Bentley 3½ Litre Sports, 1934
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Bijgewerkt: 18-March-2024 19:35

Bentley 3½ Litre Sports, 1934

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Bentley 3½ Litre Sports, bouwjaar 1934. Kleur ‘two-tone’ lichtgroen/donkergroen met een cognac-kleurig lederen interieur met bijpassend tapijt. Chassisnummer B111BL. Deze ‘Derby’ Bentley verliet de fabriek met een 'open tourer' carrosserie op 3 augustus 1934. De automobiel werd verscheept naar de eerste eigenaar in Zuid Afrika. In de jaren 1940 kwam de Bentley terug in Engeland. In de late jaren 1980, vroege jaren 1990 werd de automobiel in Engeland voorzien van de huidige en zeer fraaie tweezits ‘sport’ carrosserie. Van deze periode zijn er veel facturen van de restauratie aanwezig. Deze Bentley 3½ Litre Sports verkeert in zeer mooie staat en de auto rijdt geweldig! De jaren 1930 Bentley slogan ‘The Silent Sports Car’ is nog altijd onverminderd van toepassing. De Bentley voelt zeer solide en de auto kan met verve worden bedwongen door ervaren rijders. Deze Bentley ‘sports’ is een tijdloze schoonheid in de stoere mannelijke variant van het woord. Een zeer begeerlijke en unieke Bentley.

ARCHIEF | VERKOCHT

De Bentley 3.5 Litre werd eind september 1933 aan het publiek voorgesteld. Nadat Bentley in 1931 door Rolls Royce werd overgenomen was de 3.5 Litre het eerste nieuw ontworpen Bentley model. Deze Bentley modellen genieten ook bekendheid onder de bijnaam "Derby" Bentley omdat ze werden gebouwd in de Rolls Royce fabrieken te Derby Engeland.
De 3.5 Litre was het eindresultaat van het Rolls Royce Peregrine project dat ten doel had een model te ontwikkelen dat onder de Rolls Royce 20/25 en de Phantom zou vallen. De Bentley 3.5 Litre zou moeten gaan concurreren met de Alvis Speed 20 en de Lagonda M45.
De Bentley 3.5 Litre werd af fabriek geleverd als rollend chassis, of compleet met Park Ward carrosserie als saloon, streamline saloon en als drophead coupé.

De rollende chassis die de fabriek verlieten werden door andere carrosseriebouwers voorzien van carrosserieën. Onder andere H.J. Mulliner, Trupp & Maberly, James Young, H.R. Owen, Gurney Nutting, William Arnold, Kellner (Parijs) en de Zwitser Graber vervaardigen vele fraaie carrosserie varianten.
Het stalen ladderchassis, vervaardigd van staal met een hoog nikkelgehalte, was voorzien van zes dwarsverbindingen en kende geen diagonale verstevigingen. Aan de voor- en achterzijde was het chassis voorzien van kenmerkende bogen ("double-dropped") om de assen meer verticale bewegingvrijheid te geven en het profiel van de auto laag te houden. Het chassis was zeer sterk en het was erg licht ten opzichte van de tijdgenoten.
De motor van de Bentley 3.5 Litre was een doorontwikkeling van de zes cilinder-in-lijn Rolls Royce 20/25 motor. De 3.5 Litre motor was echter veel krachtiger. De motor werd onder andere voorzien van een grotere cilinderinhoud, hogere compressie, een sportiever nokkenasprofiel en twee S.U. carburateurs.

Wegens het hoge potentieel van de motor voldeed de normale, hoge, Rolls Royce standaard niet voor verschillende onderdelen. De ingenieurs beslisten dat deze onderdelen van ultieme kwaliteit dienden te zijn...
Het bouwen van een sportieve Bentley met een lager prijskaartje dan een Rolls Royce bleek lastig. Ontwikkelingsingenieur Hives schreef in een memo; "Our recommendation is that we should make the car as good as we know how and then charge accordingly", veelzeggende woorden...

Technische gegevens

Zescilinder motor met kopkleppen en zevenmaal gelagerde krukas
Cilinderinhoud: 3669 cc.
Carburatie: 2 x S.U., 1 3/8 inch
Vermogen: 114 pk. bij 4500 tpm.
Topsnelheid: ca. 150 km/u.
Versnellingsbak: vier versnellingen handbediend,
derde en vierde versnelling gesynchroniseerd
gewicht (chassis): 1140 kg.

Bentley history 1919 - 1931

The famous Bentley make, erected by Mr. W.O. Bentley, existed as a independent firm for only twelve years (1919-1931) before the proud firm was taken over by the Rolls Royce motor company. Those twelve exhilarating Bentley years were filled with racing successes and many important victories. The Bentley name as manufacturer of large, heavy, powerful and rugged sports cars has been imprinted in the human mind since the "roaring" 1920ies.

