I'm the Julian that brought the Bentley to James. I had no qualms at all about letting James loose on it as his respect and care for the cars he drives shine through his various videos. And anyone who can drive those flaky Italian jobs he likes should have no trouble with a real car 🙂 The gear change. It isn't as simple as just double de-clutching which I think James was doing throughout. It's also a matter of getting used to the interval between the two uses of the clutch which has to be timed just right with the throttle blip. It differs between ratios. There's no rev counter and so we have to do it by engine sound and educated guesswork. Also I think those who pointed out about the 'alloy camshaft' being an error are right. I don't like to correct the Maestro but I think maybe he meant 'alloy cam cover'. It's right that the camshaft housing and bearings are an aluminium casting and the crankshaft and sump are aluminium too. Early cars had steel valve rockers but later duralumin was used - so there is a lot of alloy used.
--If as said in the voiceover there's an unusual g/box 'stall' quirk with the pedal fully depressed, i'm not surprised it caused an issue with someone who's never jumped in one before. (but not blipping the throttle on downchanges obviously didn't help! A 'slightly wrong' blip is better than none.) I'll be honest, i've never driven a centre throttle pedal and i have no great wish to.. I think it's a bit sad that a lot of 3 litres got upgunned with 4.5 engines by period boy racers.
Probably the most frightening experience was going out in my uncles Bentley , which looked almost identical in finish. I am sure his had more gauges on the dash on his. I remember trying to slide my legs under the dash to try and find somewhere to fit something modern people have, which is legs. My son was on the bench seat behind, which had a 6 inch 'ledge' from stopping him from sliding out the side on a corner and being road kill. The brakes on his were utterly scary and the use of the handbrake was in liberal use , as he lives in Cornwall and took us up and down some scary hills , as steep up and down as 1 on 6. It coughed and splutttered and made hardly any speed. 40 mph was just making me religious with prayers to open Purley Gates for its latest arrivals about to leave planet earth. I dont remember my uncle fighting the gearbox in the same way, but sure he used to match revs to gears to help 'syncro' in the gear. He has sold it a few years ago and checking the reg, isnt the one you are in , which initially i thought it might have been. Had a self lubricating system aka oil leaks that kept the garage floor black. He was trying to buy Donald Campbells blower version last year , which was coming up for sale, but one of Campbells daughters wasnt happy with the sale and pulled the plug, I believe. Scary, scary machine but was a highlight to one of the last pre-covid holidays with him. He now rattles around in a silver Ghost ........
@@artgreen6915 I know nothing about the Bentley other than my uncle buys and sells cars and was one of the cars he had at his house at the time. As to if the rear seat ( not like the dicky in his Rolls) was a padded parcel style shelf, I will never know. The 'seat' was higher than the front seats and being like a bench seat, my son was sliding around. As James has said, the cars are coach built , so as to what they ended up like I have no idea. I have photos, but cant put them up here to show the car, if you are interested.
Very weirdly, when I was at Goodwood a few years ago, there was a Bentley Blower on a stand, and a McLaren P1 next to it behind some ropes. No touching the P1, but the chap with the Bentley was encouraging folk to hop in and take pictures behind the wheel. Worth something like £2m. Mind blowing how chilled some folk are with their cars and having people share just a little bit if the experience. Top man handing it over to share with the world.
Difference of new and old money. One was an enthusiast who wants to share the Bentley with everyone, about the car not the money. The other is a show off type.
This is common amongst W O Bentley owners. I think it’s mainly because most are like triggers broom lots of bits have been replaced. The attitude is very much anything can be fixed. Plus no mileage to worry about so drive as much as you want. Also I don’t know a single owner who hasn’t had it for years and intends to keep it. Making the value a bit hypothetical. P.s 3 litre owner here.
I noticed something similar at a Jaguar Owners Club open day a few years ago. One of the friendliest guys had a highly modified XJS V12. He was very happy to go through every change he'd made and analyse the things that worked and those that didn't work. There was another guy with a Jaguar engined open wheeler special who was encouraging kids to sit in the driver's seat to have their photo taken. He was explaining how to drive the thing and allowed kids to change gear. Then there were people with "DO NOT TOUCH" signs on their X-Types.
This is by far one of your best. Utterly compelling, wonderfully descriptive, generous historical facts. Loved every minute. Your videos have become my absolute go to and I'm on your uploads as quick as i can. Happy New year Jay, and looking forward to your content next year.
@@Loblaw_Law You’re using the wrong word, old bean. I think you were looking for something like, “fawning”. Instead , you’ve embarrassed yourself and look like an idiot. Strong work 😏
For cars worth exceptional values driving them isn't an issue really, they are worth so much it's easily worth repairing any damage that might happen. Even if they are 'written off'.
RE: shifting down. This reminds me of a friend of mine who i let drive my Riley One point Five, back in the 80's. We had both not long past our tests but i had learned in the Riley, he in a very forgiving and (at the time very modern) Honda Civic. He could not change down in the Riley (despite synchro on all but first gear. I told him double de-clutching got a smoother change but it was not a technique he had learned) and he had to come to a halt and start again every time! I still double de-clutch in modern vehicles from time to time and also drive a long way back from the car in front a habit i got because of the Riley's all round drum brakes. I would love to try a Bentley to just to see if i could get the gear change right!
