The second generation of the Rolls-Royce-built “Derby Bentley,” the 4¼-Litre featured an engine with a larger bore than the prior 3½-Litre, as well as upgraded main and big-end bearings of an aluminum/tin alloy; larger valves, oil sump, and carburetors; and other modifications designed to improve the car’s top-end performance. Indeed, rigorous testing soon confirmed that the new engine provided brisker acceleration, higher maximum speeds, and improved reliability during day-long runs at speeds from 70 to 90 mph. Motor magazine’s 21 April 1936 issue reported that the 4¼-Litre had covered the “flying” quarter-mile at Brooklands at 96 mph.

As with all Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars of its era, the 4¼-Litre evolved over its production run, with steady rolling improvements made to its specification; thus, the later production cars, of which this LS-series example is one, are among the most desirable.

Stanley Sedgwick’s All the Prewar Bentleys, As New indicates that chassis number B180LS was originally bodied as a saloon by Park Ward and delivered in March 1938 to one T. Shaw. The car was later acquired by British enthusiast Henry Wilkins, who commissioned new coachwork, produced to his own, highly sporting design by Abbey Panels, and reflective of the owner’s deft touch with a pen. With its disappearing top and flared open fenders, it is among the most rakish bodies, mounted in-period or otherwise, on a 4¼-Litre chassis. Further, a Bentley 3½ and 4¼ Register entry in the Rolls-Royce Foundation archives indicates that some of the rebuilding, likely mechanical work, was actually completed in Rolls-Royce/Bentley’s modern facilities at Crewe.

Such was the quality of the work that it won its class in the annual show at Kensington Gardens in 1966, with a proud Mr. Wilkins featured behind the wheel at the event in Johnnie Green’s well-known book Bentley: 50 Years of the Marque.

More recently exhibited for some years in a private collection, B180LS remains in good overall condition, with its paint still holding a shine and the interior in very usable order, though there are some signs of age and use throughout the engine compartment and chassis. It would benefit from thorough mechanical sorting, after which it would continue to be one of the most attractive, unusual 4¼-Litres—a tour and event car par excellence.