Beschreibung:

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. *One of the most original 4½ Liters to survive *Illustrious Scottish history *Freshly mechanically prepared by Holman Engineering *Recent Bentley Tour use THE BENTLEY 4 ½ 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 nine of the 665 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 'It's only original once...' or so the saying goes, a phrase that is immediately conjured with one glance at this remarkable battleship grey 4½ liter Bentley. Approaching 90 years of age, this British sportscar looks today much as it would have done when completed by the dream team of WO Bentley's Cricklewood Works and Vanden Plas' coachbuilding house. Of course, it was that partnership that provided the juice for the campaigns at Le Mans throughout the 1920s and garnered no