1927 Bentley 4.5 Litre

Bentley produced the 4½ Litre from 1927 through 1931 with 720 examples built, including 55 cars fitted with a supercharged engines and known as the Blower Bentley. Among the accolades include a victory at the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1928 and a speed record in 1932 at Brooklands with a record speed of 138 mph.

Nearly all of the 4½-Litre chassis had the longer 3300 millimeter (129.9 inch) wheelbase and all wore custom coachwork, with over 20% supplied by Vanden Plans. Of the non-Blower Bentley 4.5-Litre models, all but nine were built on the 130-inch 'Standard Long' chassis. The modifications to the chassis of the 3-Litre had been modest, with most of the emphasis put on improving the engine. The bore was enlarged to 100 millimeters, and the stroke reduced to 140 millimeters, resulting in a cubic capacity of 4,398, a nearly 1,500 cubic-centimeter increase over the prior 3-Litre. Other modifications included the addition of Twin SU 'sloper' carburetors, and the ignition was controlled by two ML GR4 magnetos. The transmission and brakes from the 3-Litre were carried over without change. The engine retained the four-valves-per-cylinder fixed-head architecture.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2019

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