1924 Bentley 3-Litre Speed Model

688roadUnited Kingdom

Engine: 3.0L inline engine

A matching-numbers 1924 Bentley 3-Litre Speed Model wearing its original Vanden Plas fabric-panelled four-seat tourer body, delivered new in June 1924 to its first owner, Clive O B Beale, who retained it until 1939. A chain of documented owners follows through the mid-twentieth century, before Richard Ford acquired it in 1981, undertook a mechanical rebuild, and used it extensively across Europe and North America. The car retains its original coachwork, chassis, engine, and gearbox.

Ownership

—Auction sale
Sold €230,000 (≈ $253K)
RM Sotheby's catalogue lot →
1924-06-01 → 1939Factory delivery
Clive O B Beale
full documentation
Original recipient of the car at new delivery; specified bespoke features including a windscreen tailored to his stature.
1939 → 1947Acquisition unknown
C E K Nutt
partial documentation
Ownership recorded in a published reference work on vintage Bentleys.
1947 → 1948Acquisition unknown
R L Macpherson Grant
partial documentation
Ownership recorded in a published reference work on vintage Bentleys.
1948 → 1957Acquisition unknown
Major E Hedley
partial documentation
Ownership recorded in a published reference work on vintage Bentleys.
1957 → 1957Acquisition unknown
Clive C Jones
partial documentation
Ownership recorded in a published reference work on vintage Bentleys; held the car only briefly before it passed to the next owner the same year.
1957 →Acquisition unknown
Simon J L Forsey
partial documentation
Ownership recorded in the same published reference; no end date stated.
1981 → 2005Acquisition unknown
Richard Ford
full documentation
Undertook a mechanical rebuild after acquisition, then used the car extensively across Europe and the US, accumulating well over 38,000 miles from 1984 onward; MoT certificates corroborate regular use through 2005.
Date unknownAcquisition unknown
Current vendor from prominent Bentley collection
partial documentation
Continued to use the car on tours and rallies; the car was featured in a January 2018 motoring publication during this ownership.

Competition

No competition history extracted from the catalogue.

Maintenance & restoration

1981
Engine rebuild
Richard Ford carried out a mechanical rebuild of the car following his acquisition, after which it was put into regular use across Europe and the United States.
Documented by a handwritten record held in the car's file.

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