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It’s in the Mail – 1934 ‘Derby’ Bentley 3½ litre three-posiition drophead coupé by Thrupp & Maberly

“Barn find” 1934 Bentley owned by press magnate Esmond Harmsworth (later 2nd Viscount Rothermere) to be sold at Silverstone Auctions sale at Salon Privé 2015

 

Esmond Harmsworth – later 2nd Viscount Rothermere – led a remarkable life. Eton educated, an MP at the tender age of 21 and subsequently chairman of Associated Newspapers from 1932 to 1971 and of Daily Mail & General Trust Ltd from 1938 to 1978, Harmsworth purchased a ‘Derby’ Bentley 3½ litre three-position drophead coupé by Thrupp & Maberly new in 1934. That car, now in “barn find” condition is to be sold this week at the Salon Privé sale at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

 

It’s in the Mail –1934 ‘Derby’ Bentley 3½ litre three-posiition drophead coupé by Thrupp & Maberly
Esmond Harmsworth, later 2nd Viscount Rothermere (1898 – 1978)
The interior of the car has certainly seen better days

 

Harmsworth’s car – which cost him £1,100 as a bare chassis and a further £500 for its coachwork (the equivalent of a total of £102,000 today) – remained in his ownership through the war but then was not heard of again until 1952 when it was sold for £800 to the works director of the Standard Telephone Company, Alfred Mason, for £800 (the equivalent of £22,000 today). His widow sold it to the athletics administrator and anti-drugs campaigner Sir Arthur Gold CBE (1917 – 2002) in 1965 for £180 (the equivalent of £3,200 today).

 

Now described as an “unmolested relic”, the car has been untouched since the 1950s and is offered with a guide price of £60,000 to £80,000. It will be sold this Friday, 4th September 2015.

 

To book tickets to Salon Privé, click here. Prices for full entry range from £95 to £270 plus VAT and booking fees.

 

 

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