Sounds like the syncro-rings in your gearbox had worn out. I had several BMC cars in the '70s & '80s including a Riley One-Point-Five and also an MG ZA and three MGAs all withe same gearbox as the Riley and while rev-matching smoothed the change one didn't have to double declutch. I feel for your friend's embarrassment!
In 1957 I purchased a 1924 Bentley 3 liter for the sum of 100 pounds sterling. The used car dealer who specialized in ex military vehicles, was so glad to get rid of it. It had a boat tailed body by Mulliner, (I believe), and was in well used condition: just another old car from pre-war days with the fuel consumption of a Spitfire. I never did perfect the gear changing but did improve on the timbre of the crash! I kept it for a while, using one half of my weekly wages and Suez era petrol ration cards to get an hour or two of motoring out of it. My pals and I would fund a weekend but she was one thirsty horse. Once mastering the driving technique it proved to be a nice old car to drive. To speed? My courage ran out at 60 mph. I sold it for 200 pounds and wonder where it is today..
Absolutely fabulous video, and great to see a little of the history of this historic marque. I am fond of modern Bentley's (and Rolls) but these old cars have a certain something generally lacking in modern cars, although the recently discontinued Mulsanne certainly has presence... The one thing that hasn't changed over the years is the quirkiness of these cars. Even a modern day Bentley/Rolls has to be studied before you drive them. No 'in and go'. Cracking car, thoroughly enjoyed the video.
Well done Jay, crash gearboxes are hard to master-and the older they are the worst they get. I was part of the Shuttleworth team with our 1898 Panhard Levassier on the London to Brighton run-2nd time I have done it-gears are still an absolute pig. The Bentley is very modern in comparison-we have several cars in the collection of a similar age and central throttle pedals were very common-as are crash gears, grabby clutches, and non existent brakes…….. You should try to get over at some time-our Race Day in October is very popular with the vintage crowd-we run both cars and bikes down the (grass) airstrip.
oh man, you're a champ. Anyone who can do the london to brighton run is a madman and I love all of the people and the cars that run in it. Hats of to you for driving a P-L, they're known to be quite stubborn, mechanically magnificent, but really not something for the untrained to haul around. I'm now rather curious how different it would be from a Minerva type A...which is to date the oldest automobile I've ever driven.
Give it a bit more time between gears going up and 'feel' it into gear. Going down, use a bigger blip on the throttle while double declutching and don't put the clutch all the way down, otherwise you incur the clutch brake.
Put my teeth on edge watching/listening to this plonker driving the car. Like the vast majority of modern cars he has no idea of how to drive without the benefit of synchromesh on the gear box. Get the changes (up or down) dead right on a crash 'box & you can even dispense with the clutch.
It's definitely the last car review i watch in 2021, and left me with a smile... so satisfying seeing a modern era car journalist having so much trouble with a real car! The thing is it actually reminded me when i first tried to drive a non synchronized gearbox in truck... try to do that with 16 gears, not 4! There is definitely a skill to it (as long as the gearbox is not broken) and when you find the "tempo", you feel like you're dancing with the machine. Wonderful feeling! Try it and you'll understand... happy new year, everybody (except if you're an undertaker, no hard feelings!!!)
I honestly don't think I'd have the bottle to drive a lot of the cars you feature on here (this and the XJ220 are 2 examples off the top of my head) It's a helluva lot easier if you have the luxury of a private stretch of road or test track that a lot of TV shows and RUclips channels rely on. But it is SO much more interesting seeing these weird and incredibly wonderful machines on normal roads, especially if they're a struggle to drive (better you than me haha!) Love the channel, you are a natural both presenting and showing your love for a very wide spread of cars.
I think you definitely win Car RUclipsr Top Trumps with this one Jay, I can't see there being a sudden slew of other channels making videos on something like this! What a machine it is, the stuff of watercolor paintings, Matchbox cars and model kits for decades, and rightly so. Even at a time when car design was very much in its infancy and "everything looked the same", the Bentley 3 Litre stands out as something a bit special. Credit to its owner as well 👍
W.O. Bentleys are absolutely the best....so incredibly beautiful and the fact that most Bentley owners drive their cars is wonderful....I understand all the parts are still available.....thank you for a great vlog
James, you did really well for a first time! I would regularly drive my late fathers 1936 Rolls 25/30 and there certainly was an art to the gears. To be honest going up I would skip 2nd and go straight from 1st to 3rd. And it was a quick lesson on double de-clutching! Of course, I'm likely to be wrong but with such short doors, they wouldn't have been suitable for a saloon and so I wonder if the whole of the rear body was swapped when converted from saloon to open tourer? PS Great video, certainly my second favourite one you've done! (I might be slightly biased with my most favourite!)
Double de-clutch instructions: (all cars made before about 1970) 1. Press the clutch pedal. 2. Change into neutral gear 3. Let the clutch out again 4. Press the throttle 5. Press the clutch in again 6. Select gear. 7. Press the throttle 8. Let the clutch out. Fortunately I never had to actually do this, as my generations old bangers were all made after 1970, though I tried it on a dodgy Morris Marina I had once, thinking the syncromesh had busted on it.
Great video. I followed one of these in the motorway yesterday. Once through the roadworks it was doing a steady 70mph. No silencer so it sounded like I was following a doodle bug. It looked in great condition. Made the commute home more interesting.
