Bentley 4 Litre - Misplaced Pages

Motor vehicle

Bentley 4 Litre
Brooklands Motor Museum, Weybridge, Surrey
Overview
Manufacturer	Bentley Motors Limited
Production	1931 50 produced
Assembly	Cricklewood, London
Designer	Walter Owen Bentley Harry Ricardo
Body and chassis
Class	Luxury car
Body style	As arranged with coachbuilder by customer
Layout	Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Powertrain
Engine	3.9 L Ricardo IOE I6
Dimensions
Wheelbase	134 in (3,400 mm) 140 in (3,600 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor	Bentley Speed Six
Successor	Bentley 3.5 Litre

The Bentley 4 Litre was a motor car built on rolling chassis made by Bentley Motors Limited in 1931. The 4-litre chassis was conceived and built in a failed attempt to restore Bentley to a good financial state. Announced 15 May 1931, it used a modified 4-litre Ricardo IOE engine in a shortened 8 Litre chassis at two-thirds of the price of the 8 Litre in an attempt to compete with the Rolls-Royce 20/25. Instead, Bentley went into receivership shortly afterward, from which it was purchased by Rolls-Royce Limited.

The conventional straight-6 engine used an 85 mm (3.3 in) bore and a 115 mm (4.5 in) stroke for a total displacement of 3.9 L (3,900 cc; 240 cu in) and a power output of 120 bhp (89 kW) at 4,000 rpm. The engine power was not suitable for the heavy chassis.

References

^ "Lot 244: Bentley 4-Litre/8-Litre Le Mans-style Tourer". Motorbase. Hastings, UK: Classic Vehicles. Retrieved 8 April 2012. A double-drop chassis was adopted, closely based on that of the contemporary Bentley 8-Litre, and offered in two wheelbase lengths: 11' 2" and 11' 8", both of which were shorter than the shortest of the two 8-Litre chassis available.
^ Feast, Richard (2004). "Chapter 3: Vintage Years". The DNA of Bentley. St. Paul MN USA: MotorBooks International. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-7603-1946-8. Retrieved 26 March 2012. ...only 50 4-litres were completed before Bentley Motors was acquired by Rolls-Royce.
Culshaw & Horrobin 2013, p. 82.
^ "History By Chassis – List of all W. O. Bentleys with original chassis nos. 4 Litre". VintageBentleys.org. Houston, TX USA. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
^ Culshaw, David; Horrobin, Peter (2013) . "Bentley". The Complete Catalogue of British Cars 1895 - 1975 (e-book ed.). Poundbury, Dorchester, UK: Veloce Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-845845-83-4.
"A New Bentley". The Times. No. 45823. London. 15 May 1931. p. 13.
Feast 2004, p. 52.
^ "HISTORY OF MARQUES: BENTLEY - British". Sportscars.TV. 1964. Archived from the original on 6 August 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2012. There was nothing to compalin about in the engine design, but unfortunately the very heavy 8-litre chassis was used and this resulted in a rather dull and slow car.