Bentley 4.25 Litre 1939 - Park Ward Experimental 3B50 4-Door

0 Previous Owners, A chance to own a unique Bentley with great history and provenance which we believe holds a very significant place in the history of Bentley and Rolls-Royce Motors. Used as a test bed during WWII on official business, with every journey logged, it enabled the all-new Bentley MKVI to be launched in 1946 when most manufacturers were re-hashing pre-war designs. We had previously thought that the B60 engine was a post war development but 3B50 was fitted with B60 engine No.4 originally, later replaced with No.11 as per logbook entry which is still in place to this day. We have copies of the 3 very comprehensive logbooks which record every journey and who was driving & every modification carried out. These logbooks run from 1939 to 1950 during which time the car covered almost 200,000 miles before escaping the fate of most experimental cars by being passed to Rm - the Chief Engineer who took the car for his personal transport. The life of 3B50 is well-documented, and included in the files are copies of the book by Ian Rimmer on the Experimental cars and Silver Ghosts and Silver Dawn which is the fascinating autobiography of W. A. Robotham. Also, various other interesting related articles, magazines & books. During our ownership 3B50 has had a brake overhaul, re-cored radiator and numerous other jobs. Now very sound, a bit scruffy, running well, very much on the road and with a fresh MoT. Chassis No. 3B50 Reg No. RC 7338 Snippets: Code Name RmRm was the code name for William Arthur Robotham (1899/1980), who after serving as an artillery officer during WWI decided not to join the families legal firm but to apply for an apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce (family connections played a part) and he duly started with the company as a Premium Apprentice. In 1923 Rm became a junior technician under Ernest Hives (code name Hs) in the Experimental section where Rm worked on not just cars but also the aero section when needed. He was heavily involved in the road testing of the cars which meant that he travelled throughout Europe, whilst he was staying at the Hotel de France in Chateauroux he assisted Madame Olga Cousino Lyon whose Silver Ghost had failed to proceed, her wealth came from silver mining & wine in Chile and home was a palace in Santiago! More local testing runs were held at Shotton Steel works in North Wales and he, along with Geoffrey & Dick Summers would race their cars over a half mile standing start sprint with a quarter of a mile pull up section, the cars varied from an Aston Martin, Lancia, Hispano Suiza, Bentley, Vauxhall, Chrysler, Rolls-Royce; all in the name of performance evaluation. Such fun. Rm married twice, his first wife was Winifred Thompson whose father Henry was a pioneer farmer with estates in Lincolnshire, Norfolk & Scotland & the owner of a Rolls-Royce Phantom I (78DC). One of his Scottish crops was the Golden Wonder potato & as they were not available in the Midlands Henry Thompson would send some 6 tons to Rm who managed to sell them the Rolls-Royce staff! His second wife was Jeanne Ekins who used to accompany the famous Italian Tenor Beniamino Gigli on piano! After Rm retired he & Jeanne bought a farm in Kent where they produced hops, potatoes, corn, plums, apples and pears