Bentley could have celebrated its centennial in 2019, however this week marks the a centesimal anniversary of the acquisition of the primary Bentley buyer automotive.
That automotive was a Bentley 3 Litre, purchased by rich British racing fanatic Noel van Raalte in 1921, in keeping with a Bentley press launch. Manufactured at Bentley’s authentic manufacturing facility in Cricklewood, North London, the automotive was given the UK registration KS 1661.
Nevertheless, whereas von Raalte was the primary buyer to order a Bentley, he was not the primary to take supply, the automaker famous. One other buyer, Ivor Llewellyn, obtained the primary of three Bentley 3 Litres he order earlier than von Raalte, in August 1921. As the primary manufacturing chassis, although, KS 1661 is taken into account to be the primary Bentley buyer automotive.
The primary automotive delivered to Llewellyn was the third manufacturing Bentley chassis, and survives in the present day because the oldest remaining Bentley manufacturing automotive. The destiny of KS 1661 is unknown; it was final heard of racing in France in 1931, in keeping with Bentley.
Bentley 3 Litre (from interval evaluation in The Autocar)
Along with being Bentley’s first manufacturing mannequin, the three Litre additionally established the automaker’s motorsport legend. It gained the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924 and 1927, kicking off the period of the “Bentley Boys” that included 5 Le Mans victories in eight years, and stays central to the automaker’s identification.
Below founder W.O. Bentley, the automaker launched further fashions with ever bigger engines, culminating in the 8 Litre of 1930. W.O. ultimately misplaced management of the corporate, which was purchased by Rolls-Royce. Bentley remained underneath Rolls’ management for many of the twentieth century, earlier than being purchased by Volkswagen in 1998.
Bentley claims to have constructed over 200,000 vehicles in its 102-year historical past, with most constructed on the Crewe manufacturing facility the model moved to in 1946. That is encompassed every little thing from the W.O.-designed prewar vehicles to the streamlined 1952 R-Kind Continental and trendy Continental GT.
The following section in Bentley’s evolution is electrification. The automaker plans to introduce its first EV in 2025 on the street to making its lineup all-electric by 2030. That first EV is linked to the Audi Artemis project, which can even spawn a similar model for Porsche.
