Bentley 4 1/4 litre Eddie Hall

[BERTRAND]

What's this car?

[BERTRAND]

expert

[FrontMan]

Looks like Eddie Hall's 4 1/4 Litre Bentley.

[BERTRAND]

Bentley is correct, Eddie Hall was one of the driver, but I need the model name of the car.  Locked for you for 1 try or 24 hours

[FrontMan]

It was chassis number B35AE, and the body shown here was by Offord, in 1936. That's all I have! 

[BERTRAND]

I have an other specific model name, sorry, unlocked

[richard fridd]

AXN 373     3 1/2

[D-type]

You don't mean "Derby Bentley" do you?  It wasn't a model name, it was simply a term used to differentiate the later cars from the "WO" ones after he sold the company.
B35AE was not a "Corniche" despite what some websites say.  The Corniche was a sports saloon, not an out-and-out sports-racer.

[BERTRAND]

Hello D-type, Derby Bentley is not the name i'm expecting.  With "Corniche", you have the first part of the answer I'm waiting for.  this car has been raced and I am awaiting the exact name under which this bentley registered it for those races. I don't know if copy B35AE is this one.
Cause you find the first part of the name I expect, I locked for you for 1 try or 24 Hours D-type

[D-type]

Please don't lock it.  As FrontMan has already said, this is Eddie Hall's Bentley which was #11 at Le Mans in 1950.  The car was a Derby-built 3½ litre car, later enlarged to 4¼ litres.  This car did not have a model name although some websites incorrectly list it as a "Corniche".
Are you, or your source, possibly confusing it with the "Embiricos" car, a 4¼ bodied by Pourtout, also referred to as a "Paulin", B27LE which was raced at Le Mans by HSF Hay in 1949-51
This is the Hall car at Le Mans in 1950

[D-type]

Duplicated text deleted

[richard fridd]

Bentley Corniche TT Coupe?

[BERTRAND]

D-type, frontman, Yes i'm agree with you, this car run at Le Mans in 1950.  I checked the differents entrance list and i find in each site the model name "Corniche .... " and i'm not sure this name is "incorrect";  during this le mans 1950 edition, 2 bentley was registered and one with the model name  4 1-4 Paulin, but the second bentley had a different model name (the number 11)

[richard fridd]

So is 'Corniche' (1934) still part of the name?

[D-type]

To quote Wikipedia (Usual health warning applies.)
"1939 experimental Corniche

The first car with the Corniche nameplate was a 1939 prototype based on the Bentley Mark V, featuring coachwork designed in collaboration with several third parties, most prominent of which acclaimed French designer Georges Paulin, built by Parisian firm Carrosserie Vanvooren.[2][3]

It undertook 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of endurance testing in Continental Europe before being blown up by a bomb at a dock in Dieppe while awaiting shipment back to England.[3] No production model was ever manufactured because of the onset of World War II, but the company registered the name for the future. The unique car was fully re-created by Bentley's Mulliner division to join the company's heritage fleet, completed in 2019.[2]"

The photos accompanying the article show a car that is totally different from Eddie Hall's car. 

The rules say I can't post a link to the Wikipedia entry.

[BERTRAND]

sorry D-type, but richard fridd has the good model name for this car.
I checked different web site and book and the 24 hours le mans 1950, the car number eleven, in the entry list is Bentley Corniche coupé TT.  The car was drive by Eddie Hall and Tom Clarke.

[D-type]

Sorry BERTRAND, that website is just wrong.  Eddie Hall's car was a 1934 Bentley 3½ litre which was developed over the years and fitted with a 4¼ litre engine.  If it had a name it was a "Bentley 3½ / 4¼ coupé".  As it ran in 3 TT races prewar, you could possibly add "TT"
There was only ever one Bentley Corniche and it was not Eddie Hall's car. 

The point rightly belongs to FrontMan who correctly identified the car - even if not the incorrect name you had in mind.

[fromwien]

Motorsport 11-1981, Denis Jenkinson article about Bentley 3,5L AXN373:
...After the war Eddie Hall went to live in South Africa and he took the Bentley with him, competing with it in various national races out there, which were run on handicap like British events. In 1948 he netted 3rd place in the Fairfield Handicap in Durban and 5th place in the Coronation Handicap in Pietermaritzburg. In 1950 Hall returned to England with the car and Rolls-Royce looked at it again for him in preparation for an entry in the 24 Hour race at Le Mans. During a total overhaul and rebuild they improved the braking system and, naturally, improved the 4,-litre engine still further. In the interests of streamlining Hall had a detachable hardtop fitted over the cockpit, which may have been effective but looked hideous. He drove the whole 24 hours himself because, as he said recently, "couldn't stand co-drivers, they always cause trouble" and he finished in 8th place at 82.95 m.p.h., covering 1,990 miles.

After that he began to think about sports car events with a new Ferrari so he sold the Bentley to Briggs Cunningham, whom he had met at Le Mans. Cunningham took the car back to America, threw away the hardtop and kept it in its full racing trim in British Racing Green. Eventually Cunningham opened his Motor Museum and the famous old Bentley formed part of it. Today the Cunningham Museum is situated in California, south of Los Angeles, and the Bentley with all to history is well cared for. It has had American licence plates fitted in place of AXN 373, but apart from that is unchanged and is always kept ready to run....

Sorry, no word about 'Corniche'

[BERTRAND]

done, point from frontman

[fromwien]

Thank you! 'FrontMan' deserves the point really

Some photo-documentation about 'AXN373' attached out of the 'bibles'

[FrontMan]

Oh!....Thanks to all involved. It's good to be among friends!