Bentley 3 Litre Price Guide

The Bentley 3 Litre is where everything began. W.O. Bentley’s first production car won Le Mans in 1924 and 1927, established the marque’s competition reputation in a handful of seasons, launched the legend of the Bentley Boys, and prompted Ettore Bugatti to deliver the most famous backhanded compliment in motoring history: “the fastest lorry in the world.”

The Car

Unveiled at the 1919 London Motor Show and entering production in 1921, the 3 Litre used a 2,996cc four-cylinder engine with a single overhead camshaft and four valves per cylinder; advanced engineering for its era, and a complete departure from the side-valve configurations that most contemporaries still favoured. Three specifications were offered, identified by radiator badge colour: the Blue Label on a standard chassis, the Red Label Speed Model on a shorter 9ft 9.5-inch wheelbase producing 80bhp, and the extremely rare Green Label 100mph model at the top. Bodies were supplied by independent coachbuilders (Vanden Plas, Gurney Nutting, and Park Ward among the most frequently chosen) to the customer’s specification. A five-year guarantee was standard on every car. Around 1,622 were built at the Cricklewood factory before production ended in 1929.

The Racing Record

John Duff and Frank Clement won Le Mans in 1924 in a privately entered 3 Litre, giving Bentley its first victory at the circuit it would come to dominate. The 1927 win came under more dramatic circumstances: S.C.H. Davis and Dudley Benjafield drove Old Number Seven to victory after surviving the White House crash that eliminated three other cars; a bent axle, buckled wheel, and damaged headlamp apparently insufficient reason to retire. The 3 Litre also won at Brooklands and in the Tourist Trophy, establishing a competition record that transformed the marque’s reputation from promising newcomer to dominant force.

What to Know

The 3 Litre’s four-cylinder engine requires double-declutching through the crash gearbox as there is no synchromesh, and the driver is expected to match revs on each downchange. This is not a hardship once learned; it is simply the nature of the car. The engine is fundamentally robust but demands 20W/50 oil and regular changes. Wooden body frames deteriorate and should be inspected carefully; damp ingress into the timber causes structural weakness that is not always visible externally. The chassis is a conventional ladder frame; check the main rails for straightness, particularly on any car with competition history. Provenance verification is essential at the values these cars command: body and chassis swaps have been common for a century, and a car presented as a Red Label Speed Model requires documentation to support the claim.

Buying

The Red Label Speed Model is the variant collectors pursue most actively, particularly with original coachwork and documented competition history. The rarer Green Label cars occupy a tier above that. Standard Blue Label cars offer the 3 Litre experience at more accessible prices and in more practical long-wheelbase form. The Bentley Drivers Club holds a register of surviving cars and is the indispensable resource before any purchase. The 3 Litre evolved into the 4½ Litre when heavier coachwork began to demand more power than the four-cylinder could comfortably provide.