Bentley motorcars won the famous 24 hours of Le Mans race in the years 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. The years they did not win the long distance reliability race for production cars they finished second or third. Not only successes at Le Mans were counted but also victories in other long distance events like the Brooklands 500 mile race. The racing successes were mainly due to the rugged built of the cars and the meticulous preparation of the cars. In every race they learned and had the cars improved on small but important details (Head lamp covers, mesh gauze on the petrol tank, quick filler caps for engine oil and radiator, driver adjustable brakes.)

3-Litre

The Bentley 3 Litre was W.O. Bentley’s first design. The car was presented in 1919 but the first cars were sold in 1921. The four cylinder cars of rugged construction where in a class of their own for they combined the size and comfort of the big tourers and saloons with the road holding, and speed of the smaller sports- and racing cars. The Bentley was a true owner-driver car for the sporting motorist and connoisseur. The Bentley car could be had in three different types which were designated with three different radiator badges*. Red badge: short chassis speed model, Blue badge: the early short and then long chassis type for bespoke bodywork, Green badge: very rare and used for about eighteen 100 mph. These Green badge car won at Le Mans in 1924 and 1927 (Old Number Seven.) The 3-Litre was built from 1919 until 1929.

*The Bentley radiator and the logo were designed by the genius motoring artist Gordon Crosby. The logo is a ‘badge’ and not a ‘label’ as stated by AFC Hilstead in his book ‘Those Bentley Days’ (published 1953).

6.5 Litre and Speed Six

Then in 1926 the 6.5 Litre and the Speed Six were presented, these six cylinder models were in the eyes of W.O. Bentley the best cars the Bentley firm ever built. The bigger capacity was needed for many a customer had built a bespoke heavy saloon body on their chassis and thus eliminating the sporting element the chassis had to offer. The Speed Six brought Bentley the most racing successes and Le Mans victories. In the year 1929 the Speed Six came home first with Bentley 4.5 Litres second, third and fourth! In 1930 the same Bentley Speed Six 'Old Number one' came home a victor followed by another Speed six in second position!

4.5 Litre

Next came the upgraded four cylinder Bentley 4.5 Litre in the year 1927. The 4.5 Litre featured four valves per cylinder and two spark plugs per cylinder engine. Most of these cars were given open tourer and saloon bodywork and only nine short chassis were built.

4.5 Litre Supercharged (Blower)

The 4.5 Litre Blower was built in the ‘Barnato’ period. Financed by the Hon. Dorothy Paget Tim Birkin successfully experimented at Brooklands with his blower Bentley and even achieved the Brooklands lap record with his Blower Bentley. As Woolf Barnato was now in charge of the Bentley firm, and W.O. now only responsible for the development of the Bentley cars, Birkin convinced Barnato to enter a separate team of Blower Bentleys for the 1930 Le Mans race. This was against W.O. Bentley’s ideas for he was of the opinion that the supercharger would only add trouble to a perfectly good and reliable machine. The 1930 Le Mans race proved W.O. right as none of the blown cars finished and Barnato and Kidston won on a Speed Six model.
The supercharged 4.5 Litre engines were real "gas-guzzlers", the naturally aspirated 4.5 Litre engine used one litre of petrol every 5.6 kilometres, the supercharged engine used one litre for just 3.5 kilometres, a very large petrol tank was fitted additionally.
Another problem was that spark plugs in the supercharged engine wore out very quickly resulting in loss of power. Bentley engineer Nobby Clarke stated one day: "The blower eats spark plugs like a donkey eats hay". Only 55 Bentley 4.5 Litre ‘blower’ cars have been built by the firm of which 26 carried the Van den Plas open tourer bodywork.

8-litre

In 1931 the most impressive Bentley model ever saw the light of day; the 8-Litre. This car can be regarded as a real ‘super car’. Only 100 of these big cars have been built.

4- Litre

Also in 1931 a down scaled 8-Litre was introduced, the 4-Litre. The car was designed to sell more cars to improve the cumbersome financial situation at Bentley’s. The 1929 Wall Street crash affecting the firm immensely. The 4-Litre featured the chassis, transmission and brakes of the 8-litre. The newly constructed 120 bhp ‘Ricardo’ engine proved underpowered for the chassis and as a result the 4-litre never became the success Bentley hoped for. Only 50 chassis were built.

1931 Rolls Royce take over

In 1931 business prospects looked very black and the firm went into receivership. Napier & Son were negotiating with Bentley's receiver to take over the company. Then another interested party arrived at the scene named British Central Equitable Trust. They outbid Napiers in a sealed bid auction. The Trust later was found to be a front for Rolls-Royce Limited. Rolls Royce had cleverly defeated the threat of a firm that could become a very unwelcome competitor.

From 1933 all Bentley cars were based upon their Rolls Royce counterparts and production was then moved from Cricklewood to Derby. Purists tend to name the Rolls Royce produced cars – Rolls Royce Bentley’s. Rolls Royce took good care of the Bentley ‘marque’. Many magnificent automobiles were built with a distinctively different character than the Rolls Royce models.

© Marc Vorgers 

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