Thursday 21st September 1922

Wealthy London playboy and race-car driver Noel van Raalte took delivery of the first production Bentley. The 3 litre (2,996-cc or 183-cu-in), straight-4 engine car was capable of 90 mph – a remarkable achievement for a standard production car at that time. It was one of the first production-car engines with four valves per cylinder, an overhead camshaft, two spark plugs per cylinder and twin carburettors. The iron engine block and cylinder head were cast as a single unit to increase durability.