At the 2024 Concours of Elegance Hampton Court Palace, Magneto awarded its Art of Bespoke Award trophy to the car deemed to best exhibit the skills and elegance associated with coachbuillt and low-volume cars.
The car chosen was the 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Boat Tail Speed Model belonging to the Jaques Family; chassis TN1564, with coachwork from Martin Walter.
The car was first bought by Francis Ronald Lambert Mears, and was registered to his barracks in Ranikhet, India. It went through a couple of owners during the next 20 years, before finding one family who kept it safe for more than 50 years until Chris Jaques contacted them directly and managed to purchase it. It has never been on the open market. Sadly, Chris passed away before the Bentley’s restoration could be finished, and his wish was for the family to complete it.
At some point it had been painted British Racing Green, but the original cream colour was still evident in places, and this has now been replicated during an extensive restoration that took three years. Throughout the process, the express desire was to retain all the original features and components.
The Concours of Elegance 2024 was the first time the Bentley has been seen in public for more than 60 years. The Art of Bespoke Award trophy was collected by the car’s handlers and later happily received by the owners.
The Art of Bespoke Award trophy is a bronze mathematical art piece, named the Metatron and created by Bathsheba Grossman. It is edition 002 out of 300, produced by 1-ART, which also produces bronze statues of iconic cars.
The Bentley was the second car to be presented with the Art of Bespoke Award – the first time was in August 2024 at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.
The 3 Litre was Bentley’s very first car, an engineering marvel that elevated the fledgling company to the premier class of automotive marques almost immediately. Its four-cylinder engine was truly novel for the time – cast in one piece, it had a relatively small bore for full tax efficiency, but a long stroke that provided masses of torque. It also featured a single overhead camshaft that actuated four valves per cylinder via a pushrod and rocker set-up – in original form it produced a healthy 70bhp.
This power was delivered to the road via a four-speed non-synchromesh gearbox, with the engine mounted in a steel ladder-frame chassis. It rode on solid-axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs with friction dampers.
The 3 Litre was soon thrust into action on the motor sport scene, with early entries at the Indy 500 and the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. However, it would be the Le Mans 24 Hours that would prove to be the defining success story for the car – after missing out on a podium at the very first running of the event in 1923, Bentley returned to win at La Sarthe a year later. So started a long love affair with Le Mans, and the foundation for Bentley’s sporting credentials.
Road-going 3 Litres were supplied as rolling chassis, with bodies provided by independent coachbuilders. Over time the 3 Litre was upgraded, becoming lighter and more powerful, and it would live on to 1929. In all, more than 1600 examples left the Cricklewood factory.
