An old classic Bentley will be sold in the open market for a record price of £5 million, making it the most expensive British classic ever to be sold. The 1929 Bentley 4.5 Litre, which belonged to British racing champion Sir Henry ‘Tiger Tim’ Birkin, shot to fame when it touched a staggering 137mph during the illustrious Brooklands Outer Circuit in 1931.
With a slated sale price of £5 million, the Bentley could well become the most expensive British classic car ever sold publicly. The current record-holder for highest price is a 1904 Rolls-Royce, which fetched £3.5 million when it was sold in 2007. Adjusting for inflation, that price reaches till £4 million in the present day.
The vehicle is a bright red Bentley and is part of George Daniels collection. This collection is set to be auctioned off on June 29th during the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Talking about the man behind the wheel, Sir Henry Birkin was one of the most popular of the Bentley Boys, which was a group of rich, influential men who were into serious racing during the Roaring 20s. The Bentley Boys shared four consecutive victories at the Le Mans track and one of their members, Woolf ‘Babe’ Barnato, bought the British car company, Bentley.
After Sir Birkin’s tragic demise in a freak accident, the Bentley was sold to George Daniels, a legendary horologist who kept it until his death in 2011.
The vehicle is known as a Bentley Blower and comes packed with a 4.5-litre supercharged engine, capable of producing 240bhp. This was an awesome statistic back in the 1930s so it is easy to understand why the Blower has been immortalised in the annals of racing history. With merely 54 models built, classic car enthusiast George Daniels kept it as his prized possession until his death.
Now, with the car up for sale, plenty of classic car aficionados have already started rubbing their palms in anticipation. Of course, the exorbitant price tag of £5 million would deter most away, but there are still many who would like to get behind the wheel of the Bentley Blower.
Vintage cars like the Blower have been fetching relatively cheaper rates of classic car insurance lately. With maintenance and safe driving being a foregone conclusion with classic car drivers, insurers are wont to offer relaxed premiums for the same.
Coming back to the Blower, the £5 million price tag is not enough to keep away fanatics like George Klepp, who would like nothing better than to see the vintage jazzing up his garage. However, he remains unsure of the exact price when the car goes under the hammer.
“If you have a car like this, then you will get invited to all the best parties. It has a great racing history and the wow factor, but it is difficult to predict how much it will go far,” he said, “In the world of vintage Bentleys, it is a very important model as it ticks all of the boxes.”