Downshifting a crash box is a skill that is so satisfying to master. Rev matching mastery is essential. Clutch in, neutral, clutch out, throttle blip, clutch in and slot it into gear!
I am envious and sympathetic at the same time. Those vintage Bentleys are glorious cars but their gear boxes are notoriously difficult. I learned to drive when double declutching was a normal part of the skill set. However after about 20 years lack of practice I found changing gear on a 60s Jaguar Mark 2
This is one of your best videos ever, not just that it's a very special car but love your raw comentry, so intresting and entertaining. Please do more.
Thanks you very much Sir JayEmm, that was a pretty enjoyable 20 mins you just gave us ! Greetings from East french Canada and please don't change James, you're so refreshing in that sea of automotive RUclipsrs clones... Keep on rolling ! 💚
I can t believe you actually stopped in front of the driveway of the house I lived in a couple of years back @15:16 ..small world! Well done for this challenging drive, glad the weather was good on that day.
James?? I am sure you were doing your best, we understand about the camera shake and are not bothered by that, beautiful old Bentley i hope the old gear box is made of tough stuff 🤣not many of us get the previlege of driving such cars!!
James…Welcome to the World of Vintage motoring!! I have belonged to the VSCC for over 35 years and so along with many others, appreciate that what looks nice, is most often throughly horrible to drive! I recommend that your next Vintage test is in a Riley with pre selector gearbox…still a mind exercise but no crunches!…just lots of thinking ahead and planning that you soon get used to. As for changing gear, well double declutching helps as does rev matching but both need experience and practice. So yes…when I see one of those “fast lorries” for sale at £300-800,000, I tend to be rather pleased that I can’t afford that much aggravation!! Well done…you were close to a Clarkson moment there…next you’ll be opening a farm!! Stay safe😎😎😎😎😎
This is one of the best videos you've done! I love this kind of car and always pine to one day own a pre war cars and never get to know much about them. The driving experience you've had is just so authentic and compelling! Well done. Happy New year.
Saw one of these (maybe the same one) on the motorway near London a few years ago. We both stopped at a rest area and I had a chance to get a good look at it. Awesome!
I absolutely love vintage cars and you Jay are one lucky gentleman to be given a chance to drive a fantastic looking car like this from times gone by 👌👌👌
It helps to double declutch when changing gear! I was given as a run around a Ford model A in a place called Corbet in Argentina and had the same problem, so doubled declutch and no problems! Otherwise a very entertaining video, glad you experienced a car of this age, not many people do and especially a Bentley, lucky man!👍
I've had the opportunity to drive a Model A truck. It was very good fun. The double clutching is a must, being aggressive with the throttle on downshifts is important as gears are spaced far apart. The other tip is light hands on the gear stick to find the gears.
Now we are talking. I'm 37 the oldest car I owned was a Wolseley 14/56 semi crash box I loved that car. Lever arm dampers and leafspings that were astonishingly compliant. Dream car to drive is a Bently 3ltr or 1926 a Vauxhall 30 98 a car as superior to the Bently or Rolls-Royce Desmond Llewelyn (Q) bought the very 1st Bently that still exists. At last a car I know loads about. All this modern stuff 😀 please do a 30 98 Vauxhall 😊 The guys at the garage called me a right old Edgar and the nick name stuck. Because I love old veteran and vintage stuff. Even my lecturer said I was from another time.
What a brilliant and refreshingly honest video showing how difficult these cars can be to drive. I bought a P2 about 5 years ago, not quite one of the great Bentley but still a 1930s crash gearbox with a very powerful engine. There are plenty of videos on youtube of these type of car being driven perfectly by experienced drivers but nothing showing just how difficult it is to get the knack of. I really didn't enjoy driving it for the first 500 miles and it was very stressful, there are no driving schools for these beasts, I wish there were, you just have to jump in and get on with it but it takes a long time before gear changing (especially down) is anything but not traumatic. Thank you for showing that it's only human getting it wrong when learning.
Great video! My friend has a 1924 Bentley and a couple of years ago we drove it from Alderley Edge to Oulton Park, which had a classic and vintage car show on. I say "we" but after watching my friend struggle changing gears etc, it looked totally exhausting, so, when asked if I wanted to drive back home, I politely declined. Plus, the fact that the accelerator pedal is where the brake pedal usually is, did concern me a tad. My friend laughed and said "you only go for the wrong pedal once!" Then laughed! Watching this video had me in stitches, watching you change gears, as I know just how hard it is! Good job, sir. He's also got a beautiful XK140 and had an D-Type Replica he had built a few years ago. Absolutely stunning! Keep up the good work. I love your videos.
I have watched loads of your videos, James, and this is my favorite one. I have your playlist going as I drive my American lorry, and I’ve laughed out loud a few times on this one.
Oh James, you really do have to learn to double de-clutch. The car is awesome, I had a 1925 Red Label for a while many years ago. I learned on a 1938 Triumph Gloria with a "crash" gearbox, so the Bentley was second nature. Wonderful video, the best yet.
