Bentley T 2-door Saloon by James Young

This is a real treat. Chassis number CBH1342.

Yes, this is the very first Bentley T 2-door saloon made by coachbuilder James Young.



It's just great. It's the exact one in all the books. The reference for this Bentley.

Yep, it's rare, only 15 were ever made.

It also signaled the end of an era, where it highlighted the challenges of coachbuilding with a monocoque chassis.



The car is, and has been in Melbourne, Australia for quite some time.

The owner John was keen to get his hands on it, and took quite a few years to finally buy it, and has had it for the past 12 or so years.



It was bought complete with blown cylinder heads, dodgy brakes, un-cooperative gearbox, dead suspension and various other maladies, which have all been rectified to top notch condition.



John's most epic drive in it was with his son, Adam on the Bentley Drivers Club 2005 down under trip.

Here it is chasing a Le Mans W.O Bentley down the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.



The idea was to start in Perth with your rear wheels in the Indian Ocean then end up in Terrigal with front wheels in the Pacific and party as much as possible in between.



That would surely have been challenging and enduring!

90 miles of straight road please.



Thanks John for sending in the photos, most appreciated.

Bentley T James Young 2 door

Check out this barn find Bentley full of moss.

Look closely at it.



Have you noticed it yet? Yeah, it's modern coachbuilding.

That's right, the car is a Bentley T 2 door saloon by James Young Ltd.



The long doors are a dead give away.



The name plate is in order. The story goes that Jack Barclay encouraged James Young to continue coach building even though the cars had become monocoque.



Those rear seats are certainly a rare spot to be in.



Number SY28. Nice.



From the front.



Now the back.



Have you been thinking, why on earth is there so much moss on the car?

Check it out.



Well durr, of course the previously owner used it in his flower display at the Hampton Court Flower show.

It was his first flower show showing, and he won best in show!



Lets put the Bentley on a stick and have flowers grow out of it.



Good idea mate. Yeah, do it to a super rare coachbuild car, it will not annoy anyone at all.



It seems that these James Young 2 door cars have hard lives. 35 Rolls-Royce versions were built and 15 Bentley versions.

Another one was found in a barn after Hurricane Katrina here. A worse for ware one has been spotted in California here and one has even ended up in the bottom of the ocean as a dive feature here.

It is for sale on ebay here.

Bentley T1 Coupe by James Young

Now here is a rare one.

It is a 1967 Bentley T1 Coupe by James Young.



That's right, the other coachbuilder of the Silver Shadow/T based cars, besides H.J Mulliner Park Ward.

James Young made 15 Bentley cars and 35 Rolls-Royce cars in 2 door form, then called it quits.

This one has popped up for sale at the impressive WAKUI MUSEUM in Japan famous for having 'Old Mother Gun' parked in the garage.



Coachbuilding on monocoque chassis does not really work when you start to talk about money.



You can buy it here.



Lets take a look around the inside of the museum.



Good luck to the new purchaser. I did recently learn that one of the 15 Bentley cars was in Australia a few years ago. It maybe still in Melbourne.

James Young Silver Shadow 2 door

In the words of Marinus Rijkers of the excellent site www.rrsilvershadow.com, "There are not many pictures available of the James Young models. The car is too rare for that. The total production was 50 cars, 35 of them being a Rolls-Royce and 15 a Bentley."



A previous post of January 17th 2008 on Bentley Spotting stated "In the late 1960's the RR&B dealer Jack Barclay persuaded coachbuilder James Young to make a 2 door Silver Shadow/Bentley T. He did, and a total of 50 cars were produced. There were 35 Silver Shadow and 15 Bentley T variants."



"It certainly is one collectible body type, and the rarest of the Silver Shadow Bentley T type cars that were produced in conjunction with the factory."



Well this James Young Silver Shadow 2 Door has turned up for sale currently on Ebay, chassis number CRH1264.



It has been modified - not distastefully, but not correct for that model. This car now sports 'modern' Silver Shadow II bumpers, vented wheel covers and a deeper Shadow II grille. The one off Pininfarina Bentley T had the same modification in later years, so it's no unheard of - simply upgrading.



I wouldn't do such a thing to such a rare car, but whoever did it might as well have gone all the way and given it the late model flared wheel arches. The rubber bumpers don't look right on non-flared cars - as in the 1973 American cars.



But I still like it.



