Bentley 3 Litre
Discussion
Little bit of back ground my father and I first saw vintage cars racing properly at the first classic Le Man back in 2002. We drooled over the Blower Bentleys/ 4.5 litres and Bugatti 35s as well as the other wonderful cars raced in that period. At this time much like a 250 GTO we assumed these were cars for the seriously wealthy and seeing them at Le Man was as close as we would ever get as mere Mortals.
Fast forward to 2006 my father has bought himself a Continental GT and joined the Bentley Drivers Club (BDC). There he became friends with quite a prominent member of the club who amongst his incredible collection had several pre 1930 Bentleys. Which he brought to various events he noticed our genuine enthusiasm for the cars and was delighted to answer our million and one questions. Eventually he invited us to his house to show us his collection and give us a ride in his 4.5 litre. After the ride which pretty much blew our minds my father sheepishly asked him how much something like this was worth. The answer was as expected it was worth well over £500,000. He then asked if it was something my father would be seriously interested in which of course yes, he told us that 3 litres go for a lot less, more in the 150,000-200,000 price bracket. So of course we started searching every website and advert we could find. We searched for 5 years then a wonderful car in price range came up that my father went to view unfortunately he viewed it the day before a triple heart by pass that didn't exactly put him the mood to make the second largest purchase of his life. So he decided he would have another look after the surgery and probably buy it, but by the time he recovered it had been sold. So we continued searching by this time it has been 8 years since we started looking and the prices had all gone up hugely so my father thought he had missed the boat. Until his friend from the BDC called me at work one day to see how I was so I asked how to find a car to which he answered I will ask around for you. 2 weeks later I get another call saying he has found my father a car only one problem he wants to sell it quick as he has bought a 4.5 litre but needs the money to complete the transaction. This would be fine except my father was out of the country, so lots of phone calls later we agreed my father would view the car the day he got back and would buy it if it was as described.
It was and he bought it. So we went to collect his 1924 Bentley 3 litre speed a few months ago. A massive dream come true for my father who looks back at the pics we have of them in 2002 and can't believe he has one.
IMG_0174 by Elliot Simpson, on Flickr
It's the speed so has a shorter chassis however it didn't start life as a speed the chassis was cut in the 60s when it was restored and had a Le Man body put on it. Neither is it a matching numbers as the engine set on fire in the late 20s and was replaced back at the Bentley factory other than that fairly original.
So of course all we had to do was go collect it!!! For a bit of fun we decided we would get the train down to Watford from Norwich and drive the car back figuring that it would be a trial by fire in learning how the car works and how to drive it. So we get there bright and early 11am to collect the car after a quick walk around to inspect some of the work he wanted doing we began our epic journey.
There are a few things that are quite different with the car from a modern car of course there is no synchromesh so you have to double de clutch and blip the throttle on the way down which can be extremely challenging. Needless to say there was a lot of gear graunching as well as not much smooth progress. The good news is that it has so much torque you can pretty much go every where in top gear if you want to. The gear changes made more challenging by a centre throttle and the steering column going down between the centre throttle and the brake on the right so no heel and toe. Mix all of this with busy Watford traffic and you have the most fun and terrifying first mile in a new car you can possibly have.
Eventually we get on the M11 and start making progress we found that it would pull easily up to 60 with quite some gusto for a 90 year old or it at least feels like it does when you are being blown to pieces and the car is vibrating so much that the dash and the body appear to be going in separate directions to each other. This sounds terrible but is absolutely bloody brilliant it is the most fun I have had in a car going so slow.
After a couple of hours we stop for a late lunch. As we walk out my father says something I didn't think i would hear for at least 5 years "Do you want to drive the rest of the way" I couldn't believe it, I barely said yes. At this point my stomach went into a knot for the first time in my life I was nervous and a little bit intimidated by a car. I clamber into the drivers seat met by the huge steering wheel, I check it's in neutral with the gear lever on the right yet another thing to get used to. I flick the three switches press the starter button and it fires quickly into life, I put the car in first and tentatively pull away I try to grab 2nd it goes in but with a hell of a racket at this point i realise that 100m from the pub I have to navigate a busy roundabout with a car with drum brakes, no synchromesh, centre throttle and right hand gear change, to top off my already anxious state of mind it dawned on me that it wasn't even my car and it literally cost more than my house. Luckily I got it into third with a sweet gear change no resistance at all, a gap in the traffic at the roundabout appears i accelerate into the roundabout without stopping sweep round to the right accelerate out or the roundabout change up to 4th with a bit of graunching. At this point I feel like Woolf Barnato racing at Le Man except I was only doing 45 in reality but it was a huge rush. I rejoin the motorway and find it cruses quite easily at 70 which was a surprise as was the very sharp throttle response.
