​1929 Bentley Speed Six Gurney Nutting

              
​​​​​​​POA
              
ENQUIRE
            

• Overview

  One of the most important Speed Sixes to exist

  Breathtakingly original everywhere

  ’Short’ rear doors, to suggest a ‘Coupe’ side profile

  Late example, featuring the Le Mans developments

  Wins at Chantilly and Salon Privé centenary celebrations

  3rd place at Pebble Beach Pre-war Preservation in 2017

  Part of the Historic Collection since Feb 2018

• The sole surviving Gurney Nutting Weymann-bodied Speed Six. 

  Towards the end of 1928 it was clear that Bentley’s previously dominant 4.5 litre was starting to run out of steam as the competitors caught up. Mercedes locked out all podium positions at the German Grand Prix and the best that Bentley could manage was 5th and 7th at the RAC Tourist Trophy of that year.  Something new and advanced was needed to stay ahead of the competition…

  In October 1928 the Bentley Speed Six was introduced at the Olympia Motorshow. The Speed Six took the position of a sports version of the standard 6½ litre road car. W.O Bentley allocated a Standard Six chassis to the Bentley race shop to be developed for the 1929 season. 

  They were very satisfied with this new platform and the Speed Six was introduced for sale to the general public to comply with the Le Mans regulations. Bentley built 544 6½ litre models with just 182 of these being built to Speed Six specification.

The speed version featured an uprated engine with twin SU carburettors and a higher compression ratio pushing power from 147 to 160bhp. This allowed the Speed Six to reach speeds comfortably in excess of 100mph! The race cars were tuned up to 200bhp and extremely dominant, this allowed Bentley to continue their endurance dominance with Le Mans wins in 1929 and 1930 completing four years of back to back wins in the iconic Bentley Boys era. Being a 1930 car this is one of the last Speed Sixes meaning that it carries a number of Le Mans tested upgrades such as a stronger camshaft and C type gearbox. Due to the racing success, W.O Bentley even went as far as to declare the Speed Six as his favourite car!

This car was bodied by Gurney Nutting with the four door Weymann saloon body, this proved to be a rare specification as most customers opted for open bodies for the sports car. Gurney Nutting bodied just 16 examples with the Weymann Saloon body and today this is the only surviving example. We think that the closed bodied saloon specification offers the perfect balance between outstanding performance and luxury in a relatively understated package.

This car was delivered new to Canterbury and used sparingly by the first few owners. In 1958 it was advertised in Motorsport magazine where it took the fancy of Lieutenant Colonel Brainerd, an American Air Force man serving in the UK. He shipped the car home to the US and maintained it for 30 years, keeping it road ready yet maintaining originality as much as possible. In the late 1980’s it was sold back to the UK where it remained in Berkshire until recently. It was extremely well looked after and used for annual family trips to the Isle of White and trips to Bordeaux. During this time it was expertly looked after by well known marque specialists Elmdown Engineering.

In more recent times this car has seen plenty of success on the global concours circuit. In 2017 it won 3rd place at Pebble Beach in the prestigious and extremely competitive Prewar Preservation class. Then in 2019 it was also entered into the special Bentley centenary concours celebration class at Chantilly Arts & Elegance, it also took part in the Bentley centenary celebrations at Salon Privé. It received a prize for originality in both of these 2019 concours appearances.