Found in Lakeside - fixer-upper 1928 Bentley 4.5 liter...

[haele]

"Sand" colored with brown trip on wheel frames; needs body work (rust on the body and re-chroming), new/repaired convertible canopy, new windshield, new tires, clutch pedal needs to have the footpad welded back on. Needs to be re-wired; the seller kept it in a shed for ten years after he got off the antique auto show circuit and there's quite a bit of mouse damage. Leather interior looked okay. Teak running boards need to be sanded and re-varnished. Needs new tires - and new rims if restoration to actual original condition for show again - the current rims look to be standard BMW rims from the '60's. Looks as if the seller either had somehow lost/sold the original spoke rims or they might have rusted out.
Engine turns over and runs well.
Hmmmmmmmmmm......
He's selling it for $1K! And his shop partner suggests he can be talked down a couple hundred because he's moving back to the old country and is selling everything off.

What a hobby! If I had the money and the space, I'd snap it up. I can do the wiring, weld and do some minor metalwork as well as some industrial sewing; and I know a few people who do restorations as a hobby for the body work issues. Laz is already drooling. If we get enough of a settlement over the next few months and the Bentley is still there - it's ours, and on its way to being towed to MCAS Miramar's auto hobby sheds...

I don't have a photo of the car yet as it's dark - perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to get a daytime picture - so here's a similar car of the same model...


(sorry, didn't realize this was a bitmap...)

Apparently, this model was a touring coupe for the smart young marrieds of the time.

Sigh...I love restorations...

Haele

[GCP]

1. It looks just like Steed's car in"The Avengers"

Does it have leather straps over the bonnet (hood to you Americans!)?
What a beauty, it'd be well worth renovating - you'd probably make a lot of money if you did fix it up and sell it to a collector.

[haele]

2. Leather straps included!

A bit mouse-wracked and the clasping is a bit rusty, but this is cow country, so getting new leather won't be a problem.
It also has the pins for the leather strap detailing around the cab; or at least it looked as if there was supposed to be a thin strip of leather pinned around where the doors are. For those that are interested, there are no side windows on this type of car - it's definately not for someplace that gets windy rain!
It's got a strange door situation - the front seat door opens on the passenger side and the back seat door opens on the driver's side.
The "boot" (trunk, as we yanks call it...) looks like it's actually two trunks, a lower shelf-like trunk and a upper trunk that opens out.

I just adore it! And heck with selling it to a collector; I'm checking on the engine type-if it's disel, we're converting it to a fry-oil disel! So it not only looks nice and is good for the environment, but it smells nice too.

(I wonder if we can get a deal going with the local fast food places for free "fuel" in exchange for using it as advertisement for their fries...driving around and making others hungry as they smell the "exhaust")

Haele

[GCP]

3. Silly question - did they have diesels in 1928?

:shrug:

[haele]

4. Darn - 8 cylinder gasoline engines...

Ah well. Wonder what the milage is?

On edit - Diesel engines have been around in automobiles since 1923; and they started off running on peanut oil! They seemed to have been mostly used in Mercedes (Germany) and Cummings (US prior to the Great Depression).


Haele

[Ernesto]

5. @ the price you mentioned

You better scoop it up quickly, just to resale it! PS, a coupe has a roof.