Description
Kelham Hall | Newark, Nottinghamshire Viewing: Tues 22nd September 2026 from 12pm Auction: Weds 23rd September 2026 12pm Location: Kelham Hall Main Street, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG23 5QX Registration No: UC 3260Chassis No: HF 3192MOT: Exempt An original Vanden Plas bodied four-seater tourer, with a uniquely fitted driver’s door, specified by the first owner, Lady Alness Presented in gorgeous ‘oily rag’ condition Reunited with its original matching-numbers engine block in 2015 Fitted with the desirable D-type close-ratio gearbox Entered from the Evison Family Collection The Bentley Three Litre’s reputation for performance had been hard won, but by 1926 an increasing number of rivals were fielding machines with a similar turn of speed. Eager to reassert its superiority whilst simultaneously conscious that customers were opting for ever heavier and more elaborate coachwork, the Cricklewood marque began work on a more potent four-cylinder design. Christened the 4½ Litre, the incoming model utilised the proven chassis frame, transmission, brakes and sundry other components of the Three Litre but allied them to a new engine derived from that of the flagship six-cylinder 6½ Litre. Sharing the same bore and stroke dimensions as its larger sibling (100mm x 140mm) but retaining the Three Litre’s shaft-and-helical camshaft drive, not to mention Bentley’s fixed-head architecture and four-valves-per-cylinder layout, the resultant 4½ Litre unit (4, 398cc) yielded plentiful power and torque plus the wonderful ‘bloody thump’ engine note for which the company’s four-cylinder cars were renowned. Progressively developed over its four-year production run (1927-1931), the model gained a plate (rather than cone) clutch, more efficient front brakes and a heavy crankshaft, etc. Of the 669 Bentley 4½ Litre chassis made, all but ten of them reputedly sat on the 10ft. 10in. wheelbase (the others being special order variants on a shorter 9ft. 9½in. frame). No stranger to competition, Bentley’s largest four-cylinder creation contributed to the marque’s enviable Le Mans 24 Hours pedigree with an outright victory in 1928 and second, third and fourth places the following year. The 4½ Litre also distinguished itself at Brooklands, winning the circuit’s prestigious 500-Mile race during 1929, not to mentioning contesting the Tourist Trophy and Irish Grand Prix. An outstanding 4½ Litre in a soul-stirring ‘oily rag’ condition, chassis HF3192 was bodied from new with the Vanden Plas long-wing tourer coachwork which it still sports (body number 1461) and left the factory with engine number HF3194 and a C-type gearbox. It was first registered in February 1928, to Lady Alness of Abden House in Edinburgh, an impressive Jacobean Revival mansion of 1855. Alness was no wallflower and a keen golfer; she must have caused quite a stir at the golf course when arriving in the Bentley whilst it was liveried in its original Primrose Yellow scheme with a red chassis and interior. She was certainly not shy about using it, for by 1929 it had covered 14, 700 miles, but in 1930 it had traversed Britain and gone to live with Mrs. M. J. Dobbs in Fareham, Hampshire. Its mileage was recorded as 29, 348, but she did not own it long, as it was acquired by K. Dickson of Milford-on-Sea at 30, 307 miles. Its most interesting and important owner came along in 1937 – C. J. S. “***” Mertens of Brondesbury Park, London, NW2. He was one of the earliest members of the Bentley Drivers’ Club, joining in 1938, and he now has a BDC racing trophy named in his honour. The young Mertens was perhaps a little too enthusiastic at first, as the Bentley records log the car as having been repaired twice following accidents in 1937. The works record sheet records that the most serious piece of work was that the frame was reconditioned, and a new dumb iron was fitted. It was perhaps around this time that the car was repainted black, and the wings recoloured in green. Mertens cared for it with a sincere affection until his death in the 1970s, while racing it extensively in hill-climbs, sprints, and at the BDC Silverstone meeting. Then his daughter, Mrs. Rowena Mattiucci, assumed custody for several more years, which explains its survival in such a wonderful unrestored condition. It is a point of interest that HF3192 also served as Rowena’s wedding car when she married Carlo Mattiucci in the 1960s. As such a prominent enthusiast, *** Mertens wrote an article for a series entitled “Why I Own a Bentley,” and it bears repeating: “It all started about thirty years ago when the father of a particular school friend of mine happened to be the English concessionaire for the Delage, at times Alpine-Steyr, then again Delage. I suppose I wanted something English to hold up against these foreign marques but, of course, in those days Bentley was still only a whisper. Then there came 1924 and Captain Duff’s effort in the Grand Prix d’Endurance at Le Mans, coupled with various other Bentley...
