Leonard Weldon's Bentley In February 2025 the automotive historian Neill Fraser emailed me: I came across the Wymeswold village website when researching L E Weldon of The Hermitage, owner of the 1935 Bentley with 3 position drophead coupé coachwork by Freestone & Webb shown below. 1930 Bentley 'Speed 6', Reg No: GC 3515, Engine No: SB 2768, Chassis No: SB 2757 Leonard Weldon took delivery of this car when new in September 1935 and kept it until May 1938. It was one of only two such drop heads by Freestone & Webb to this design, though regrettably this original body has been replaced subsequently. The Vintage Bentley website has an entry (SB2757) for this car from which the following information was taken: This excellent example of a 'Speed 6' with a Van den Plas body was first registered in January 1930 to Mr Leonard Weldon of Nottingham. That body is now on a different 'Speed 6' in the USA because, in 1933, the Mr Weldon decided to put on a Corsica saloon body, probably because of the English winters. However in 1935 that body was cut down to an open tourer again. In 1963 the body builders Van den Plas put on a Le Mans open tourer body formerly belonging to a supercharged 4 litre which was found in Yorkshire. The car has featured in several motoring publications. This car has been driven in France, Italy, the Alps and most Bentley Drivers Club events in the UK since 1999. A photograph of the great W.O. Bentley was taken next to this car at a weekend in Plymouth in 1996, the very year that W.O. died. Leonard Earnest Weldon was born 14th October 1905 and died, aged only fifty, on 23rd May 1956. He was the father of Anthony Weldon. Ronald W. McNish Snr (1914–2022) took over as Managing Director of Weldon and Wilkinson Ltd after Leonard's death. More about Weldon and Wilkinson Ltd here. Grateful thanks to Rupert Weldon for providing information about his grandfather and the family's one-time business.

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