Le Mans Bentley

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The 3-litre Bentley that was driven by Frank Clement and George Duller in the 1926 Le Mans 24-hour race has been laid up since the late 1970s but has now come onto the auction scene. Sotheby’s, who estimate its value at around £100,000, announce that it retired at Le Mans but was sold later in 1926 to “Lt Glen Kidson” (sic) and was given a 4 1/2-litre engine in 1938, and that it was acquired in 1954 by the motor-cycle scrambler Eric Curtis, who died recently. Apparently the Bentley has been modified by successive owners but retains notable Le Mans features. One of these is noted in the blurb as “the massive steering wheel”, which presumably is a feature likely to increase the bidding, although thought quite natural when the car was in its hey-day. WB