Dedicated to Rolls-Royce & Bentley Motorcars March ... - Magazooms

John de Campi’s B167LE (left) and Jon & Sandy Lee’s B4MR (right).
several years ago, Jon and Sandy Lee of
Brunswick, Maine, purchased B4MR,
the second overdrive Bentley built. As
we talked, we found that in addition to being
the same body style, my Bentley (B167LE)
and theirs had a unique family relationship:
Body No. UK Reg. No.
B167LE 3627 EYX391
B4MR 3626 EYX393
We determined to put the two cars side by side
sometime during the summer of 2001. However,
during the spring of 2001, on the RROC
Spring Tour in Nova Scotia, “Ol’ Red Eye”
B167LE threw a rod and all plans for that car
were put on hold. This spring Jon and Sandy,
together with Bob Small (another Derby Bentley
owner from Maine), hosted an Invitational
Tour of mid-coast Maine. The time had finally
come for our reunion. At the Owl’s Head
Transportation Museum (well worth a visit if
you’re in that part of the world), we put the
cars alongside the museum’s hangar.
A close examination revealed that the two
cars were anything BUT identical; for example:
B167LE is aluminum on the usual ash frame.
B4MR is a steel body
B167LE has the standard transmission
B4MR has the overdrive transmission
B167LE has 18" wheels (pre-overdrive standard)
B4MR has 17" wheels (overdrive standard)
Vanden Plas Bentleys
A Family Reunion
By John W. de Campi (NH)
B167LE has forward-leaning B mascot (preoverdrive
std)
B4MR has rear-leaning B mascot (overdrive
standard)
B167LE has a painted beltline
B4MR has a chrome spear on the beltline
B167LE has rubber runningboards
B4MR has aluminum strip with rubber inserts
(but originally had rubber like B167LE)
Both cars have changed over the years. Somebody
replaced, for instance, the rubber matting
on the running
board of B4MR with
aluminum strips with
rubber inserts. It is
probable that neither
car carried a rear
bumper when new
but both sport one today.
B167LE has acquired
a spotlight and
B4MR has some unusual
door and trunk
handles.
Both cars were completed
in September
1938 but B167LE
went directly to its
purchaser Mrs. K.
Hollas; whereas
B4MR spent some
©Rolls Royce
Owners Owners Club Club
time as a trials car and was road tested by both
Motor and Autocar. The Motor road test of
B4MR appears on the following pages. B4MR
was later delivered to R.W. Petley.
Both cars have been in the USA for a number
of years, probably arriving here from
Britain in the 1950s or early 1960s. We purchased
B167LE in the Carolinas in 1963; Jan
and Sandy bought B4MR in Florida in 2000.
Both cars have had extensive restoration and
B4MR has recently been a winner in Classic
Car Club competition.
March/April 2004 THE FLYING LADY 7279
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