Richard Cresswell, RIP, of VBE was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and he took the time to talk Bentley to me at the Silverstone Historic races a year before he died. He also let me drive the 1930 6.5litre Speed Six, which I found to be a very imposing machine but surprisingly easy to learn, & not as bad on the gear-shifting, as your 3 litre. I have had prior experience of driving my 1931 Riley Stelvio 6, so coming to a Bentley just needed a similar vintage mindset. By 1930 the racing Bentley’s were likely more developed! Any vintage car requires a lot of time to learn to drive it well & preferably in a private road setting! Modern car drivers show little consideration for early car driving, hence so few are seen on today’s roads!
Thanks for your comment Nick. The owner of this car also has experience of the Speed Six and says in the context of the gearbox that it is considerably better to use
I found completely double de-clutching and giving the internal mechanicals plenty of time, going up or down was the only way to avoid those unpleasant sounds. Practice, enables better speed matching which is critical to smooth, quiet transition. Of course, once you master this on the road, it all goes to waste when you get on track!
Not sure what I enjoyed more - the constant crunch of gears, the sincere and heartfelt swearing , the concern for the precariously mounted cameras or just the staggered story behind the car . All in all a bloody good show old bean!
A very well timed video. Tonight driving home on a country road in the dark I passed what at first I assumed to be one of those large touring bikes with extra lights approaching, but they were a little dim. Barely level with it (twisty, wooded, dark) 'nah, that's a Bentley'. Turned round at the first opportunity (not immediate) and managed to catch up with it not helped by lights at a narrow railway bridge. It was a 4½ litre, in fact from googling the plate later, one I'd read about before. Followed down a rural hill and they were doing a decent speed, with periodic light backfiring audible and visible out of the pipe. They turned round at, let's say the pub green, and I came back after going round the subsequent mini roundabout. I gambled they'd turned up the narrow hill, and lost them. Must have gone back up the main hill or been local right where I last saw them. Coming down the first hill the sound of the 1.1 litre cylinders was quite nice.
You have to double declutch with crash boxes. It is like a 123 movement with a pause to allow the engine to get to the right speed. It is also an acquired art.
I once drove a 1949 MGTC which was pretty worn out. I was used to classic Porsche, Alfa, etc and can heel and toe and double clutch with no problem. The TC defeated me decisively. That was early fifty years ago. It still burns. I feel your pain.
Reminds me of when a mechanic friend of mine told me about an E-Type he did some work on. "Terrifying to drive, imagine driving a Morris Minor with a big Jag engine in it"
@@andrewfarrow4699 it must have been a pretty poor example. E-Types were extremely advanced, sophisticated cars for their time, with power-assisted disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering and fully independent suspension front and rear (double wishbone at the front, quad coil-overs with telescopic dampers at the rear). The description your mechanic gives would be more applicable to the Aston Martin DB5, which was a big, heavy truck-like barge with suspension and steering straight out of the 1920s, Hartford friction dampers and all... a properly sorted E-type drives very well even by 21st century standards, and will keep a lot of modern performance cars honest over undulating country roads.
What an absolutely beautiful car - Julian is an absolute star for letting you drive her - i once drove a 1930 Ford Model A and that was not easy ! At 9 years younger than the Bentley she is modern in comparison- Well done James another great video !!
Whenever I see a Bentley of that vintage I immediately think of John Steed's car in The Avengers. Mrs Peel drove a much more modern Lotus Elan, but both were very much classic cars in their own eras.
It’s amazing to see how difficult and savvy it was to drive one of these machines. Especially compared to nowadays. You really had to be a great driver with focus and experience to know how to drive one of these. I have a 2013 Ford Fiesta five speed manual. I gave a gal a ride, and she was really confused why I kept moving this stick thing… that was 7 years ago. Time is gracious and telling to human ingenuity.
Thanks J, was great to see & hear this wonderful car out & about! Easy to forget how difficult the early cars were to drive, & the engineering involved!
The additional component mentioned is in fact a 'clutch brake'. This is a simple device used when changing up gears because for this you want to slow down the driving shaft into the gearbox. The clutch brake will do this when the clutch pedal is pressed fully. You do not want this effect when changing down gears - the changes James was having problems with. In fact you want the opposite, you want to speed up the driving shaft, therefore double declutching and revving the engine in between gears - note this is quite different to modern day 'rev-matching' because it's important to release the clutch pedal as you pass through neutral. So as not to bring the clutch brake into effect when changing down gears one should only depress the clutch partially and that is the art.
You are knocking it out the park with such force at the moment that the ball is rebounding off the International Space Station! Stunning work, very unique and coming so soon after your superb Steve Nichols piece. You’ve talked about 90’s Top Gear being an inspiration, I think you’re there but with your own unique style. Well done!
Up there as one of your best, James. Purely for witnessing your driving experience. The 1914 German comment- excellent. A friend has and builds these things and to see what is involved is jaw dropping. These are pure works of art.
I went to a classic and vintage vehicle show a couple of years back, and was chatting with a Bentley owner who had a pre-war model (I honestly don’t know which), he said that driving them is an art form, and even after years, you’ll find a way of doing it better, or in his ways “Making a complete hash of it and looking something of a fool”. I think you did a good job for a first time! Happy New Year, and huge shout out to Julian for letting you drive his car.
Absolutely loved this video. Deffo one of your best - simply because of how you were bringing us along with you whilst fully experiencing the good and bad of the car, instead of presenting us a highly polished but albeit more boring video. Brilliant!
