1937 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre

To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys Arizona event, 23 January 2026.
$400,000 - $500,000 USD

• Among the most beautiful 4 -Litre Bentleys
• Well-known history with a fascinating ownership file
• Retains original chassis, engine, and body per build records
• Featured as the Salon car in Road & Track magazine in 1958
• High-quality restoration, in very attractive colors
• A CCCA Full Classic

Bentley 4 -Litre chassis no. B1KU was built to something of a transitional version of Vanden Plas elegant tourer, adapting a flowing, dipping beltline accentuated by bright trim, similar to Touring designs of the early 1930s, and very modern tapered pontoon-style fenders the same variant of the design delivered to the great racing motorist and speed record-holder Malcolm Campbell. Winter Garden Garages Ltd. delivered it in August 1937 to Captain Laurie Graham Bain, a heroic veteran of the Great War who was proprietor of Andrew Lusk & Company, a ship merchant on the Thames estuary. Amusingly, the fascinating, highly detailed history file includes, in addition to copies of build records and delivery information, a newspaper snippet regarding Captain Bains fine in January 1938 for his second offense of driving with improper lighting on the Bentley.

Shortly before the Captains passing in 1941, the Bentley passed to Linread, Ltd., a Birmingham manufacturer of automotive hardware, in a transaction via noted London dealers Jack Barclay, who felt the several-year-old used car was still significant and beautiful enough to use its photographs in their advertising, which depicted it still in obviously excellent condition, and with top both up and down.

Around 1947, machine tooling scion Will Archdale acquired the Bentley, which in 1950 then passed to David Nahum, a colorful businessman and avid Bentley connoisseur who often traveled with one of his fleet. He appears to have taken this one to Mexico City, then to the United States, where it has remained since. Interestingly, yet another newspaper clipping in the file details Mr. Nahum being fined for running a red light, presumably in the Bentley. Around 1958 it was purchased from Nahum by Edward Paul of Hollywood, in whose hands it was shown in Rolls-Royce Owners Club events on the West Coast, as well as featured as the subject of the Salon car in the November 1958 issue of Road & Track magazine. Paul sold chassis number B1KU in the early 1960s to John E. Milchick of Glendale, California.

In the early 1970s the car joined a collection in Texas where it remained tucked away until 2019, when it emerged from decades of storage and passed into present ownership. It was found to be in very good and largely original, intact condition, and was restored to a high standard by Chris Kidds Tired Iron Works in Monrovia, California, using its original aluminum body panels and numbers-matching engine and gearbox. Fascinatingly, the car even retains the original chassis number stamping on the bonnet. It was shown after completion at the 2019 Pebble Beach Concours dElegance, and is offered in the same beautiful condition today, ready to continue its proud show career.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/az26/.