Bentley

GB, 1920 to date

(1) Bentley Motors Ltd, Cricklewood, London N.W.2., 1920 – 1931

(2) Bentley Motors (1931) Ltd, Derby, 1933 – 1945

(3) Bentley Motors (1931 Ltd, Crewe, Cheshire, 1946 to date

W.O. Bentley was already well-known as the importer of the D.F.P. car, a pioneer of aluminium pistons and a designer of successful rotary aircraft engines when his first Bentley 3-litre car for sale appeared at the 1919 London Show. This Bentley model, indelibly imprinted in the layman’s mind as the archetype of the Vintage sports car, had a long-stroke (80x149mm) single ohc engine with fixed head and dual magneto ignition developing about 70bhp in its early form. The Bentley 3-litre was at its best in long-distance events; a team of Bentley 3-litres with flat radiators (the only instance of this apart from the same year’s Indianapolis car) finished 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the 1922 T.T., and the model accounted for the first two of the marque’s Le Mans wins, those of Duff/ Clement in 1924 and Davis/ Benjafield in 1927 on the badly damaged ‘Bentley Old No. 7’ – one of the legends of motor-racin history. Up to 1929 1.630 3-litres Bentley motorcars were made. 1924 saw the introduction of front wheel brakes and also the famous sports four-seater ‘Bentley Speed Model’ by Vanden Plas. Bentley cars are popularly known by the colours of the enamel on their radiator badges – ‘Bentley Red Label’ signifying a Speed Model short-chassis 3-litre, ‘Bentley Blue Label’ the early short, and long chassis which could and sometimes did carry limousine coachwork, and ‘Bentley Green Label’, a special 100mph Bentley type made  in very small numbers.

In 1926 the Bentley company made a bid for the carriage trade with a big Bentley 6½-ltre six for sale on similar lines. A chassis cost £1.450, but the Bentley image made no impression in this market. However, the model was developed into the 180bhp ‘Bentley Speed 6’ of 1929, considered by many to be the best of the old-school Bentleys for sale, and responsible for the firm’s last two Le Mans wins – Barnato/ Clement in 1929, and Barnato/Kidston in 1930. In 1927 the Bentley 3-litre was developed into the Bentley 4½-litre, still with four cylinder, but with a 100bhp engine which was giving 130bhp by the time production ended. This admirable car could exceed 90mph in standard form, and was used by Barnato and Rubin to win LeMans in 1928. A supercharged version was listed in 1930; it had 182bhp, and did not have the approval of Bentley himself, but it was an excellent if thirsty road car, and won Sir Henry Birkin an unexpected 2nd place in the formule libre French G.P. of 1930. Bentley finances were always shaky, and even Woolf Barnato’s aid of 1927 did not last long; the Bentley company went down in the early summer of 1931 to the accompaniment of a splendid gesture – a 220bhp ohc Bentley 8-litre six, made in two wheelbase lengths, 12ft and 13ft. Only 100 of these eight-litres Bentleys were made, plus 50 examples of a rather uninspired inlet over exhaust valve 4-litre car.

Napier made an unsuccessful bid for the assets of the Bentley company, but were beaten by Rolls-Royce, who introduced their version of the Bentley at Olympia in 1933. This was an entirely different type, based on Derby’s contemporary 3.7-litre ohv push-rod ’20-25’. It had a 4-speed synchromesh gearbox, Rolls-Royce servo brakes, and sold for £1.460 with saloon bodywork. In this form, it could reach 90mph and merited its slogan ‘The Silent Sports Car’. It was not raced, of course, apart from E.R. Hall’s three consecutive second places in the T.T. (1934, 1935 and 1936). By 1936 it had grown into a Bentley 4¼-litre, the increase of capacity being necessitated by the rising weight of bespoke coachwork. An overdrive gearbox was standardized in 1939, and the 1940 Bentley Mk V had independent front suspension, though only a handful were made because of the war. The Derby Bentley car’s swansong was a creditable 6th place by H.S.F. Hay at Le Mans in 1949, on a ten-year-old machine with 60.000 road miles behind it. Cylinder capacity was unchanged at 4.257cc in 1946, but independent front suspension, was standard, and Bentely, like Rolls-Royce, had gone over to inlet over exhaust valves. Prices for the Bentley motorcars for sale rose from £2.997 to £4.474 in 1951 for the standard steel saloon, the first Rolls-Royce product to have a regular series-produced factory body.