As we approach Norwich my worst nightmare begins to pass the engine begins to splutter and lose power I try to crawl the car home but no luck it goes totally dead 6 miles from home. At this point of course I think i have broken it and I'm going to be beaten to death by my father and buried in the field next to us luckily he took it very well and started checking a few things to figure out what was wrong. Oddly nothing seemed to be wrong except it was dead. Unfortunately our adventure ended on the back of a truck outside my fathers house with the garage who had done the work on the phone offering to come up the next day and fix it. As it turned out a wire had fallen off the ammeter making it go dead so just had to be reattached. My father drove it down to an event in Oxford the day after with no problems.
Since then has done various day trips.
IMG_2436 by Elliot Simpson, on Flickr
IMG_1619 by Elliot Simpson, on Flickr
IMG_2437 by Elliot Simpson, on Flickr
IMG_2439 by Elliot Simpson, on Flickr
As you can see my son rather likes it
It is not in the best condition but we intend to slowly restore it starting with an interior re trim in the winter and the body off and refurbished. Longer term we are looking for a spare 3 litre engine to upgrade to 4.5 litre which is a very common modification to make it 3/4.5 which would be fun. This way could keep the original engine so could go back if we wanted. Hopefully will enter some events with it in the next year or so like Monthlery.
Hope this wasn't a massively boring read.
Fast forward to 2006 my father has bought himself a Continental GT and joined the Bentley Drivers Club (BDC). There he became friends with quite a prominent member of the club who amongst his incredible collection had several pre 1930 Bentleys. Which he brought to various events he noticed our genuine enthusiasm for the cars and was delighted to answer our million and one questions. Eventually he invited us to his house to show us his collection and give us a ride in his 4.5 litre. After the ride which pretty much blew our minds my father sheepishly asked him how much something like this was worth. The answer was as expected it was worth well over £500,000. He then asked if it was something my father would be seriously interested in which of course yes, he told us that 3 litres go for a lot less, more in the 150,000-200,000 price bracket. So of course we started searching every website and advert we could find. We searched for 5 years then a wonderful car in price range came up that my father went to view unfortunately he viewed it the day before a triple heart by pass that didn't exactly put him the mood to make the second largest purchase of his life. So he decided he would have another look after the surgery and probably buy it, but by the time he recovered it had been sold. So we continued searching by this time it has been 8 years since we started looking and the prices had all gone up hugely so my father thought he had missed the boat. Until his friend from the BDC called me at work one day to see how I was so I asked how to find a car to which he answered I will ask around for you. 2 weeks later I get another call saying he has found my father a car only one problem he wants to sell it quick as he has bought a 4.5 litre but needs the money to complete the transaction. This would be fine except my father was out of the country, so lots of phone calls later we agreed my father would view the car the day he got back and would buy it if it was as described.
It was and he bought it. So we went to collect his 1924 Bentley 3 litre speed a few months ago. A massive dream come true for my father who looks back at the pics we have of them in 2002 and can't believe he has one.
IMG_0174 by Elliot Simpson, on FlickrIt's the speed so has a shorter chassis however it didn't start life as a speed the chassis was cut in the 60s when it was restored and had a Le Man body put on it. Neither is it a matching numbers as the engine set on fire in the late 20s and was replaced back at the Bentley factory other than that fairly original.
So of course all we had to do was go collect it!!! For a bit of fun we decided we would get the train down to Watford from Norwich and drive the car back figuring that it would be a trial by fire in learning how the car works and how to drive it. So we get there bright and early 11am to collect the car after a quick walk around to inspect some of the work he wanted doing we began our epic journey.
There are a few things that are quite different with the car from a modern car of course there is no synchromesh so you have to double de clutch and blip the throttle on the way down which can be extremely challenging. Needless to say there was a lot of gear graunching as well as not much smooth progress. The good news is that it has so much torque you can pretty much go every where in top gear if you want to. The gear changes made more challenging by a centre throttle and the steering column going down between the centre throttle and the brake on the right so no heel and toe. Mix all of this with busy Watford traffic and you have the most fun and terrifying first mile in a new car you can possibly have.
Eventually we get on the M11 and start making progress we found that it would pull easily up to 60 with quite some gusto for a 90 year old or it at least feels like it does when you are being blown to pieces and the car is vibrating so much that the dash and the body appear to be going in separate directions to each other. This sounds terrible but is absolutely bloody brilliant it is the most fun I have had in a car going so slow.
