Bentley 3-Litre

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WO Bentley first made a name for himself as an importer of the French-built DFP car before the Great War and as a designer of aero-engines during it.

After the war he decided to make a car of his own design and the 3-Litre prototype was first shown at the 1919 Olympia Motor Show. The first car was sold in 1921, thus starting the legendary breed of locomotive-like British sports cars.

Chassis engineering was conventional in every way, but the engine was a revelation. Massively built, tall and elegant, the four-cylinder unit was almost unique in having four valves per cylinder, an overhead camshaft, pent-roof combustion chambers and twin carburettors. It was extremely undersquare, optimized for low-end torque, with a bore of 80mm and a stroke of 149mm. To increase durability, the iron engine block and cylinder head were cast as a single unit. Drive was transmitted through a 4-speed gearbox controlled by a right-hand gearlever.

Formidably powerful and as reliable as Big Ben, the car came to dominate the most severe competitions like the Tourist Trophy and the 24 Hours at Le Mans, winning the latter five times between 1924 and 1930. Its weight, size, and speed prompted Ettore Bugatti to call it "the fastest lorry in the world."

Bentley was so confident of his engineering skills that a five-year warranty was offered for the chassis assembly which was delivered in rolling form. Bentley referred many customers to Vanden Plas for standard bodies, although other bodies, ranging from minimalist two-seaters to landaulets and sports-saloons were produced on a bespoke basis by many other coachbuilders. In all, 1,622 of the 3-Litre cars were made in several basic forms and in three wheelbase lengths.

Such is the romance and appeal of the Bentley 3-Litre, that the vendor has been a devotee of the model since he was a young-lad. Now in his eighties, he has amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of the cars, having been involved with their restoration and research for over 60 years.

His addiction started when he was an undergraduate at Cambridge with the acquisition of the cut-up remains of chassis 1026 purchased out of a scrapyard in 1959 (as was still possible in those days). He was later to acquire ‘the mortal remains’ of another car, HB 3421 from Adrian Liddell which he duly constructed into a ‘4 ½ / 3-litre’, selling it in 1983 when chassis 110 emerged from a barn in Norfolk having been unearthed by Donald Day. Thus started his next project, the result of which you see before you.

Onto this bare chassis has gone half a lifetime’s collection of 3-Litre parts, the concept being to create a primitive, simple and lightweight car in the spirit of WO Bentley’s original ‘Experimental No.1’ rather than yet another VdP replica. Completed in 1995, it was issued with the registration number SV 4513, looking very business-like with its close-coupled lightweight four-seater body. Chassis 110 was originally registered XL 5604, a number which has not been assigned to another car since and may therefore be retrievable - of which more below.

The original owner of car 110 was an old Etonian and cousin of Tim Birkin called Angus Douglas Vickers (of the armaments family and Vickers Aviation at Brooklands). He purchased chassis 110 directly from the Bentley works as a second-hand car in 1923 and, despite an erroneous entry in the works records and therefore subsequent historical references, it did not race at Brooklands as some have suggested, a fact confirmed in a letter from Mr Vickers to the vendor stating that he never raced it during his ownership. As he acquired it on March 31st 1923, as confirmed by the works five-year guarantee, his ownership predated the Summer race meeting in which it was supposed to have competed.

His brother, Oliver Vickers, gave Angus the body from his own, earlier Bentley, a replacement being demanded by Oliver’s wife who insisted on more accommodating saloon coachwork. Car 110 then passed into the hands of Flight Lieutenant JC Brooke DSC who supposedly took it to Greece in the 1930s where he trained the Greek airforce to fly Gloster Gladiators. He served there during the '39-'45 war although it has not been possible to trace his history after this.

The car was then bought by a Mr Newman, who collected it from the Brooke family in Aston Clinton in 1945, at which point it still wore the body that Angus Vickers had given his brother in 1923, a photograph clearly showing the coachwork and the name 'Brooke' painted on the running-board-mounted tool box. Mr Newman subsequently sold it to Dr Watkins in 1947, who unfortunately crashed the car a year later, at which point the major components were removed and put into a different chassis (number unknown) and re-registered KLY 3, a new car under the regulations at the time. This car still exists.

It is interesting to note that the original body was spotted on the front cover of Autocar in 1969 with WO himself sitting in it, although the registration number of this car is not visible so the vendor is unsure on which chassis this body now resides. The gentleman in Norfolk who sold the vendor the chassis, confirmed that he had bought it from the West London firm of Blakers who specialised in chassis repairs in 1950. It had been stripped of all of its fittings with the exception of the engine mounts.

The owner has always hoped to be able to reunite chassis 110 with its original registration number XL 5604. In 2011, the chassis was inspected by Mr Fenn of the Bentley Drivers Club, who confirmed that the chassis appeared to be untampered with and had the number correctly stamped in its original position on the front chassis cross-member as was standard practice at Bentley. However he was unwilling to confirm this to the DVLA until he had the opportunity to inspect KLY 3. The vendor informs us that "the matter remains unresolved" as illness and ‘retirement’ bedevilled by too many tasks and too little time for them have meant that he has not pursued the issue, preferring to enjoy the car instead.

Once the provenance of the chassis had been established, he set about examining his stock of parts. Forensic testing failed to reveal the number on the genuine and original crankcase, although it is believed to be from the range 1000 – 1050 which had been acquired from Chris Pack. The original block was sourced from Cyril Wordsworth while the cambox is number 774 - after 25 years' assiduous collecting, the only significant reproduction part in the engine is the rocker cover!

The machining work was carried out by Donald Day in Swindon and has included all white-metalling, new pistons etc, the unit having covered just 5,000 miles since completion. The ‘B’ type gearbox (number 141) came from Tony Townsend and the clutch is the correct cone-type. The propshaft is original, retaining a pot-joint at one end but upgraded with a modern Hardy-Spicer at the other.

The front axle is original as is the rear axle (805?) which has a four-star differential and a nice tall 3.53:1 ratio. The steering box (648) came from Bob Chamberlain while the other major components such as the bulkhead and radiator are also original.

The current lightweight sporting body has previously seen service on a Lagonda and new wings were made along with a new windscreen from Wessex Screens. The wheels are all rebuilt and it has many attractive detail features such as the correct ‘Sloper’ carburettors, cord-bound springs and original instrumentation including a rather fine clock from a WWII bomber.

The completed car has proved exactly what the owner wanted. Simple, primitive, lightweight and fast, and is only being offered for sale due to an impending house purchase.

Although the car didn’t leave Cricklewood in the form it is today, it is undeniably one of the more original examples in existence, all major components having been made under the watchful eye of WO himself, unlike many of the so-called ‘original’ 3-Litres running around today!  

AMENDMENT; Please note that the dashboard has the vendor's mag plate from his other car covering the hole for the WWII bomber clock. The mag plate is not included in the sale, the clock will be forwarded to the new owner after the sale.