Thereafter the Rolls-Royce and Bentley identities merges, though in 1952 there was a special ‘Bentley Continental’ version of the latter with fastback 2-door saloon body by H.J. Mulliner which gave 120mph on a 3.077:1 top gear. Capacity went up to 4.6 litres in 1952 and 4.9 litres in 1955. Automatic transmissions, already optional, became standard that year; power-assisted steering and air conditioning followed In 1957, and for 1960 the old six at long last gave way to a 6.2-litre V8 with full overhead valves, by which time only the radiator style distinguished one make from the other. The ‘Bentley Continental’ with separate chassis was discontinued at the end of 1966; 1972 Bentleys were the 6.745cc Bentley T saloon and the Bentley Corniche 2-door saloon and convertible. Even the price differential between the two sister makes was now a thing of the past, the Bentley T-series selling for the same £10.455 as the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

REO

US, 1904 – 1936

(1) R.E. Olds Co, Lansing, Mich., 1904

(2) Reo Car Co, Lansing, Mich., 1904

(3) Reo Motor Car Co, Lansing Mich., 1904 – 1936

The REO car name derives from the ititials of Ransom E. Olds, who left Oldsmobile to form a new company. The first REO cars were single-cylinder 8hp runabouts with under-floor engines, dummy bonnets, planetary transmissions, and chain drive; the REO car sold for $685, reduced to $500 by 1909. A companion 16hp twin REO car at $1.250 had a capacity of 3.4-litres and a carburetor for each cylinder. These represented the REO car company’s main effort up to 1909, though a short-lived four REO car had been marketed in 1906. 1911/ 1912 brought the REO car the REO Fifth, another 4-cylinder REO car with 3.7-litre ioe engine, which offered central change and left-hand drive for $1.055.

REO cars were steady sellers right up to the Depression of 1929-1931, and the REO car company did very well with their subsequent ioe fours and sixes which REO cars were made with V-radiators during the World War 1 period. In 1918, 4-cylinder REO cars sold for $1.225, $1.550 being asked for the 5-litre 6-cylinder version. Only a four REO car was made in 1919, but for 1920 REO cars standardized a six, their famous ioe REO Model T with ‘back-to-front’ gear change, and two foot-operated brakes with no hand lever; 2-wheel brakes were deemed sufficient for the REO car right up to the end of production in 1926. 1927 saw a switch on REO cars to side valves and hydraulic four-wheel brakes, and in 1928 the REO car company offered the REO Wolverine, a cheaper REO car with a Continental engine which sold for $1.195, as against the $1.685 asked for the REO Flying Cloud with REO’s own engine. This REO car was the company’s best year, with 29.000 REO cars sold. The REO Wolverine was dropped in 1929, and REO car production centred on two versions of the REO Flying Cloud with 3½-litre and 4.4-litre engines. An 8-cylinder REO Flying Cloud followed in 1931, along with a bid by REO cars for the luxury marked with the 5.9-litre straight-8 REO Custom Royale, styled by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. This REO car had automatic chassis lubrication, and could be obtained in three wheelbase lengths, the longest REO car being 12ft 8in.

The REO 4-speed automatic gearbox was available on all REO cars from 1933 onwards, as an alternative to synchromesh, but though the 4.4-litre REO Flying Cloud with Graham-like sedan bodywork could still be bought for $845 in 1936, that was the end of REO’s private cars. Trucks and buses continued to be made, from 1957 as a division of White. In 1967 amalgamation of design with Diamond T led to a new brand name, Diamond-REO cars, and in 1971 this was sold by White to become an independent make.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS 

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com