Brave man to lend it to you, brave man for you to drive it....I don't think I could trust myself having the accelerator in the middle... Not sure my brain would cope with that whilst trying to just drive it. Great video and is a COOL car!
Excellent video. It's a fun car, but it should be obvious that driving one of these is very different from driving a modern car. I love that it when it pulls away from a stop you hardly hear the revs go up but it just goes. Must have amazing torque.
I take it it’s a sliding mesh box. Used to drive a Rolls with a 5 speed Dennis crash box, so satisfying to get a good down change. It’s all about matching the revs. What a fabulous rare car
IA few years ago I saw the finish of a rally of old cars in an Italian town. There were several Bentley . As soon as theu stopped , the drivers rushed to take some cardboards and put it under the engine to get the oil seeping from the engine.
what an experience...when i was a teenager in the 80's one of the old boys at my hockey club owned a blower Bentley which was occasionally his transport to away matches...never managed to have a ride in it, much to my later regret...too young an embarrassed perhaps....
YES, IT IS "SOMETHING OF A WEEKNESS" to not be able to downshift, but never mind, it's a glorious day to be piloting one of W. O.'s "trucks". HUGE thanks for being taken along!
As I recall, James Bond (played by David Niven) drove a Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Blower in the 1967 spoof 'Casino Royale'. This was the one literarily-correct detail in the film.
Sees James in a vintage Bentley and bestows an instant "thumbs up". Watches James use said Bentley's gear shift as a coffee grinder and reconsiders. Seriously though, thank you for bringing us this wonderful old campaigner, James!
I love this video, my absolute favourite of all your videos. Julian, who lent you his pride and joy deserves total respect for being so generous. What a fabulous car and I would love to have a go myself. My late father's first car (in the late 1940's) was a pre war Vauxhall with a glass temperature guage on top of the radiator, hand throttle, hand advance/retard ignition, crash gearbox etc. He lent to his brother in law one day and came back from work to find the car in the exact same position and a dry patch underneath. Turns out his brother in law couldn't work out the correct combination of hand throttle/ignition advance and mixture to start the car and after lots of attempts gave up. Fantastic car and video, thank you so much for posting it.
I really love cars from this era...I mean twenties and thirties...Those cars were living creatures...smoking,making noises,need engineer specialist to maintain and skilled driver to handle...today ´s cars are computers with wheels,totally dead ones.....P.S-As a skilled lorry driver wouldn´t have problems with double clutching and between gas downshifting ,as we say...Other way-great video as always,I enjoyed every second..!!
In the cars which don’t have synchros, you must practice the double declutching technique, i.e. declutch and bring your gearbox on neutral, reclutch, accelerate to bring the motor at a rotation speed a little bit higher than the rotation speed the motor will have when it will be engaged at the lower speed, declutch, select the lower speed and then reclutch. It will work.
Fascinating! If offered to drive a fairly 'modern' supercar like say a McLaren F1 or Porsche 959, or this, I think I'd choose this. To be carried into an entirely different world must surely be a next-level experience. It certainly would be for this petrolhead. The only car that might sway me in terms of dream experience comes from an era roughly in between: the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing.
A proper car. I find 'crash' gearboxes work better if you keep your right foot on the throttle as you down-change. They tend to slide into the gear much smoother. A very enjoyable video.
A vehicle is really difficult to drive with straight cut gears. Matching engine speed to the gearbox is next to near impossible for us modern people used to synchromesh all the way up and down. I have Vintage tractors that provide me with same challenge. i suspect that those that come after us might say similar things about the need to use any kind of gearbox to move a car forwards. Appreciate your reviews James.
Beautiful car. If you're a certain age, you'll associate these with John Steed and the Avengers. It's quite a man's car. In the original James Bond novels, Bond had one of these as well. I remember being confused by that when I read it as a child, as I thought of Bentleys as basically being Rolls, and it seemed a bit posh for Bond to choose. He had a chase in Casino Royale, where his Bentley had trouble outrunning the villain's Citroen DS-21's due to their slippery aerodynamics and front-wheel drive (despite their measly 2-litre fours, presumably). Wolf Bernato was quite a character. He is always referred to as "Captain" from his WWI service. He married a younger US socialite in the 1930's. His trademark touch was specifying white dials on his personal cars, instead of the standard black ones. These Bentleys are often called "The World's fastest Lorries." That seems a bit unfair, but it does look like quite a handful to actually drive one. Hope that I get the chance someday, but I'm not optimistic.
You quickly adapt to the pedal position reversal. First couple of trips you have to think carefully, as you did. You then settle into "OK, this is the vintage one" when starting out, and it becomes automatic for the rest of the journey. Remember that motorcycles have things wildly different and people think nothing of it.
I'm the Julian that brought the Bentley to James. I had no qualms at all about letting James loose on it as his respect and care for the cars he drives shine through his various videos. And anyone who can drive those flaky Italian jobs he likes should have no trouble with a real car 🙂
The gear change. It isn't as simple as just double de-clutching which I think James was doing throughout. It's also a matter of getting used to the interval between the two uses of the clutch which has to be timed just right with the throttle blip. It differs between ratios. There's no rev counter and so we have to do it by engine sound and educated guesswork.
