Topic: SOLVED: WTH # 118 - 1931 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre fitted with a Triumph Flow Free body (Walter Belgrove design) in 1936

[sixtee5cuda]

Unlock.  Before you moved it up, I researched Bentley coupes for several hours without finding this one.

Was this body built before 1940?

[Djetset]

OK, thanks sixtee5cuda.  The body was built before 1940, but not quite in the form you see in the grainy photograph!

[barrett]

I don't think it's the same car, as the b-pillars are wrong, but this really looks like the Park Ward-built experimental lightweight 3 1/2 coupe from 1934, which was later fitted with flowing streamlined wings like this  car (possibly by Abbott) and then fitted to a Rolls 20/25 chassis (and recently returned to a Bentley chassis).

I'd be interested to know exactly what this one is!

[Djetset]

I don't think it's the same car, as the b-pillars are wrong, but this really looks like the Park Ward-built experimental lightweight 3 1/2 coupe from 1934, which was later fitted with flowing streamlined wings like this  car (possibly by Abbott) and then fitted to a Rolls 20/25 chassis (and recently returned to a Bentley chassis).

I'd be interested to know exactly what this one is!

Nothing to do with Park Ward or Abbott I'm afraid!

[sixtee5cuda]

British coachbuilder?

[Djetset]

British coachbuilder?

British yes, but not necessarily a coach builder.

[FrontMan]

Is this car one of the half-dozen RC series 4 1/2s  assembled by the new regime around 1936?

[Djetset]

Is this car one of the half-dozen RC series 4 1/2s  assembled by the new regime around 1936?

Not that I know of.

[Djetset]

As two of my Pros puzzles have now been solved in quick succession, here's another one to cause much speculation.

[nicanary]

Much to my astonishment, a little bit of work has revealed the answer. It's chassis XT3630, originally bodied by Gurney Nutting but refitted in 1936 with the body from a Triumph Gloria, the work carried out by Coopers of Putney.

[Djetset]

Much to my astonishment, a little bit of work has revealed the answer. It's chassis XT3630, originally bodied by Gurney Nutting but refitted in 1936 with the body from a Triumph Gloria, the work carried out by Coopers of Putney.

Very well done, you've got it!  To put more meet onto the bones, the bodywork is the lovely 'Free-Flow' coachwork option, offered on both Gloria 'Model H" and Dolomite models by Triumph in the 1930s. The Puzzle photo was taken from a 'for sale' ad for the car c.1972, when its asking price was just £4,500!  Here's another (colour) image of the Bentley-Triumph hybrid, plus the original Triumph with the same bodywork.

[sixtee5cuda]

Merger time?  Judging by the license plate, they are the same car.  ("Free flow" vs "free-flow", 4.5 vs "4 1/2", I included the designer, not the coachbuilder in the title...)

https://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/2012-41/solved-wth-118-1931-bentley-4-12-litre-fitted-with-a-triumph-flow-free-body-(wal/

[Wendax]

Done

[Djetset]

The Flow Free body was stretched and extended in various ways, to fit the Bentley chassis.  After the body was removed... 
It was placed on a Triumph chassis and restored to original condition.  Among the small number of Flow Free bodies made, at least this one still exists.

The Free-Flow body was originally intended for Triumph's use only, and certainly more than one still exists, as I have seen three in the same place, with at least one 1938 Triumph Vitesse-based replica being built in the 1990s as well.