1923 | Bentley 3 Litre

W.O. Bentley had a passion for the un-supercharged model. So much so that it was originally the 3-litre-powered car that he took to Le Mans and raced with great success. These are thus highly desired and the story of this fine motor car is well documented.

The current owner acquired it through a known specialist, Ray Arnold, based in Snowdonia and his company, The Real Car Company, back in June 1999, some 26 years ago now. This is a fully opening two-door, four-seat cabriolet complete with wind-up windows and has been well used and enjoyed over the years. It is largely original although it reported that the leather has been replaced at some point as well as the hood although the engine is certainly as it left the factory.

Recent works have taken place through Rolls-Royce &Bentley specialist, West Hoathly Garage Ltd, which included back in February 2021, as a result of a con-rod failure, a complete engine rebuild and the replacement of all four con-rods for safety's sake. This started off, naturally, with the welding to the side of the crankcase to repair and machining to recover distortion from the aforementioned works. The crankshaft was re-ground to clean and all faces were machined to recover original tolerances to the tune of just over £16,000.

Once this was satisfactory, the camshaft reprofiling took place including the cutting in of valve seats and faces as well as cleaning all individual parts and oil-ways as well as washing &cleaning all main bearings and housings, checking clearances and bearings ready for reassembly. The engine rebuild, adjusting piston ring gaps, rods to piston rings and crankshafts and many other necessary works to bring this engine back up to speed including multiple road-tests in excess of 110 miles to the tune of an additional £15,900. Considerable expertise has been devoted to this five-year process and engine number 412 can now be considered to be as good as new.

Numerous ancillary works also took place including re-assembly of the clutch and flywheel, draining of the fuel tank, flushing fuel lines and radiator. Stripping &dismantling water pump, cleaning and reassembly. Then machining exhaust manifold surfaces, dismantling carburettor as necessary and reassembly, refitting engine coolant hoses as requires and rebuilding A &B magnetos although an electronic fuel pump has now been fitted towards the rear of the car at the engine side of the fuel tank.

Prior to the vendor's ownership, Mr Geer Esq. took advantage of James E. Pearce, specialist coachbuilders, for extensive re-nickelling of various parts of the brightwork including re-trimming the interior in black Connolly leather as you see now, in 1985, and the fitting of best-quality Wilton carpet in 1984. Hofman &Mountfort Ltd. supplied a new exhaust manifold (with ancillaries) in 1982 and James Pearce replaced the hood in 1981. Hofmanns also supplied a number of other mechanical parts back in 1976 such as shotblasting the clutch cone, remetalling bearings, various boring &grinding surrounding the crankshaft and the fitting of crank bungs to shaft.

A complete set of wings were then completed by the Sussex firm, James Pearce, in 1973 and Hofmanns, although there are numerous minor invoices in-between, in 1961 completely dismantled, checked, cleaned and reassembled the front axle unit. The brake back plates were welded and repaired and old brake linings were replaced. A complete overhaul of all front and rear brakes took place at this time as well as the steering track rod and drag link, chassis cross member, strutgear, carrier bracket and the reshaping of spring shackles. Finally, the rear axle unit was also stripped and rebuilt with any subsequent issues attended to and replaced including the meshing of gears, pinion shaft and thrust bearings.

At the same time, extensive lathe-work took place on the axle shaft, inner-end thrust pads including making up a complete set of eight mountings for Hartford shock-absorbers totalling just over an incredible 257 hours labour. New parts included the aforementioned shock absorbers, crown wheel and pinion gears, eight rear brake linings, two pinion shaft carrier bearings, two crown wheel carrier bearings and four pinion shaft thrust bearings as well as numerous ancillaries.

Prior to this there are two pages of hand-written notes between 1924 and 1938 when the owner was originally Mrs. Phillips of South Audley Street, London Followed by Mr. Bassett that same year and the work he commissioned. In 1925, it appears to have been sold to a Mr. Jackson of Cobham, Surrey.

In 1926, he had the engine de-carbonised and the clutch withdrawal mechanism examined as well as some other mechanical works and for the next two years, routine maintenance took place as you would expect. In 1929, with a mileage recorded at 4,199, the flywheel teeth were trimmed as well as a knock from the bottom bevels rectified and additional works that took place as detailed on the work sheet.

Currently well used by the owner, a well-known specialist in the steam and veteran car world, the Lucas King of the Road headlamps light the way twined with a full-throated klaxon horn, two brand new beaded-edge tyres costing just shy of £800 and a recent MoT test pass (March) with no advisories. The Autovac (whilst still in situ) has now been bypassed by a fuel pump, the exhaust downpipe wrapped in fibreglass leading, eventually to a fishtail end.

The interior, a comfortable place with well-padded, black leather bucket seats, mahogany door cappings, mahogany dash and roll-top. The electric fan is also controlled from inside and so confident is the vendor of the car's reliability, that even the dash-mounted Smiths clock keeps good time.

Consigned by Edward Bridger-Stille

Lot details
Year: 1923
Make: Bentley
Model: 3-Litre Open Tourer by H.J. Mulliner
Registration: XP 6994
Chassis No: 413
Engine No: 412
Mileage: 1,067


* Recent five-year engine re-build

* Extensive history right back to 1924

* Original body, engine &gearbox