1926 Bentley 3 Litre SS Boattail

W.O. Bentley was often quoted as saying 'Competition is the cheapest way of selling cars,' and to prove it, Bentley Motors built many competition cars for amateur racing drivers throughout the company's history.

This unique and sporty 3 Litre is one of just 18 Super Sport models, ten of which are believed to have survived today. The Super Sport was built on a nine-inch-shorter chassis than the standard 3 Litre (wheelbase size of 108 inches), and it came with a guarantee that it could achieve at least 100 mph. (The standard 3 Litre was only guaranteed to 90 mph!) This stylish and fast road car was ordered by Henry Leeson, a keen amateur racing driver who owned four Bentleys during his career before he sadly came to grief on the Brooklands banking in 1932. Leeson ordered the Super Sport's unusual boattailed body from the Surbiton Coach and Motor Works (known as Surbico), a small coachbuilder in Surrey, South of London. The car was delivered in March 1926 via the London Bentley dealer Jack Withers, complete with the one-off wood framed boattail coachwork and an optional tapered radiator and bulkhead.

This unique Super Sport has received a full but sympathetic restoration, retaining the car's integral originality.