Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
“On the road, it's a lovely car. When I drive one of my special cars, people stop and you add something to their day.” That's the best part of the whole car thing, as far as Steve Styers is concerned. And who might that be? The gentleman who owns a 1936 Derby Bentley, which he spent a dozen years restoring, and is also a founding member of the Derby Bentley Society in the United States of America.
Traditionally, when we talk about classic cars, we tend to think of old cars (over thirty years is the legal limit), but age alone is not the deciding factor. However, we can all agree that any pre-war car would fit the bill comfortably. Let's take a Bentley Derby as the best example of this hypothesis: let's take 1936 as the production year because that's what we have in the following video.
Over the years, we at self-evolution have treated you to a number of stories inspired by Lou Costabile's vlog adventures in the world of cars. He has yet to find a car we can resist: so far, he has provided us with some fantastic machines. However, few could compare to the one presented in this story: a true British classic from an era when cars were works of art as much as they were masterpieces of mechanical engineering.
Steve Styers has had his example for nearly three and a half decades. On August 19, 2001, the coachbuilt body was reinstalled on the frame after a twelve-year restoration. The great thing about the restoration is that Steve did a lot of the work himself, like fabricating a piece of aluminum from the left rear fender and welding it into place. He literally turned the sheet metal by hand until it was an exact match for the car—the results speak for themselves.
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
When he bought it, his car was a real barn find, complete with missing parts, like the veneer on the A-pillars and above the windshield, which he had to carve out of a piece of walnut. However, when the car was finished, it was a breathtaking sight. If you think that's impressive, wait until you see what he did to the rear.
Being a 1930s British automobile, this Bentley Derby (more on that later) has a bizarre luggage feature. The trunk opens like a tailgate, and there are latches inside to secure an actual trunk. Ninety years ago, packing your belongings into a trunk and strapping it to the back of the car was common, even in luxury cars.
There was a downside, however: as the car rolled, mud, dirt and debris would be thrown into the exposed cargo area. The coachbuilder anticipated this and built a second, hidden cover into the top of the cargo area.
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
Steve’s car no longer had that critical component when he bought it, so he built one. It sounds simple, but he had no references: no service records, no factory records, no nothing. However, he had many friends in the Derby Bentley Society, an owners’ club he helped found in February 1997.
Another owner in Derby had one just like Steve’s, only in mint condition, and he took pictures of it and sent them to the restorer. From there, the man’s job was considerably easier: he had to measure, cut, weld, assemble, and install the lid, a job that took sixty days and was done by hand.
Now, a word about the Derby Bentley. It is called the Derby because it was built in Derby, England, at the Rolls-Royce factory. Why there? Because Rolls-Royce acquired the sports car brand in 1931 and between 1936 and 1940, 1,234 examples were assembled with the legendary four and a quarter liter engine.
The cars were essentially Rolls-Royces, but with enhanced performance to offer their owners the best of both worlds: the quintessential Rolls-Royce luxury and refinement combined with the agility and sportiness of a Bentley.
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
The Derby is the child of that happy marriage, and this particular example sports the famous 4.25-liter straight-six with twin carburetors and twin ignition coils. The latter is not for improved spark, but merely as a precaution against the not-so-magnificent British engineering of the time. (There’s a good reason why a Cadillac became the standard of the world and not a British car, after all.)
In short, if the main coil breaks, the other could be wired in its place, using only the driver's hands. The same logic applies to the leaf-spring front bumper hooks: the shock-absorbing part was prone to falling off, as Steve says, so the Rolls-Royce brass hats had to do something about it. It might have been acceptable for a sports car like a Bentley, but not for the very expensive Rolls-Royce.
The engine, however, was not the epitome of luxury, but a thoroughbred. A hotter cam and modified heads increased the compression ratio and the Bentley's overall performance to 126 horsepower and top speed to nearly 100 mph (161 km/h). Interestingly, the four-speed manual transmission is only partially synchronized (first and second gears are not, so the driver must use the dual clutch).
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
Personally, I prefer all-mechanical cars to anything else, and this 1936 example is perfect in every way (for me). Just look at that steering wheel and its four levers, including the shock absorber stiffness adjustment. Name another car that has this or the B-pillar trafficators.
The pop-out lights that come out from between the inverted suicide doors are nothing more than turn signals, but they're as cool as Antarctica in winter, if you ask me. Just like the rest of the aluminum-bodied car, from bumper to bumper and tires to sunroof.
