Bentley 3-Litre Speed Model Tourer Coachwork by Chalmer & Hoyer 1924, Inglaterra

Bentley 3-Litre Speed Model Tourer Coachwork by Chalmer & Hoyer 1924, Inglaterra
Fotografia



W O Bentley proudly unveiled the new 3-litre car bearing his name on Stand 126 at the 1919 Olympia Motor Exhibition, the prototype engine having fired up for the first time just a few weeks earlier. Walter Owen Bentley was already well known for his pre-WWI exploits with DFP cars and the pioneering use of aluminium pistons in their engines; and as an engine designer he was no novice, having been responsible for some of the Allies' most successful aero engines during the Great War.
The Bentley 3-Litre's four-cylinder 'fixed head' engine incorporated a single overhead camshaft, four-valves per cylinder, and a bore/stroke of 80x149mm. Twin ML magnetos provided the ignition and power was transmitted via a four-speed gearbox with right-hand change. The pressed-steel chassis started off with a wheelbase of 9' 9½" then adopted dimensions of 10' 10" ('Standard Long') in 1923, the shorter frame being reserved for the TT Replica and subsequent Speed Model. Rear wheel brakes only were employed up to 1924 when four-wheel Perrot-type brakes were introduced.
In only mildly developed form, this was the model that was to become a legend in motor racing history, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930, and which, with its leather-strapped bonnet, classical radiator design and British Racing Green livery, has become the archetypal Vintage sports car.
Early success in the 1922 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, when Bentleys finished 2nd, 4th, and 5th to take the Team Prize, led to the introduction of the TT Replica (later known as the Speed Model) on the existing 9' 9½" wheelbase, short standard chassis. Identified by the Red Label on its radiator, the Speed Model differed by having twin SU 'sloper' carburettors, a higher compression ratio, different camshaft, and the close-ratio A-type gearbox, the latter being standard equipment prior to 1927 when the C-type 'box was adopted. These engine changes increased maximum power from the standard 70 to 80bhp and raised top speed to an impressive 90mph. Other enhancements included the larger (11-gallon) fuel tank and (usually) André Hartford shock absorbers. Bentley made approximately 1,600 3-Litre models (513 to Speed Model specification), the majority of which was bodied by Vanden Plas with either open tourer or saloon coachwork.
Speed Model chassis number '425', with engine number '424', was completed in December 1923 and first owned by one F E B Elton. According to the renowned marque specialist, Dr Clare Hay, the four-seater tourer coachwork has been credited to Vanden Plas but is more likely to be the work of Chalmer & Hoyer (later Hoyal) although not definitely established (see photocopy on file taken from Bentley – The Vintage Years). It has also been suggested that the body is by Park Ward.
Copies of the car's original factory records (up to 1937) and a list of subsequent owners are on file also together with numerous invoices dating back to the 1990s when the Bentley was owned by a Mr R Lippiatt of Hampshire. '425' had been in the USA and then Canada from approximately 1968 to 1986, and when brought back to the UK had been issued with the age-related registration 'DS 7420'. The original registration, 'EL 8828', has since been retrieved.