to me – it’s a bit rough and the carpets have sadly had it. An oily rag car, or restoration? A lovely touch is the original Jack Barclay tax disc holder with the car’s chassis number on it.’
Car been in its most recent owner’s hands since 1964
Period tax disc is a nice touch
The six-cylinder engine fires and runs
Structurally, the car appears good after 45 years of rest
Vibrant but worn interior suspected non-original
Grandfather’s Lancia Fulvia preserved for 30 years
Mid-Sixties Fulvia has sat unloved since mid-Nineties
This 1965 or 1966 Lancia Fulvia coupé was acquired by a watchmaker in the North Holland city of Den Helder on his retirement in the mid-Nineties. Sadly, the unfortunate new owner died of a heart attack soon after and never got to enjoy his car. Its ownership subsequently passed to his son, but the Lancia sadly remained in the same garage without ever seeing any use. Time moves on, and since his son has now also died, ownership of the little Italian car passes to the late watchmaker’s granddaughter, Rose Bakker.
‘The car deserves a second chance, and some love,’ says Rose. ‘The inside is still in perfect condition and when I step into it, it’s a real blast from the past – like my grandfather has only just stepped out. The car’s Dutch registration is present, along with the paperwork, some books and even a brochure. It’s very original so I’m looking for someone with magic hands who is willing to fix it, not just use it for parts.’
The Lancia’s structural condition is hard to assess from the photographs but a bloom of surface rust and a broken headlamp may well be the extent of the damage. This is a 1.3 Rallye, a Series 1 car, made before the Fiat takeover in 1969. Interested parties can contact classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk.
Despite its age, interior looks new
Originality extends to the radio set fitted when new
V4 engine of 1.3 Rallye has 1298cc and 86bhp
Current owner doesn’t want car to become a parts donor
Dream-spec ‘Pagoda’ Mercedes in Pacific north-west
Reason for Merc’s original lay up unknown
‘Time warp’ is an over-used phrase when describing long-stored cars, but there is something of the Marie Celeste about this 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SL, recently extracted from a wooden building on a rural property in Washington State. The green-on-white Washington plate expired in October 1987 and sits in a Seattle Mercedes-Benz plate holder. This last year on the road does not entirely chime with the cassette tapes resting in the centre console: Jackson Browne, the Marshall Tucker Band and the Starland Vocal Band.
Service stickers reveal a new battery ten years before and an oil change somewhat more recently, but nothing hints at the reason for laying up an apparently sound, solid car – hopefully the few rounds of live ammunition mingling with the tools in the boot have nothing to do with it. The mileage of 33,205 may be all it ever did, or once round the clock.
Especially attractive is this car’s specification: the combination of a fuel-injected 2.8-litre engine with manual transmission should be appealing to buyers, plus the original factory hard-top is in place. Black hide inside, with what appears to be Dark Burgundy or Maroon paint, should give bidders confidence in spending what’s required to buy, clean and recommission the car. It crosses the block with Bonhams at Quail Lodge on 15 August.
Has this SL been in storage since the Eighties?
Fuel-injected 2.8-litre engine and manual ’box a desirable combination
Factory hard-top has remained with the car
Maroon paint and black interior should welcome bidders
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