A man enters an abandoned property and finds a 1928 Bentley that could be worth more than a million
A huge surprise found in a 'barn find' in the UK while filming a video for a YouTube channel, being one of the few that were bodied by the specialist Vanden Plas within the already limited production of the model with a 4.4 engine.
In the world of barn finds, the mystery of treasure hunting is always as seductive as it is unexpected. You can literally find nothing, items of little value that are not worth it due to their condition... or relics that can exceed a million dollars or euros. This recent case showed up in the UK, featuring a very rare 1928 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre bodied by Vanden Plas among other cars.
There were several more vehicles hidden in this abandoned property found by Colin Smith for the 'The Bearded Explorer' channel, but undoubtedly the Bentley steals the show. It was found in a deteriorated state, covered in dirt with the canvas covering the seats crafted nearly a century ago by the Belgian specialist. Even so, it seems to be quite complete.
Abandoned 1928 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Found
It is a 1928 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre, in this case with a naturally aspirated 4.4 engine with four inline cylinders and two carburetors that delivers about 110 HP of power for about 1,620 kg in weight. With this Vanden Plas Tourer configuration, it is estimated that around 148 units were made out of a total of 204, of which 50 were assembled in the same year 1928.
Once restored, such a unit could sell at auction for over a million dollars or euros with high probability. However, the 4 1/2 Litre naturally aspirated model is not as sought after as the supercharged version with 175 HP (not to mention the competition models with around 240 HP), which are priced between two million and eight million dollars, being one of the most iconic Bentleys in the history of the British manufacturer.
Restored, it could be worth over a million euros
So much so, that back in 2019 Bentley produced twelve new units of a car that originally was in production between 1927 and 1931, with about 720 units originally manufactured. After checking the license plate, it is confirmed that it is a unit that left the factory in black nearly 99 years ago - although it has not been determined whether the current body color is original or not.
A unit of this type has been valued for prices ranging from €300,000 to well over half a million euros. The most extreme case was a unit that was auctioned for a million and a half euros (1,283,694 pounds) - and in any case, it would not be valued as much as the more powerful 'Blower' models, whose power-to-weight ratio would still be acceptable even in current times. Although we suspect that the Torcal 100% electric will have a bit more impact...
BMW, a six-cylinder Jaguar engine and several Reliant Scimitars
On the other hand, several interesting models have appeared alongside the Bentley. One of them is a BMW Series 3 from the E21 generation of the early 80s. Alongside it was what appears to be a handcrafted car, equipped under the hood with a six-cylinder inline Jaguar engine attributed to hill climb competitions.
The other interesting thing is several units of the Reliant Scimitar, a British sports car manufactured between 1964 and 1986. One of them is a two-door coupe from the first series (1964-1970), and there are also convertible and shooting brake variants. With several engines and body types, we could be talking about units that can be priced at less than €8,000 or around €20,000 - the most common engine is the 3.0 V6 from Ford that delivers about 135 HP.
* This news is an AI translation of the original content. Motenic.com is part of Motor.es.
Fuente: Autoevolution