Also I think those who pointed out about the 'alloy camshaft' being an error are right. I don't like to correct the Maestro but I think maybe he meant 'alloy cam cover'. It's right that the camshaft housing and bearings are an aluminium casting and the crankshaft and sump are aluminium too. Early cars had steel valve rockers but later duralumin was used - so there is a lot of alloy used.
Thanks again Julian :)
Julian is a true gentleman.
Julian -- you are definitely a sport ! Would have loved the video to have had included an interview with you.
@@JayEmmOnCars I suppose racing drivers were pretty good at left-foot accelerating in those days.
--If as said in the voiceover there's an unusual g/box 'stall' quirk with the pedal fully depressed, i'm not surprised it caused an issue with someone who's never jumped in one before. (but not blipping the throttle on downchanges obviously didn't help! A 'slightly wrong' blip is better than none.) I'll be honest, i've never driven a centre throttle pedal and i have no great wish to..
I think it's a bit sad that a lot of 3 litres got upgunned with 4.5 engines by period boy racers.
"Then in 1914 Germans suddenly became very unpopular"
Not gonna lie that got me good
Probably the most frightening experience was going out in my uncles Bentley , which looked almost identical in finish. I am sure his had more gauges on the dash on his. I remember trying to slide my legs under the dash to try and find somewhere to fit something modern people have, which is legs. My son was on the bench seat behind, which had a 6 inch 'ledge' from stopping him from sliding out the side on a corner and being road kill. The brakes on his were utterly scary and the use of the handbrake was in liberal use , as he lives in Cornwall and took us up and down some scary hills , as steep up and down as 1 on 6. It coughed and splutttered and made hardly any speed. 40 mph was just making me religious with prayers to open Purley Gates for its latest arrivals about to leave planet earth.
I dont remember my uncle fighting the gearbox in the same way, but sure he used to match revs to gears to help 'syncro' in the gear. He has sold it a few years ago and checking the reg, isnt the one you are in , which initially i thought it might have been. Had a self lubricating system aka oil leaks that kept the garage floor black. He was trying to buy Donald Campbells blower version last year , which was coming up for sale, but one of Campbells daughters wasnt happy with the sale and pulled the plug, I believe. Scary, scary machine but was a highlight to one of the last pre-covid holidays with him. He now rattles around in a silver Ghost ........
6 inch side ledge for the rear seats? That doesn't sound like a standard body.
@@artgreen6915 I know nothing about the Bentley other than my uncle buys and sells cars and was one of the cars he had at his house at the time. As to if the rear seat ( not like the dicky in his Rolls) was a padded parcel style shelf, I will never know. The 'seat' was higher than the front seats and being like a bench seat, my son was sliding around. As James has said, the cars are coach built , so as to what they ended up like I have no idea. I have photos, but cant put them up here to show the car, if you are interested.
Your Uncle Is living the life,sounds like an interesting cat. Happy New Year!
Very weirdly, when I was at Goodwood a few years ago, there was a Bentley Blower on a stand, and a McLaren P1 next to it behind some ropes. No touching the P1, but the chap with the Bentley was encouraging folk to hop in and take pictures behind the wheel. Worth something like £2m. Mind blowing how chilled some folk are with their cars and having people share just a little bit if the experience.
Top man handing it over to share with the world.
Difference of new and old money. One was an enthusiast who wants to share the Bentley with everyone, about the car not the money. The other is a show off type.
A petrolhead isn't someone who just loves cars, they love to share their enthusiasm and experiences too
Yes indeed. Unless other people get to see an old car it becomes meaningless.
This is common amongst W O Bentley owners. I think it’s mainly because most are like triggers broom lots of bits have been replaced. The attitude is very much anything can be fixed. Plus no mileage to worry about so drive as much as you want. Also I don’t know a single owner who hasn’t had it for years and intends to keep it. Making the value a bit hypothetical. P.s 3 litre owner here.
I noticed something similar at a Jaguar Owners Club open day a few years ago. One of the friendliest guys had a highly modified XJS V12. He was very happy to go through every change he'd made and analyse the things that worked and those that didn't work. There was another guy with a Jaguar engined open wheeler special who was encouraging kids to sit in the driver's seat to have their photo taken. He was explaining how to drive the thing and allowed kids to change gear. Then there were people with "DO NOT TOUCH" signs on their X-Types.
This is by far one of your best. Utterly compelling, wonderfully descriptive, generous historical facts. Loved every minute. Your videos have become my absolute go to and I'm on your uploads as quick as i can. Happy New year Jay, and looking forward to your content next year.
@@Loblaw_Law sometimes it's nice to allow someone to get carried away with the moment and put what they are feeling to words.
@@Loblaw_Law You’re using the wrong word, old bean. I think you were looking for something like, “fawning”. Instead , you’ve embarrassed yourself and look like an idiot. Strong work 😏
@@Loblaw_Law I think you just simped yourself, my friend.
"In 1914 Germans became very unpopular" delivered with the kind of understatement only a Brit like Jay can pull off well.
JayEmm at this point, easily has surpassed all other RUclips car channels I’m aware of
Haven't even started watching the video and it's already made my day. What a lovely car.
That looked really difficult to drive and well done for having the courage to do it on a £300000 car as most wouldn’t
Most wouldn't be allowed to :-)
Not really, it's pretty much the same thing as the old Massey Ferguson I learned to drive on....except a lot faster.
