Eye Candy for Vintage Car Enthusiasts.

[TLS Guy]

I have just come back from an evening at Langley House. My brother Paul's residence outside Maidstone Kent.

He is just finishing the restoration of a rare thirties Bentley Derby sports car. The head will have to come off as the valve guides are leaking slightly. In needs the wiring loom, only the ignition is connected at present. Then it needs painting in racing green and signing.

It has raced once, and he placed fifth, which was OK for starters but it will do better.

I went for a very high speed spin in it and it really moves, and like all the old Bentleys has rapid thump in the back acceleration.

One of the earliest cars to have an aerodynamic lines.

This Bentley Derby he is prepping for a race next weekend from Evian Switzerland to Montecarlo.

He restored it for the 100th anniversary of the Bejing to Paris race a couple three years ago. He came in third place. right behind a couple of 1936 Chevy cabriolets.

This 1929 4.5 liter Bentley is still my favorite Bentley. He has had many wins with this and a large collection of trophies.

 

[walter duque]

Now that is cool. Great pictures.

 

[Alex2507]

All those steering wheels are on the wrong side. That can't be safe.

 

[Patrukas777]

that house looks pretty awesome too

 

[GO-NAD!]

They look magnificent! Thanks for the pics!

 

[Seth=L]

Lovely countryside, I would love to visit the UK sometime.

 

[highfigh]

Very nice. In the first shot inside the garage, there's a photo on the wall, under a red marathon sign. Is that a '30s Renault?

 

[dkane360]

There was a vintage car show held to support troops in my town and I was asked to judge it along with my younger brother. We had no idea what we were doing, but we made some guy extraordinarily happy with his 6ft trophy lol. Nice pics btw

 

[Davemcc]

"Eye Candy" is an understatement. Objects of lust and fascination is a more accurate term.

That first one looks so incredibly awesome in bare metal, it would be great to see it painted silver. But I know that can't happen lest it be mistaken for a German entrant in a road race. They don't call it British Racing Green for nothing.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Very nice, Dr. Mark. I think vintage racing is just about the coolest thing automotive. I'd love to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed someday. The fact that these people race hard with irreplaceable cars is just mind boggling.

 

[TLS Guy]

Very nice. In the first shot inside the garage, there's a photo on the wall, under a red marathon sign. Is that a '30s Renault?

I'm not sure what it is. I will ask Paul on Wednesday. We are meeting at my brother James' house at Rainham right above the Medway estuary.

Parts of the house date from the fourteenth century. There are lot of lovely exposes oak beams.

I suspect the car is either an Alvis or a Rover. I think those pictures were my Uncle John's. He was a Catholic Priest, but a fantastic mechanic and racer of cars and bikes in his youth. He was a wonderful mechanic and machinest and we all learned a lot from him. Especially how to get the last ounce out of an engine. He was had a lot of Alvis cars over the years. In their youth he and my father drove Austin Sevens almost entirely and there is a convertible Austin 7 in one of those pictures.

He drove everything to the limit, but never had an accident all his life.

My first vehicle was an Alvis TA 21. I had to do a top overhaul and change the clutch before it was drivable.

 

[TLS Guy]

Very nice, Dr. Mark. I think vintage racing is just about the coolest thing automotive. I'd love to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed someday. The fact that these people race hard with irreplaceable cars is just mind boggling.

Paul Races very hard. I watched him win a race at Oulton Park Cheshire a few years ago, in this 1925 Bentley which he no longer owns. It was neck and neck all the way, and he won the race by a nose. Average speed was just over 70 mph. There are hair pin bends, and you have to double declutch on the hand brake outside and set ignition advance and retard depending on speed and load.

I was at the Goodwood revival last year and took these photographs.

I saw an Alvis TA 21 there just like the first car I bought, but mine was not two tone and a slightly darker gray.

If you go to Goodwood, it lies right by the lovely old Norman town of Arundel on the River Arun, in Sussex very close to Chichester.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

and you have to double declutch on the hand brake outside and set ignition advance and retard depending on speed and load.

What drivers had to do back in the day is astounding by today's standards.

The business owner in the building behind where I work was working on a clients Stanley Steamer (Very different I know) and he gave me a very brief synopsis on the cars controls. You have to have mechanical knowledge to operate these old machines properly.

 

[Alex2507]

Paul Races very hard. I watched him win a race at Oulton Park Cheshire a few years ago, in this 1925 Bentley which he no longer owns.

I bet I could take him in my fofo.

 

[tcarcio]

I bet I could take him in my fofo.

I will bet you a wall you can't... Nice pics, they don't make them like they used to.

 

[TLS Guy]

I bet I could take him in my fofo.

Alex, you wouldn't even see his a$$ for smoke trying to catch him in any of those old Bentleys. Their acceleration is totally amazing, especially the old 4.5 lt four bangers. They do well over 100 mph.

Paul's greatest achievement was winning the Liege (Belgium) to Cortina (Italy) through the Alps in that green 4.5 lt. He beat out 60s and 70s Porches. He said nothing climbs a mountain like a 4.5 lt Bentley.

I went with him a few years ago to pick that car up from Liege, to drive back to Langley. We cruised at just over 100mph right across Normandy.

When he did the Versailles to Marakesh run across the Sahara desert a few years ago, he averaged over 80 mph on the run across the desert. After the stop the other side, the engine was full of sand, but all he had to change was the voltage regulator. He came in second.

A letter writer not long ago wrote a letter to Motor Sport magazine saying he had seen a 4.5 liter Bentley going like the clappers near Rye Sussex in the pouring rain with the top open and the driver wearing goggles. He said he tried to give chase but could not come close to catching him. Well Paul was the driver in that 1929 green 4.5 liter Bentley.

 

[Alex2507]

He said nothing climbs a mountain like a 4.5 lt Bentley.

That is a lot of displacement for a four banger: pistons the size of coffee cans.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what kind of fuel economy that gets ... in mpg ... American gallons? I don't want to do any math. This is one of my no math days.

 

[NicolasKL]

Their acceleration is totally amazing, especially the old 4.5 lt four bangers. They do well over 100 mph.

Toyota Corollas do well over 100 mph. Engines just weren't very efficient even in the 50s and 60s, let alone the 20s.

 

[NicolasKL]

That is a lot of displacement for a four banger: pistons the size of coffee cans.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what kind of fuel economy that gets ... in mpg ... American gallons? I don't want to do any math. This is one of my no math days.

According to Wikipedia the 4.5 got about 15 mpg (US) at 100 mph.

 

[TLS Guy]

That is a lot of displacement for a four banger: pistons the size of coffee cans.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what kind of fuel economy that gets ... in mpg ... American gallons? I don't want to do any math. This is one of my no math days.

Yes it is, over a lt per cylinder. Those engines really breath, it is 16 valve dual over head cam and dual magneto ignition. They make a very loud powerful noise also.

Normal driving probably 10 to 12 mpg, the way Paul drives it up a mountain and into the red, about 3 or 4. You would not catch it in a Corolla I promise you.