THE FIRST BENTLEY GRAND TOURER
Designed by W.O. Bentley in 1919, the year Bentley Motors was founded, the 3-Litre went on sale in 1921. The use of the metric system in its name hinted at the ambition to create a car for the fast, open roads of the Continent. With innovative features for the time, including a crossflow cylinder head, twin spark plugs and twin carburettors, its phenomenal performance was confirmed by victories at Le Mans, with John Duff and Frank Clement taking first place in 1924 and Dr ‘Benjy’ Benjafield and Sammy Davis doing the same in 1927. Its touring credentials were praised by The Autocar magazine for combining “docility in traffic with exceptional speed potentiality on the open road”. Bentley’s grand touring tradition had started in style.