If you live in USA you may well have heard of the Keno brothers, but some of us this side of the pond have not, and are opening our eyes wide at the cars they are offering in their 'Rolling Sculptures' live auction in New York on Thursday November 19 at 5pm sharp. Let's start with the 1932 Stutz DV32 with aluminium custom sport sedan coachwork by LeBaron which attracted its first owner, Alex R. Stockenberg, and being a mechanical engineer he would have been tempted by its twin-overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and hemispherical combustion chambers and this in the contemporary press... “The car is exceptionally fast in view of the great comfort provided… fully capable of 90 mph... The charm of the big engine propelling the car effortlessly at 60 or even 70 m.p.h. has to be experienced to be believed. ”Lack of tyres in wartime meant the car was put on blocks for 73 years - feast your eyes on the excellent pictures of this stunning unrestored car.
From America to Europe, and the Keno brothers have unearthed a Bugatti, a BMW and a Bentley - all with fascinating history and all rare survivors in original condition. '40810' is a 1929 Type 40 famous for its trip across the Sahara desert in 1930 in convoy with three other Type 40 Bugattis as documented in the history file included. The description of the 1939 BMW Sport Cabriolet includes a video of the previous owner sharing his memories and passion for this car and the pictures show that the new owner will have multiple important decisions to make about the care and feeding of this automobile. As a discriminating and informed collector, he/she will want to think about the intended use for this beauty.
The 1931 4 litre Bentley is said to be one of just 12 remaining of the 50 originally built and the delightful original Vanden Plas tourer coachwork has mercifully escaped the 'body snatchers' who love to convert the 4 litre chassis to 6½ or 8 litre spec. with Le Mans replica coachwork. We sense each of the 40 cars offered demonstrates the passion, good taste and experience of these twin brothers; we applaud their efforts in finding these Pre War 'time warps' and bringing them out of long term storage ready for new owners.
(Text Robin Batchelor, pictures courtesy Leslie & Leigh Keno)