1930 Bentley Eight Litre

The French established a 24-hour race for standard touring cars at Le Mans in 1923. Each car was allowed to refill its fuel tank and add oil or water only after having covered a certain distance, and all repairs were carried out using only on-board toll kits. It was a tough concept, but the winning Chenard et Walcker covered more than 2000km in the first event. A private Bentley came second, which encouraged Walter Owen Bentley to come back with a factory team the following year. A Bentley won the 1924 race, as did Bentleys in 1927-30.

Bentley was taken over by Rolls-Royce in 1931. All Bentley designs were scrapped and variations of Rolls-Royce chassis carried the Bentley badge. After its acquisition by Volkswagen in 1998, Bentley re-entered competition, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans once again in 2003 with the speed Eight, thus validating the sporting resonance of the Bentley name for a new generation.

This 8-litre chassis does not have particularly sporting lines, although the extremely long, locomotive-like bonnet confirms that the car is extremely powerful. The bodywork is rather formal, as though the intention was to make a limousine but to let it be known that it was a very fast one. The built-in boot is quite modern for 1930 and, given an inclined A-pillar rather than its severely vertical one, this car could easily be a late-1930s design. It is, in any case, an impressive piece of road machinery.

These extracts are taken from Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design by Michel Zumbrunn, text by Robert Cumberford which was published in October by Merrell