For cars worth exceptional values driving them isn't an issue really, they are worth so much it's easily worth repairing any damage that might happen. Even if they are 'written off'.
Actually you did pretty well for first time out, I have done about 60000 miles in mine and I still miss gears sometimes
That makes me feel a lot better!
Good on you for keeping these legends on the road
RE: shifting down. This reminds me of a friend of mine who i let drive my Riley One point Five, back in the 80's. We had both not long past our tests but i had learned in the Riley, he in a very forgiving and (at the time very modern) Honda Civic. He could not change down in the Riley (despite synchro on all but first gear. I told him double de-clutching got a smoother change but it was not a technique he had learned) and he had to come to a halt and start again every time! I still double de-clutch in modern vehicles from time to time and also drive a long way back from the car in front a habit i got because of the Riley's all round drum brakes. I would love to try a Bentley to just to see if i could get the gear change right!
Sounds like the syncro-rings in your gearbox had worn out. I had several BMC cars in the '70s & '80s including a Riley One-Point-Five and also an MG ZA and three MGAs all withe same gearbox as the Riley and while rev-matching smoothed the change one didn't have to double declutch. I feel for your friend's embarrassment!
Even 20 mph looks terrifying.
In 1957 I purchased a 1924 Bentley 3 liter for the sum of 100 pounds sterling. The used car dealer who specialized in ex military vehicles, was so glad to get rid of it. It had a boat tailed body by Mulliner, (I believe), and was in well used condition: just another old car from pre-war days with the fuel consumption of a Spitfire. I never did perfect the gear changing but did improve on the timbre of the crash! I kept it for a while, using one half of my weekly wages and Suez era petrol ration cards to get an hour or two of motoring out of it. My pals and I would fund a weekend but she was one thirsty horse. Once mastering the driving technique it proved to be a nice old car to drive. To speed? My courage ran out at 60 mph. I sold it for 200 pounds and wonder where it is today..
Absolutely fabulous video, and great to see a little of the history of this historic marque. I am fond of modern Bentley's (and Rolls) but these old cars have a certain something generally lacking in modern cars, although the recently discontinued Mulsanne certainly has presence...
The one thing that hasn't changed over the years is the quirkiness of these cars. Even a modern day Bentley/Rolls has to be studied before you drive them. No 'in and go'.
Cracking car, thoroughly enjoyed the video.
Surely the fabled 106 is what people want to see first?
early or late Ghost? Considering the time it's been sold, modified, enhanced and improved on...every Ghost is unique...
Well done Jay, crash gearboxes are hard to master-and the older they are the worst they get. I was part of the Shuttleworth team with our 1898 Panhard Levassier on the London to Brighton run-2nd time I have done it-gears are still an absolute pig. The Bentley is very modern in comparison-we have several cars in the collection of a similar age and central throttle pedals were very common-as are crash gears, grabby clutches, and non existent brakes…….. You should try to get over at some time-our Race Day in October is very popular with the vintage crowd-we run both cars and bikes down the (grass) airstrip.
That's where the double clutching is from. Then we got synchromesh.
oh man, you're a champ. Anyone who can do the london to brighton run is a madman and I love all of the people and the cars that run in it. Hats of to you for driving a P-L, they're known to be quite stubborn, mechanically magnificent, but really not something for the untrained to haul around. I'm now rather curious how different it would be from a Minerva type A...which is to date the oldest automobile I've ever driven.
If you know how to drive then double-declutching comes easily. This applies to the big TV car show presenters as well!
Give it a bit more time between gears going up and 'feel' it into gear. Going down, use a bigger blip on the throttle while double declutching and don't put the clutch all the way down, otherwise you incur the clutch brake.
Put my teeth on edge watching/listening to this plonker driving the car. Like the vast majority of modern cars he has no idea of how to drive without the benefit of synchromesh on the gear box. Get the changes (up or down) dead right on a crash 'box & you can even dispense with the clutch.
The oil filler cap is a work of art.
It's definitely the last car review i watch in 2021, and left me with a smile... so satisfying seeing a modern era car journalist having so much trouble with a real car! The thing is it actually reminded me when i first tried to drive a non synchronized gearbox in truck... try to do that with 16 gears, not 4! There is definitely a skill to it (as long as the gearbox is not broken) and when you find the "tempo", you feel like you're dancing with the machine. Wonderful feeling! Try it and you'll understand... happy new year, everybody (except if you're an undertaker, no hard feelings!!!)
I honestly don't think I'd have the bottle to drive a lot of the cars you feature on here (this and the XJ220 are 2 examples off the top of my head) It's a helluva lot easier if you have the luxury of a private stretch of road or test track that a lot of TV shows and RUclips channels rely on. But it is SO much more interesting seeing these weird and incredibly wonderful machines on normal roads, especially if they're a struggle to drive (better you than me haha!) Love the channel, you are a natural both presenting and showing your love for a very wide spread of cars.
The ability to manually control mixture and timing from the cockpit is simply awesome.
Well I don't think they were automatically electronically controlled at all, so you needed to.
I think you definitely win Car RUclipsr Top Trumps with this one Jay, I can't see there being a sudden slew of other channels making videos on something like this!
