1931 Bentley 8 Litre Convertible Victoria by Murphy

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 2025

Bentley’s 8 Litre car is a legend. It was the final new model introduced by the marque before they went belly up and got absorbed by Rolls-Royce. It rode on a large ladder frame and was powered by an 8.0-liter straight-six connected to a freshly designed four-speed manual transmission. These cars are on par with Duesenbergs, big Cadillacs, the supercharged Mercedes of the 1930s, etc.

Between 1930 and 1932, just 100 left the factory. They are prized today. Two wheelbases were offered, with this being on the shorter side. It is the only 8-Litre model that was exported to the U.S. to be bodied by an American coachbuilder. And to that task went the Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California.

It was purchased new by an heir to a sugar fortune. It was discovered in Mexico in 1948 and made its way back to the U.S. by 1971. Restored for the first time later that decade, the car would be restored again in 2012 before taking a prize at Pebble Beach. The car has an estimate of $2,750,000-$3,250,000. More info can be found here.