Buy it here if you want to.

(Posted by David Irvine)

The Drawing Board

Let's go to the drawing board.

Rolls-Royce Phantom III sedanca de ville - Park ward drawing.




Bentley 3 1/2 Litre B197BL - Gurney Nutting Design for the Nawab of Rampur



Bentley 4 1/4 Litre - James Young Design



Bentley 4 1/4 - H.J. Mulliner No 6000



Rolls-Royce Wraith - James Young design (never built)



Rolls-Royce Phantom II 62UK - for the Maharajah of Jodhpur



And how would you have yours?

In the James Young Factory

Let's take a look inside the James Young Factory.

Here is a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II LWB.

This is a scan of picture taken at James Young in 1961.

It is job number 4113, Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II LWB, #LCB24, to design SCT100.

The completed car was delivered April 1961 to Ralph R. Whitaker.

Ang how about this?

It is a Rolls-Royce Phantom V, job number 9024, chassis #5BV1.

It was to the design PV15 and was delivered April 1961 to Mrs. V.P. Oppenheim.

Thanks to Flickr user boybentley for the upload.

RM Auctions Hooper Corporate Collection Catalogue

As mentioned previously, the Hooper Corporate Collection will be auctioned as part of the RM Auctions Automobiles of London programme on October 27, 2010, 4:00 PM - 11:00 PM GMT at Battersea Evolution, in Battersea Park London, United Kingdom SW11 4NJ.

Here is an extract of the Hooper Corporate Collection from the official auction catalogue.



If you want to read the whole catalogue it is here.

Thanks to RM Auctions for the documents.

James Young S3 and Silver Cloud III

In the 1960's prior to the introduction of the Silver Shadow and the Bentley T models, Rolls Royce and Bentley cars all were constructed using a separate chassis and body set up.

You could buy your new 'car' without the body, and then send your 'car' of chassis, engine et al, to your local carriage shop to have a coach built on the chassis to your liking. The horse power came from the engine, not the ones in your paddock.

Well I think that is how it worked anyway.

Here is what you got from Crewe in 1964 (note the number plate RR 1964) when you did not order a standard steel body from them. It is kind on missing something on top - yes the body. And the seats as well if you did not notice.








James Young could make your body for your new car. Here is one of his designs, a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III SCT100. It is affectionately known as a James Young Baby Phantom. It certainly does look like a Phantom!




Actually three Bentley S3 SCT100 were made by James Young as well. Stephen Fabman-Beker, the secretary of the RREC South Eastern Section of the UK has one, the other is in the US and the final one is in New Zealand.

Here is Stephen's on Whitehall.



Notice Parliament House in the background!



James Young also made a sporting 4 door salon body for the chassis. Here it is on a Bentley S3.



I am not sure of the design number or how many were made, but hopefully some one will sent in the information!

I'm pretty sure this is an Bentley S2 with the James Young body.



Looking forward to hearing from some people in the know about James Young!

Bentley T coupe by James Young

Now this is a rare one.

In the late 1960's the RR&B dealer Jack Barclay persuaded coachbuilder James Young to make a 2 door Silver Shadow/Bentley T. He did, and a total of 50 cars were produced.

There were 35 Silver Shadow and 15 Bentley T variants.

It certainly is one collectible body type, and the rarest of the Silver Shadow Bentley T type cars that were produced in conjunction with the factory. There is a known photograph from Crewe at the time with a James Young bodied car on the production line. I may scan the image in at a later date.



So when a Bentley version comes up for sale I do like to take note. And one has.



It is Chassis CBH1377 again, that previously turned up for sale in New Orleans by Big Easy Dave no doubt. More can be read about the previous auction here.



The car is currently for sale again in New Orleans via ebay item: 160195896909.



The auction has just finished, and the car did not meet its reserve price.



The car's condition is so so, and it has not moved in more than 30 years.





There is also the presumption of the dark cloud of hurricane Katrina. The engine bay may tell a story.



It is most likely the second James Young Bentley ever produced after CBH1342.



The car is certainly worth some money, what ever condition. Simply because the front doors are a little longer and the centre pillar has moved back a bit. Just fill in the rear door gap, and you have yourself a coachbuilt wonder.



I would leave it in my garage for another 30 years. A bit of spit and polish and some new hoses and plenty of fluids and it could make it to the shops. Maybe.