A Bentley came up for auction after 50 years of storage subsequent to a garage beginning a ‘light restoration’ which actually only got as far as removing half the paint and sending the bright work off to the chromers.

This remarkably original ‘Derby’ Bentley 3 ½ litre has been dry stored for fifty years. Its last MoT shows April 1965 and since then it has lived in the corner of the garage of a Renault dealership

Built with a Thrupp and Maberley body, in this case a three-position – fully folded or ‘De Ville’ - 4/5 seater drop head coupe with ‘heavy duty’ bumpers (with harmonic stabilizers) and factory wheel discs.

Purchased by a newspaper owner in 1934, then sold in 1952, to a director of a phone company, with  37,000 miles, who put another 30,000 miles on the Bentley as a weekend car between 1952 and his death in 1965.

During that time, AYK789 was looked after by L.G Motors, a family run business headed by Arthur Gold, who worked in national and international sports administration leading British teams to the Mexican, Munich and Montreal Olympics.

 Arthur Gold bought the Bentley from Mr. Mason’s widow in 1965 for £180, and an engineer’s report he wrote on AYK789 at the time, shows that it was still in very sound condition in the mid-sixties and fully usable. He used the car for the summer of '65 before embarking on a ‘light restoration’ which actually only got as far as removing half the paint and sending the bumpers and all the other bright work off to the chromers.

The re-plated parts were returned and are still wrapped in 1967 newspaper in the boot.

Meanwhile L.G Motors was going through many changes, in business and location, and the Bentley went with it, always with the intention that that it would be put back together someday. However, Arthur Gold was becoming increasingly distracted with his work with athletics administration and his successful Renault sales and servicing business, and inevitably the Bentley was not a priority, although the file shows he made various attempts to find parts in the seventies and get the project under way again as Derby values began to increase.

It was sold at Auction in 2015

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/1934-bentley-3-12-litre-three-position-drophead-coupe-by-thrupp--maberly
http://thesteepletimes.com/opulence-splendour/its-in-the-mail/
http://hazelhomeartandantiques.blogspot.com/2015/09/barn-find-bentley-from-steeple-times.html