The Bentley 4-Litre was the old Cricklewood   company’s swansong model before its absorption by Rolls-Royce.

With the Depression biting, sales of the old 4½-Litre declining and its newest, 8-Litre model costing all of £1,850 in chassis-only form, Bentley Motors desperately needed a new smaller model to compete with Rolls-Royce’s successful 20/25hp.

The result was the 4-Litre.

At the Management Committee’s behest, and to W O’s disdain, the six-cylinder engine was designed by Ricardo, with overhead inlet/side exhaust valves and a claimed output of 120bhp at 4,000rpm.

A double-drop chassis was adopted, closely based on that of the contemporary Bentley 8-Litre, and offered in two wheelbase lengths: 11’ 2” and 11’ 8”, both of which were shorter than the shortest of the two 8-Litre chassis available.

Although ‘W O’ did not like the Ricardo design (considering it difficult to tune) the fundamental soundness of the inlet-over-exhaust arrangement would be demonstrated after the war, eng...