Description
1935 Derby Bentley 3 ½ Vesters & Neirinck Fixed Head Coupé
Exceptionally elegant European coachwork by Vesters & Neirinck
The first of the exclusive pair in this style
Sister car now in the Loh Collection
Originally delivered to Claude Lang of Brussels
A highly significant and exquisite Derby Bentley
A highly significant Derby Bentley with supremely elegant coachwork by Vesters & Neirinck – one of an exclusive pair in this style – offered for the first time after decades in a private collection.
Chassis B114DG was a special order for youthful banker Claude Lang of Brussels. Supplied new by Établissements André Pisart, Bentley dealer for Belgium, she was sent to exclusive coachbuilders Vesters & Neirinck for completion as a two-door fixed head coupé, of exquisite proportion and style.
Vesters & Neirinck produced some of the most outstandingly beautiful prewar coachwork on an array of quality marques for the most discriminating customers. Approximately 11 special order commissions were completed on Derby Bentley chassis, but only two of this type, both famed for their extraordinary beauty.
Just two years after his first commission, Claude Lang ordered a 4 ½ Litre sister car to this one – bodied as a two-seater with lower roofline, chassis B156KT was described by racing driver journalist Paul Frère as the most beautiful Bentley he had ever seen, and now resides in the Loh Collection after being auctioned by major public auction houses.
Until now, the first of Lang’s Bentley pair has led an elusive and cloistered life. According to BDC records, Lang parted with B114DG prewar to M. Armand Kirschen, repurchasing his original commission post-war, then finally parting with it in 1952 to M. Jan Verswyver of Antwerp. Of the intervening decades nothing is known except a few fleeting snapshots by sleuthing enthusiasts: a 1980 sighting in England photographed at a RROC rally, then a sighting at Coys in the summer of 1981.
Acquired by an enthusiastic and devoted Welsh home in the 1980s, the original Claude Lang Vesters & Neirinck fixed head coupé has finally broken cover, and is now offered from decades of long-term family ownership. Seldom seen in public for the last four decades, she is offered in beautiful order having been well cared for by an in-house team.
A very special and simply exquisite Derby Bentley, and an exceptional example of the coachbuilder’s art, the original Claude Lang Vesters & Neirinck coupé would be a distinguished addition to any discerning collection, and certain to be welcome and attract much admiration the finest motoring events.
