4,398cc SOHC Inline 4-Cylinder Engine - 4 Overhead Valves Per Cylinder
110bhp at 3,500rpm
4-Speed 'C' Gearbox
Front and Rear Leaf Spring Suspension
4-Wheel Drum Brakes with Servo Assist

* Fully matching numbers drivetrain
* Original Vanden Plas bodywork, previously fitted to a 4 ½ Liter
* Well documented car
* Usable tour car, for Vintage Bentley and other events

THE BENTLEY 4½ LITER

W O Bentley proudly debuted the new 3-liter 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. In only mildly developed form, this was the model which was to become a legend in motor racing history 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 second, fourth and fifth to take the Team Prize, led to the introduction of the TT Replica (later known as the Speed Model). However, by the middle of the decade the 3-Liter's competitiveness was on the wane and this, together with the fact that too many customers had been tempted to fit unsuitably heavy coachwork to the excellent 3-liter chassis rather than accept the expense and complexity of Bentley's 6½-liter 'Silent Six', led to the introduction of the '4½'.

The new 4½-liter model effectively employed the chassis, transmission and brakes of the 3-liter, combined with an engine that was in essence two-thirds of the six-cylinder 6½-liter unit. Thus the new four-cylinder motor retained the six's 100x140mm bore/stroke and Bentley's familiar four-valves-per-cylinder fixed-'head architecture, but reverted to the front-end vertical camshaft drive of the 3-liter. Bentley Motors lost no time in race-proving its new car. The new model also retained that "bloody thump", as noted Bentley owner Walter Foden referred to it, a characteristic that enables one to clearly identify a 4-cylinder Bentley from many miles away. Bentley Motors wasted no time in proving the new car in competition. It is believed that the first prototype engine went into the 3-liter chassis of the 1927 Le Mans practice car. Subsequently this same engine was fitted to the first production 4½-liter chassis for that year's Grand Prix d'Endurance at the Circuit de la Sarthe. The original 4½-liter car, nicknamed by the team 'Old Mother Gun' and driven by Frank Clement and Leslie Callingham, promptly set the fastest race lap of 73.41mph before being eliminated in the infamous 'White House Crash' multiple pile-up. The new engine quickly proved its worth, and it managed an outright win at Le Mans in 1928.

The 4½-liter was produced for four years, all but eleven of the 662 cars made being built on the 3-liter's 'Long Standard', 10' 10"-wheelbase chassis. Purchasers of the 4½-liter model were, in common with those of all vintage-period Bentleys, free to specify their preferences from a very considerable range of mechanical and electrical equipment, in addition to whatever body style and coachbuilder might be required. The most iconic of course were the cars fitted with tourer bodies by Vanden Plas, which provided 669 bodies from 1922 to 1931. Bentley's relationship with Vanden Plas began in 1922, and by 1924, the company bodied 84 Bentleys alone. In 1925, Vanden Plas leased a portion of their premises to Bentley for the latter's service department, securing their role as the coachbuilder of choice for Bentley.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

This striking and impressive car is an archetypal example of its genre and makes exactly the statement that one expects when one conjures the idea of a Vintage Bentley.

Thanks to the existence of the Cricklewood factory records and exhaustive work by historians, most notably Dr. Clare Hay, the histories of these iconic automobiles can be accurately researched and combining all knowledge of the car, we can chart almost all of its history. Its original owner was J. G. Bearman of London's Davies St. in the borough of Westminster, who purchased it on June 6th, 1929. As delivered to Mr. Bearman, in the austere times of 1929 and in town, it is perhaps not surprising that it was fitted from new with a Weymann Fabric Saloon body, built by high quality coachbuilders H.J. Mulliner. Sadly, to this day, no images are known to have survived in this form.

Mr. Bearman's ownership lasted for 15 months and some 16,000 miles had been covered before it had moved to its next custodian, C.W. Batten of East Ham, in the London suburbs. Mr. Batten's tenure was more fleeting, for by February 1931, the factory notes show that Captain P.G.A. Harvey back in central London, on Lowndes Street was its new owner. Captain Harvey was a known aficionado of the marque and had raced a 3 Liter at Brooklands in 1927. This must have been an upgrade for him, and he seems to have enjoyed the car, keeping it at least through to 1939, as no further owner changes are seen in the Bentley records. There is however one rather amusing note of the car being stolen by thieves during his tenure. The thieves covered some 1,500 miles - hopefully they knew how to double de-clutch!

After no doubt being laid up through the war, the car emerges in new ownership with a Donald Archbell of Lancashire, who had purchased it from J.A. Rayfield in January 1950. By this point, the Bentley had had its Weymann body replaced, but far from receiving the indignity of a service or commercial body, PL3477 had an upgrade, and now wore the Vanden Plas Sports Touring coachwork that it retains to this day, more than 70 years later! In this guise and sourced from the Archbell family by the current owner, photos show Mr. Archbell campaigning the car on what appear to the Lancashire moors, no doubt for a Vintage Sports Car Club event.

Mr. Archbell traded the Bentley for another 4½ in approximately 1952, and there followed a succession of four further owners before the car arrived with a noted British exponent of the marque, William 'Bill' Cheston of Weston-on-Avon of the Midlands in the U.K. in 1964. Mr. Cheston retained the Bentley for the next decade, frequently racing it and actively enjoying it within the British car clubs. Early on in his ownership he elected to switch the car's 'C'box (no. 6613) with that of another car he owned.
From 1974, and for the next 40 years, the car lived in Sweden with one single custodian, Gabriel Ohman, then briefly Lars Söderström, before being acquired by the present owner, a prominent member of the North American Vintage Bentley Club. While with Söderström in 2014, its original gearbox was repatriated to the car.

As the car stands today it is a fully matching component numbers car, retaining its chassis, engine, front and rear axles, as well as the aforementioned gearbox. Its coachwork has been closely inspected by Dr. Clare Hay who concurs with it being original, correct Vanden Plas, and from stampings on the windshield of number '1672', it can be deduced that this was originally fitted to a sister 4½, chassis FS 3607. So, it is quite literally all Bentley and twinned with original coachwork in the most desirable form for these cars.

Inspected recently by a Bonhams specialist, the car was seen to start promptly even when cold, to have good oil pressure and on the road its transmission is particularly smooth. Of particular appeal is its full set of weather protection, having both full length top and side screens, making it ideal for touring. As well this one always has the option to pack this away and drop the windshield in favor of the rakish Brooklands 'aero-screens', when the sun shines, or the 'red mist', that can afflict true Bentley Boys should appear!

Looking every bit the sportscar that you expect from a 'WO', this is a pure car with a well-documented history and ownership by noted connoisseurs of the marque. It offers a top tier entry for any of the popular Bentley Club tours, or indeed longer distance 1,000 mile retrospectives.