Bentley 4 Litre

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Bentley 4 Litre
Overview
Manufacturer Bentley Motors Limited
Production 1931
50 produced[1][2]
Assembly Cricklewood, London
Designer Walter Owen Bentley,
Harry Ricardo
Body and chassis
Class Luxury car
Body style as arranged with coachbuilder by customer[3]
Layout FR layout
Powertrain
Engine 3.9 L Ricardo I6
Dimensions
Wheelbase 134 in (3,400 mm)
140 in (3,600 mm)[1]
Chronology
Predecessor 6½ Litre & Speed Six
Successor 3½ Litre

The Bentley 4 Litre was a motor car built on rolling chassis made by Bentley Motors Limited.[3] The 4 litre chassis was conceived and built in a failed attempt to restore Bentley to a good financial state. Announced 15 May 1931,[4] it used a modified four 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.[1][2] 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 (3,915 cc (238.9 cu in))[5] and a power output of 120 bhp (89 kW) at 4,000 rpm.[1][5] The engine power was not suitable for the heavy chassis.[1][2][5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Lot 244: Bentley 4-Litre/8-Litre Le Mans-style Tourer". Motorbase. Hastings, UK: Classic Vehicles. Retrieved 2012-04-08. "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." 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Feast, Richard (2004). "Chapter 3: Vintage Years". The DNA of Bentley. St. Paul MN USA: MotorBooks International. pp. 5253. ISBN 978-0-7603-1946-8. Retrieved 2012-03-26. "The board of Bentley therefore decided that the company needed something to compete with Rolls-Royce's smallest model, the 20/25 introduced in 1929. To undercut the 20/25 in price, Bentley embared on the 4-litre, which had to be simpler and cheaper than anything the company had previously produced." 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "History By Chassis List of all W. O. Bentleys with original chassis nos. 4 Litre". VintageBentleys.Org. Houston, TX USA: VintageBentleys.org. Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2012-06-25. 
  4. BY OUR MOTORING CORRESPONDENT. (May 15, 1931). "A New Bentley.". The Times (45823): 13. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "HISTORY OF MARQUES: BENTLEY - British". Sportscars.TV. 1966. Archived from the original on 2010-08-06. Retrieved 2012-04-08. "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." 


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