Bentley 8 liter

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Bentley 8 liter (long wheelbase); Construction: Vanden Plas Tourer
Bentley 8 liter (short wheelbase); Structure: 2-seater sports

The Bentley 8 Liter was a car model from the manufacturer Bentley . The vehicles were created between 1930 and 1932 from the chassis and body superstructures offered by Bentley from various wheelwright shops.

With the 8 liter Bentley broke with the tradition of offering roadworthy racing cars. The 8 liter should gain a foothold in the luxury touring sedan market segment.

The Bentley 8 liter in its long version with 3962 mm wheelbase (short: 3658 mm) was the largest car chassis from British production at the time and weighed 3700 lb (1678 kg), the finished vehicle could reach two tons depending on the body. The six-cylinder engine with double ignition and four valves per cylinder had a displacement of 7,983 cm³ and generated a maximum of 164 kW (220 hp) at 3500 rpm. The overhead camshaft was driven by three push rods. With a 110 mm bore and 140 mm stroke, the engine was designed with a long stroke. The cylinder block and head were a cast iron piece (bag cylinder), the crankcase was made of light metal. It proved to be powerful and smooth-running and could accelerate vehicles with heavy bodies to over 100 miles per hour (160 km / h). The power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a single-disk dry clutch and a manual gearbox with four gears. Front and rear the car had rigid axles on longitudinally installed leaf springs. There were drum brakes and 21-inch tires on all the wheels. The brakes were servo-assisted.

The 8 liter was originally planned as a limited series of 150 chassis. Parts were built or bought according to this number. Barnato decided to use parts of this inventory for the production of the Bentley 4 liter . This is how the 50 4 liter chassis were created from parts that were no longer used for 8 liter production.

The 8 liter was available from the fall of 1930, with five chassis still being built that year. In 1931, 62 chassis were manufactured under the direction of Bentley. After Bentley's insolvency in July 1931 and the takeover by Rolls-Royce in November 1931, production was continued. In 1932 a further 33 chassis were built from the existing parts. The first Bentley 8 liter was registered in October 1930, the last in December 1932. 100 chassis were built by Bentley and Rolls-Royce; 35 with 145 inch wheelbase (3658.6 mm) and 65 with 153 inch wheelbase (3963.4 mm).

  • 8 liter tourer (1931)

  • 8 liter Tourer (1931), radiator symbol

  • 8 liter tourer instrument panel (1931)

  • 8 liter Tourer (1931), exhaust end

literature

  • Klaus-Josef Roßfeldt: Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles. From the beginning of the century to the new millennium. Roßfeldt, Schwerte 1998, ISBN 3-00-004434-5 .

Web links

Commons : Bentley 8-Liter  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 8-Liter Bentley vintage cars with chassis, engine & Reg. . vintagebentleys.org. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  2. ↑ 1931 Bentley 8-Liter Images, Information and History . conceptcarz.com. Retrieved June 2, 2012.