After a couple of hours we stop for a late lunch. As we walk out my father says something I didn't think i would hear for at least 5 years "Do you want to drive the rest of the way" I couldn't believe it, I barely said yes. At this point my stomach went into a knot for the first time in my life I was nervous and a little bit intimidated by a car. I clamber into the drivers seat met by the huge steering wheel, I check it's in neutral with the gear lever on the right yet another thing to get used to. I flick the three switches press the starter button and it fires quickly into life, I put the car in first and tentatively pull away I try to grab 2nd it goes in but with a hell of a racket at this point i realise that 100m from the pub I have to navigate a busy roundabout with a car with drum brakes, no synchromesh, centre throttle and right hand gear change, to top off my already anxious state of mind it dawned on me that it wasn't even my car and it literally cost more than my house. Luckily I got it into third with a sweet gear change no resistance at all, a gap in the traffic at the roundabout appears i accelerate into the roundabout without stopping sweep round to the right accelerate out or the roundabout change up to 4th with a bit of graunching. At this point I feel like Woolf Barnato racing at Le Man except I was only doing 45 in reality but it was a huge rush. I rejoin the motorway and find it cruses quite easily at 70 which was a surprise as was the very sharp throttle response.
As we approach Norwich my worst nightmare begins to pass the engine begins to splutter and lose power I try to crawl the car home but no luck it goes totally dead 6 miles from home. At this point of course I think i have broken it and I'm going to be beaten to death by my father and buried in the field next to us luckily he took it very well and started checking a few things to figure out what was wrong. Oddly nothing seemed to be wrong except it was dead. Unfortunately our adventure ended on the back of a truck outside my fathers house with the garage who had done the work on the phone offering to come up the next day and fix it. As it turned out a wire had fallen off the ammeter making it go dead so just had to be reattached. My father drove it down to an event in Oxford the day after with no problems.
Since then has done various day trips.
IMG_2436 by Elliot Simpson, on FlickrIMG_1619 by Elliot Simpson, on FlickrIMG_2437 by Elliot Simpson, on FlickrIMG_2439 by Elliot Simpson, on FlickrAs you can see my son rather likes it
It is not in the best condition but we intend to slowly restore it starting with an interior re trim in the winter and the body off and refurbished. Longer term we are looking for a spare 3 litre engine to upgrade to 4.5 litre which is a very common modification to make it 3/4.5 which would be fun. This way could keep the original engine so could go back if we wanted. Hopefully will enter some events with it in the next year or so like Monthlery.Hope this wasn't a massively boring read.
Edited by ntiz on Thursday 24th August 09:18
I will take some more pics when I am over my dads next. Maybe of some of the detail.
The centre throttle isn't as bad as it sounds because the whole car is so different you sort of have to think about how you do everything in it so the throttle is just another thing to think about. I actually find the right hand gear change the most challenging.
It depends how you define parts supply. Original 90 year old parts are hard to come by and can take a lot of time to find and then will cost completely insane amounts of money. Luckily the BDC own the design for all of the parts and have given them to the garage in Watford that help source the car. So he makes them himself or has them made so you can get every part brand new made exactly to the original design.
I can't speak for all vintage brands but there is a huge amount of love and support for these cars to keep them on the road and racing.
The centre throttle isn't as bad as it sounds because the whole car is so different you sort of have to think about how you do everything in it so the throttle is just another thing to think about. I actually find the right hand gear change the most challenging.
It depends how you define parts supply. Original 90 year old parts are hard to come by and can take a lot of time to find and then will cost completely insane amounts of money. Luckily the BDC own the design for all of the parts and have given them to the garage in Watford that help source the car. So he makes them himself or has them made so you can get every part brand new made exactly to the original design.
I can't speak for all vintage brands but there is a huge amount of love and support for these cars to keep them on the road and racing.
This one is definitely staying in the family if I have anything to do with it.
The good news is my 18 month year old is totally obsessed with cars you have to pull him out kicking and screaming. Which is a good sign hahaha
I am very lucky that my dad has pretty much got my dream garage and he lets me drive them.
The good news is my 18 month year old is totally obsessed with cars you have to pull him out kicking and screaming. Which is a good sign hahaha
I am very lucky that my dad has pretty much got my dream garage and he lets me drive them.
This is a great tale. I look forward to updates.
In the meantime, OP, are you familiar with the late, great Stanley Sedgwick and his magnum opus, Motoring My Way? SS was president and then patron of the Bentley Drivers' Club and his book is full of the most lovely tales of his adventures with various Bentleys, mainly an eight litre, but lots of other stuff, too. His first car was a 3-litre. If you can't find a copy but want one, let me know.
In the meantime, OP, are you familiar with the late, great Stanley Sedgwick and his magnum opus, Motoring My Way? SS was president and then patron of the Bentley Drivers' Club and his book is full of the most lovely tales of his adventures with various Bentleys, mainly an eight litre, but lots of other stuff, too. His first car was a 3-litre. If you can't find a copy but want one, let me know.
ntiz said:
It's lovely. Seems crazy that 3 litres are SO much cheaper than 4 1/2s, but...
BTW, the plate doesn't seem to pop up on www.vintagebentleys.org/bentley-registry/page-01.p... - don't know if you're aware of that list.
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