Bentley is a brand of British luxury vehicles that has been around for 105 years. W.O. Bentley was the founder and in 1919 started his company in Cricklewood, North London.
Various kinds of racing and endurance contests were common then to prove cars’ quality and durability. In France’s unique contest known as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the winner is the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours. Bentley won the event in five of the six years from 1924 to 1930.
Always underfunded, these victories attracted investor Woolf Barnato, a successful heavyweight boxer who knew some wealthy motoring enthusiasts who later became known as the Bentley Boys and were able to keep the company afloat.
The Bentley Boys were a close-knit group of playboys and racers during the 1920s and 1930s and were always ready for a race. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 proved too much for Bentley, though, and Rolls-Royce took control in November 1931.
From 1931 to 2004, all Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars used the same chassis and Rolls-Royce engines. In fact, there was a time in the 1960s when the two vehicles were identical except for their grills and hood ornaments.
Our featured car in this issue is a 3.5-liter, four-seat 1934 Bentley roadster. This was the first new Bentley model after Rolls-Royce acquired the company. This car was first sold new at the 1934 Paris Auto Show.
Alamo resident Gordon Johnson acquired this vehicle about five years ago. Originally, an Iowa farm boy, Johnson knows a thing or two about machines.
“It was in sad shape,” Johnson said of the car, which he says he later learned was once owned by famed musician Roy Orbison. “One door didn’t close, some things didn’t work, like an automatic push pedal that oils all the points that wear, a common feature of luxury cars of that day.”
When he saw this potentially gorgeous car that needed work and some TLC, he told the dealer he wanted to buy it. All those years of fixing farm machinery must have kicked in.
“I found this car, and I wanted to have something to do — no logical economics in that decision whatsoever,” Johnson said. “I bought the car out at Fantasy Junction in Emeryville.”
He was later driving the car home when it just quit. One of the two carburetors was bad, so Johnson took the car to his mechanic, Larry Anderson, who took care of that and some of its other mechanical problems.
The mechanically inclined owner has done a lot of work on this Bentley himself. He contracted out the unique paint job and had the period-correct interior done by Ken Nemanic, who has worked on many high-end collector cars.
“But I would go over and help him sometimes.”
The body of this Bentley was built by the famous French car body builder Jacques Kellner, who during World War II was a member of the French Underground. On March 21, 1942, he was tied to a post, shot and killed by the Nazi troopers.
Johnson is more than a collector — he’s a perfectionist collector. He has sold some classic vehicles but seems to get his enjoyment by finding high-end vehicles that need a lot of work and making them perfect.
He’s pretty good at it, as he has had six of the eight vehicles he has owned invited to participate in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show.
Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at [email protected]. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.