Beschreibung:

Life for ‘B435CD’ began late in l947 when Dr Willi Spieler, of Seefeldstrasse 19, Zurich, Switzerland visited the Pininfarina works to commission a unique, custom-designed drophead coupé with alloy coachwork on a right-hand drive Bentley Mark VI chassis to be delivered to the Swiss Bentley agent, Garage de l’Anthernee, Chemin Malombre, Geneva. Dr. Spieler ordered 11 modifications to the chassis and these are recorded in the build sheets. The engine would be the standard 4,257cc six-cylinder unit - also fitted to the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn - but to the enhanced Bentley specification with twin SU carburettors. With its bespoke aluminium coachwork, B453CD was thus lighter than the standard steel-bodied Bentley sedan and possessed superior performance. Chassis testing was completed on May l6th 1948 and ‘B453CD’ was dispatched from the Bentley works on May 21st to Pininfarina, being shipped on June 15th 1948, passing from Dover to Dunkirk to Turin. It is believed that Bentley produced a further two similar chassis that were sent to Pininfarina, both of which were bodied as closed coupés. Thus ‘B453CD’ is believed to be the only drophead coupé built by Pininfarina on the Bentley MkVI chassis. Batista ‘Pinin’ Farina, the founder of the company, personally styled the body and supervised its fabrication. His son Sergio, now the Managing Director, and his grandson Paulo, the Pininfarina archivist, both attest to this and maintain that ‘B435CD’ was one of its legendary creator’s personal favorites. The car was finished in time for the 1949 Geneva Salon and exhibited alongside one of the fixed-head coupés. On or about April 27th 1949, Garage de l’Anthernee delivered the car to Dr Spieler bearing license registration ‘BM 1949’ (Bentley Motors 1949?) and it was seen around the streets of Zurich for many years thereafter. Sometime in the late 1950s the Bentley ceased to be seen. A Montreal antique dealer, Ralph Hemmi, knew of the car and had kept track of it over the years. When Dr Spieler died, Mr Hemmi made overtures to acquire the car, which by that time had lain unused and neglected for many years in a lock up. He imported ‘B435CD’ to Montreal and, with the intention of restoring the car himself, proceeded to dismantle it without tagging, numbering or describing the parts; they were however, carefully wrapped and protected. The car remained in this condition until its present owner, Dr Philip Chartrand, of Westmount rescued the dismantled vehicle and its 27 boxes and three barrels of parts, and began the truly monumental task of bringing it back to life. Even Dr Chartrand, an experienced restorer with 48 previous car and 11 motorcycle restorations to his credit, faced an daunting task, but recognizing the historical significance of this ‘one-off’ Pininfarina creation, was determined it would return to former glory. Dr Chartrand first reassembled the car to determine its completeness and identify the parts, then dismantled it again to undertake a full restoration. The engine, transmission and differential were sent to renowned Rolls-Royce/Bentley specialists Frank & Bill Cooke of the Vintage Garage in North Brookfield, Massachusetts for a major rebuild. Unable to get the restorer of choice to fit this project into his schedule, Dr Chartrand then proceeded with help of family and others, including an experienced European panel builder to get the car ready for repainting, which was done professionally with eight coats of lacquer. In Dr Chartrand’s own words: “This Utopia lasted about three months, at which point pinheads (paint bubbles) began to appear where the panel beater had used acetylene welding which caused a chemical reaction between the steel frame and the aluminium coachwork.” So for two years the car sat unused while the chemical reactions were allowed to run their course. Eventually the services of Richard Grenon, an experienced Montreal restorer familiar with aluminium panels, were called upon and for the third time in five ye