Cliff W

Found it! My favorite of the Bentleys in the collection. Pictures are from 2019 The car was black before the most recent restoration. Can't recall when it went out bur these things generally take a few years. Link to the latest "glamour shots" 1926 Bentley 3-Liter 100MPH Super Sport Skiff/Boattail - Revs Institute

By the way - thanks, Andrew for showing me what I’m missing! I left SW Florida 2 years ago and was a volunteer at REVS for 6 years before that. I really miss that place! p.s. - the Bentley was part of the collection but was sent out a couple years ago for a re-restoration. I’ll dig up a picture of the “before”.

Minor correction - this was owned by Miles Collier and was raced extensively in pre-war ARCA and post-war SCCA competition. Miles took this car to Le Mans in 1939 but a ruptured fuel tank while leading (in class) took the car out.

Amen - Sorely needed! I would be in for a couple.

Excellent craftsmanship Pierre! I love the way it turned out. Your transformation of the basic kit is amazing!

Tremendous job, Pierre! I've been following without much comment but I'm enjoying everything you are doing! As an aside, I have discovered the purpose of the black tank on the firewall! Rather than an oil tank, it is for fuel. The car (and many others of the time) still uses gravity to feed the fuel to the carburetors. Many cars of the time had the fuel tank under the cowl for this purpose. (a la Ford Model A) The "Autovac" system was developed to provide a reservoir to feed the engine while having the main fuel tank located on the chassis. This provides more fuel capacity than otherwise might be available. Engine vacuum is plumbed to the top of the tank which draws fuel in. There are various check valve and floats to control how much is captured. The fuel is allowed to flow out the bottom to the carbs. Once again, I am enjoying your build immensely - you are a true craftsman! Cliff Pic and link below: AutoVac

Hi Pierre, Here is an interesting cutaway I found. Not sure of the provenance but it seems to be in period. Based on the internal drawing maybe the device mounted on the cowl could be an oil cooler. Seems an odd place to put it but it could be using engine coolant rather than air. What do you think? Definitely a mystery! Cliff

Great work so far, Pierre! Perhaps that device might be a chassis oiling system. An email to Revs might be in order, they can be quite helpful. Keep up the good work! Cliff

The Revs website also has great photos. https://museum.revsinstitute.org/the-collection/ Hope this will help, I’m really looking forward to watching this one! Cliff

And the other side!

Happy to help, Pierre! Here you go -

Looking forward to this! I will be very interested in seeing how you modify the fenders. I’m a fan of the Dorothy Paget SSK at Revs Institute which has bobbed fenders as well as storage bins for running boards. Good luck on your project! Cliff p.s. I do have some “hoods open” pics of that car if you are interested.

Hi Ron, Yep, that’s what I was thinking. I agree that will up the authenticity as well as adding a lot of visual interest. keep up the good work! CliFf

Love the reman engine idea! A little alpine green to break up all that yellow. the details you’ve added look great! Will you be painting the “take off” parts and accessories in their original Cat colors?

Nice job! I had one back in the day. Not as well built as yours, of course! Looks very close to the Revs Institute SSK.