Bentley 4.5 Litre tourer.
Once upon a time, when even the thought of Bentley being a foreign-owned brand would have seemed like heresy, the marque stood for all that was best in British motor-car manufacture, and competition success. Images of daring duels at Brooklands and Le Mans, in the hands of drivers such as Birkin and Barnato, continue to give the marque much of the prestige that it relies upon today. Road cars of the '20s were equally exciting, even if Signor Bugatti did liken W.O.'s products to lorries. The car shown below is a proper vintage Bentley - a 1929 4.5 Litre tourer, competing in a club event of some type. Evidently it wasn't a vintage-only outing, as in the distance an XK120 can be seen. A Type 40 Bugatti competing in the same '50s event can be seen here.
|
|
This Bentley, registration UA 9510, still shows as being taxed and on the road, so it'd be interesting to see a photo of how it looks today, some 50+ years since this photo was taken. The 4.5 had a four cylinder engine of 4398cc, and was introduced in 1926, based on the earlier 3 litre running gear and engine. The introduction of the 4.5 led to the most famous of the Bentley Boys' machines, in the form of the supercharged, or 'Blower', Bentleys. In all, some 665 un-blown 4.5s were produced.
|
