Classic car buyers continue to shell out for the best collectibles, and summer auctions highlight buoyant prices for Bentleys.
At the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 29, Bonhams auctioned Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin's 41/2 Litre Supercharged 'Blower' single-seat racing Bentley for GBP4.5 million (HK$54.58 million).
The 240bhp supercharged red racer clocked an amazing 137.96 miles per hour (220km/h) at Brooklands in 1932, and is now the most expensive Bentley sold at auction.
Until last week, that record belonged to the 'Old No 2' Speed Six that won the 1930 Brooklands 24-hour race, and was sold for GBP2.8 million at the Le Mans Classic in 2004.
A pair of vintage Bentleys also topped the June 16 'Excellence in Engineering' auction held by H&H Classics at Rockingham Castle, in Leicestershire, England.
A 1926 61/2-Litre spent 10 of its early years configured as a breakdown truck, but sold for GBP369,600, the auctioneers say. A 1927 3-Litre Speed Model Tourer with Vanden Plas once owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell sold 'above estimate' at GBP212,800.
A coffee bean brown over ivory 1937 Bentley 4?-Litre with Vanden Plas coachwork went for GBP48,160.