1928 Bentley 4.5 Litre
If there is one car that embodies the spirit of British motoring achievement from the ‘Roaring Twenties’ then that is the Bentley 4½ Litre. Establishing its reputation at the arduous Le Mans 24 hour endurance race, it has become a motoring icon and recognised the world over. A good 4½ is a great all-rounder and will serve faithfully as Tourer, Sportscar, Racing car and Rally car. It will also always draw a crowd in the pub car park. 658 were built on during the six years between 1927 and 1931 and at that time the price of a new car with open coachwork was about £ 1,300 which is remarkable when you consider that the average house price at that time was about £ 200. With four valves per cylinder and an overhead cam shaft it was one of the fastest and finest cars on the road.
This car was built in 1928 and the original Bentley archives record that it was not a private order but built for stock. In these instances the company would choose the most saleable body and not surprisingly chose to copy the 1928 Motorshow car which was a Sports Tourer by Vanden Plas that featured the long bonnet as used on the racing cars of the day. This is confirmed by the Vanden Plas build sheet that states “As Show Job” and “Bonnet 6 inches longer than standard”.
The first team car equipped with the 4.5-liter engine was ‘Old Mother Gun,’ which was essentially a three-liter team car fitted with a new cylinder block. Driven as a prototype before production, it proved incredibly fast during the 1927 Le Man’s race until the historic Maison Blanche crash involving eight cars including all three Bentleys. With two cars out and the third badly damaged, Bentley still managed to win the race with drivers Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis in a 3 Litre Speed model. This was Bentley’s second victory in the endurance classic and they had done it with a considerable 20-lap margin, a damaged car, and after undergone repairs in the pits that cost them a half hour. A year later, Woolf Barnato and Bernard Rubin drove a 4 1/2 Litre Bentley to victory after a race-long duel with the Stutz of Edouard Brisson and Robert Bloch. The 4 1/2 Litre Bentley would repeat its victory at LeMans in 1929. Among the other notable accolades include a victory at the French Grand Prix and 500 miles of Brooklands in 1930.
Most of the customer chassis was clothed as saloons or tourers. Between 1927 and 1931, the company built 720 examples of the 4½ Litre cars, including 55 with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. All but 11 of the naturally aspirated 4½ Litre cars rested on the 10-foot, 10-inch wheelbase chassis, with the balance resting on the 9-foot 9.5-inch platform. Vanden Plas provided touring bodies for 669 Bentley vehicles between 1922 to 1931.
To sum up this is a very attractive short chassis Birkin spec Le Mans style Bentley, with Vanden Plas heritage, long bonnet, Pre-War Race history, matching number chassis, engine, gearbox, steering box, front axle and registration. It has a rebuilt engine with overdrive and servo brakes and comes with a weighty history file and fully known provenance.
The short-chassis 4½ Litre is widely regarded as the best-handling vintage Bentley, offering the perfect mix of a high power-to-weight ratio and sporty, compact appearance. Immortalised by brand-defining accomplishments at Le Mans and brilliantly promoted by the Bentley Boys, the car is now viewed by many as the height of pre-war British motoring.
