Showpiece of the Week: Bentley 4 1/2 Litre
A long-legged version of Bentley's most iconic Le Mans sports car? Grab your flying jacket!
Imagine it's the 1920s and the week running up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. You’re sat outside a country pub in Kent on a warm summer’s day, flicking through a broadsheet in search of a report on the upcoming race. Over the rustle of turning pages you can just make out the chatter of a horse-drawn plough several hundred yards away and the gentle bristling of long grass in the wind when you hear them. One or two, or maybe three. Deep, raucous and menacing, their engines are being worked with real vigour and it's only a few moments before a trio of green sports cars burst into sight as the hedge line ends and roar up the hill, their four-wheel drum brakes finally pulling them to a halt at the entrance. The Bentley Boys are here.
But not for long. There's a drive to Dover to crush, after all, and the prospect of buying the first round at Le Mans for the last man to show - a fate worse than afternoon tea with the Kaiser. So off they charge, leaving the scent of racing mineral oil and moustache wax in their wake, and sealing their reputation as moneyed devil-may-care types with nothing but speed and derring-do on the menu.
Yes, that was that what it was like in the run up to Le Mans during the roaring ‘20s. Maybe. Or maybe not. Either way, it’s true that these years were pivotal for Bentley. The marque made its name at Le Mans when it cars were made in a factory on the corner of Edgware Road in Cricklewood. Its racers couldn’t have made a more interesting contrast to the current era; in motorsports fledgling years, they were brutes. And the Bentley 4 ½ Litre was the most advanced of them all.
Conceived for racing but legal for the road, the car used a 4.4-litre engine (despite the name) with four humungous cylinders. The model’s engine was more powerful than the previous racing Bentley’s 3.0-litre motor, and it was lighter than the 6.5-litre six-cylinder engine Bentley could have used but opted not to. When the 4 ½ Litre competed at Le Mans it didn’t just win, it dominated, topping its first race there despite suffering a broken chassis that ruined its handling. And because the firm was forging the reputation it carries today, the 4 ½ Litre among the most important cars ever made by the British marque.
Certainly it offered some pretty spectacular performance for its day. In standard trim the 4.4-litre engine produce 175hp (the racers had 240hp) and could push the large sports car, which wore a large chrome front grille at its fore ahead of the long bonnet and open-top body, to 60mph in around 8.0sec and a top speed of more than 100mph. By 1920s standards, it was practically a rocket ship. But some people took the performance further. It wasn’t uncommon for Bentley’s wealthy customers to request engine upgrades, including the upgrading of the 4 ½ Litre’s engine to 5.3-litres. While this compromised on weight, it enhanced the car’s effortless cruising capabilities, something owners keen on cross-continental drives appreciated.
This week’s Showpiece has been converted to exactly that specification, albeit only seven years ago, being born from the remains of two donor 4 ½ Litres and based on the chassis of a 1926 model. It’s being sold by a reputable Bentley dealer that claims “this is without doubt one of the fastest and most long legged” 4 ½ Litres in existence. So grow your handlebar moustache, don that flying jacket and transport yourself back to the glamour the roaring ‘20s. You’ll just need £450,000 for the privilege…
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