Have US$ 7 million? That's about how much this vintage
pre-war Bentley is expected to sell for during the Amelia Island Concours
d'Elegance come March. But as you might have guessed, there's a lot of history
to this particular Flying B.
What you're looking at is a 1928 Bentley 4½-Litre Le
Mans Sports – billed as “one of the most important Bentleys in existence.”
Chassis number KM3088 is a “Bobtail,” owing to its Vanden Plas bodywork, but
there's far more to it than that.
It was entered twice at Le Mans, finishing third on
the podium in 1929. It also finished second at the Brooklands Double Twelve
that year, making it one of just two factory team cars that claimed podium two
finishes that year. It was subsequently used for practice before being sold to
a private owner – the first of many, though it spent more than 40 years in the
hands of the same Rose family.
Well documented, immaculately preserved, and fully
restored, the Bobtail is expected to fetch between US$ 6.5 and 7.5 million when RM
Sotheby's auctions it off March 10-11 at the Ritz-Carlton on the tony Florida
isle. If it lands right in the middle of its pre-sale estimate range, the big
Bentley will match the Jaguar E-Type that topped the Scottsdale auctions
earlier this month to open 2017 as the most expensive car sold at auction so
far this year.
