page_title: Bentley 3 Litre
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Bentley 3 Litre / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: 1924 3-litre Bentley in paddock at Lime Rock Park, 2000
context_page_description: The Bentley 3 Litre was a car chassis manufactured by Bentley. The company's first it was developed from 1919 and made available to customers' coachbuilders from 1921 to 1929. The Bentley was very much larger than the 1368 cc Bugattis that dominated racing at the time, but double the size of engine and strength compensated for the extra weight. The 4000 lb car won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, with drivers John Duff and Frank Clement, and again in 1927, this time in Super Sports form, with drivers S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis and Dudley Benjafield. Its weight, size, and speed prompted Ettore Bugatti to call it "the fastest lorry in the world." This was regarded as a compliment and the inbuilt ruggedness of the design has proven this over 100+ years!
  Built in 3 main variants, Blue label, Red Label Speed models all carrying a 5-year warranty, and the coveted and rare Green Label 100 mph cars, which only carried a 12-month warranty reflecting the high state of tune.
context_section_description: The 3 Litre chassis was shown at the 1919 London Motor Show, but the engine had not yet been finished.  It took two years to get the engine right, with the first customer delivery in September 1921.  Production lasted through 1929, by which time the car had been surpassed by Bentley's own 4½ Litre car.
  Experimental: 3
  3 Litre: 1088
  Speed Model: 513
  Super Sports: 18
  Car later rebuilt and supercharged
  In the winter of 1926/7 the factory's service department created the first supercharged Bentley when chassis number 220 FR5189 had a Roots type blower fitted to its 3-litre engine. This pre-dated the Birkin supercharged Bentleys by two years. Like the later 4½ litre supercharged cars its blower was crankshaft-driven and mounted in front of the radiator between the dumb irons. Unlike them its carburettor was mounted on the left side of the engine block. A rather circuitous intake tract carries the fuel-air mixture forward from there to the blower. On 4½ litre cars the carburettor is mounted on the blower, as commonly done on other supercharged British cars with front-mounted blowers.
caption: First supercharged Bentley, FR5189
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