What a machine it is, the stuff of watercolor paintings, Matchbox cars and model kits for decades, and rightly so. Even at a time when car design was very much in its infancy and "everything looked the same", the Bentley 3 Litre stands out as something a bit special.
Credit to its owner as well 👍
W.O. Bentleys are absolutely the best....so incredibly beautiful and the fact that most Bentley owners drive their cars is wonderful....I understand all the parts are still available.....thank you for a great vlog
James, you did really well for a first time! I would regularly drive my late fathers 1936 Rolls 25/30 and there certainly was an art to the gears. To be honest going up I would skip 2nd and go straight from 1st to 3rd. And it was a quick lesson on double de-clutching! Of course, I'm likely to be wrong but with such short doors, they wouldn't have been suitable for a saloon and so I wonder if the whole of the rear body was swapped when converted from saloon to open tourer? PS Great video, certainly my second favourite one you've done! (I might be slightly biased with my most favourite!)
Thanks for the feedback!
@@JayEmmOnCars Quick ! Follow that Mustang.
Double de-clutch instructions: (all cars made before about 1970)
1. Press the clutch pedal.
2. Change into neutral gear
3. Let the clutch out again
4. Press the throttle
5. Press the clutch in again
6. Select gear.
7. Press the throttle
8. Let the clutch out.
Fortunately I never had to actually do this, as my generations old bangers were all made after 1970, though I tried it on a dodgy Morris Marina I had once, thinking the syncromesh had busted on it.
That was exactly how a vintage auto test drive should be done... knowledge, fun, opinion, accolades and real life...well done
Great video. I followed one of these in the motorway yesterday. Once through the roadworks it was doing a steady 70mph. No silencer so it sounded like I was following a doodle bug. It looked in great condition. Made the commute home more interesting.
Great video, and it's nice to see David Brent from the office making his appearance in the car! 😂😂
Downshifting a crash box is a skill that is so satisfying to master. Rev matching mastery is essential. Clutch in, neutral, clutch out, throttle blip, clutch in and slot it into gear!
Or do it without the clutch, there's no need to use it(other than stopped) just a little more skill.
And your leg will thank you.
I am envious and sympathetic at the same time. Those vintage Bentleys are glorious cars but their gear boxes are notoriously difficult. I learned to drive when double declutching was a normal part of the skill set. However after about 20 years lack of practice I found changing gear on a 60s Jaguar Mark 2
This is one of your best videos ever, not just that it's a very special car but love your raw comentry, so intresting and entertaining. Please do more.
Thanks you very much Sir JayEmm, that was a pretty enjoyable 20 mins you just gave us ! Greetings from East french Canada and please don't change James, you're so refreshing in that sea of automotive RUclipsrs clones... Keep on rolling ! 💚
I can t believe you actually stopped in front of the driveway of the house I lived in a couple of years back @15:16 ..small world! Well done for this challenging drive, glad the weather was good on that day.
James?? I am sure you were doing your best, we understand about the camera shake and are not bothered by that, beautiful old Bentley i hope the old gear box is made of tough stuff 🤣not many of us get the previlege of driving such cars!!
James…Welcome to the World of Vintage motoring!! I have belonged to the VSCC for over 35 years and so along with many others, appreciate that what looks nice, is most often throughly horrible to drive! I recommend that your next Vintage test is in a Riley with pre selector gearbox…still a mind exercise but no crunches!…just lots of thinking ahead and planning that you soon get used to. As for changing gear, well double declutching helps as does rev matching but both need experience and practice. So yes…when I see one of those “fast lorries” for sale at £300-800,000, I tend to be rather pleased that I can’t afford that much aggravation!! Well done…you were close to a Clarkson moment there…next you’ll be opening a farm!! Stay safe😎😎😎😎😎
This is one of the best videos you've done! I love this kind of car and always pine to one day own a pre war cars and never get to know much about them. The driving experience you've had is just so authentic and compelling! Well done. Happy New year.
Thanks! Happy New Year to you too
Saw one of these (maybe the same one) on the motorway near London a few years ago. We both stopped at a rest area and I had a chance to get a good look at it. Awesome!
I absolutely love vintage cars and you Jay are one lucky gentleman to be given a chance to drive a fantastic looking car like this from times gone by 👌👌👌
It helps to double declutch when changing gear! I was given as a run around a Ford model A in a place called Corbet in Argentina and had the same problem, so doubled declutch and no problems! Otherwise a very entertaining video, glad you experienced a car of this age, not many people do and especially a Bentley, lucky man!👍
I've had the opportunity to drive a Model A truck. It was very good fun. The double clutching is a must, being aggressive with the throttle on downshifts is important as gears are spaced far apart. The other tip is light hands on the gear stick to find the gears.
Now we are talking. I'm 37 the oldest car I owned was a Wolseley 14/56 semi crash box I loved that car. Lever arm dampers and leafspings that were astonishingly compliant.
Dream car to drive is a Bently 3ltr or 1926 a Vauxhall 30 98 a car as superior to the Bently or Rolls-Royce
Desmond Llewelyn (Q) bought the very 1st Bently that still exists.
At last a car I know loads about. All this modern stuff 😀 please do a 30 98 Vauxhall 😊
The guys at the garage called me a right old Edgar and the nick name stuck. Because I love old veteran and vintage stuff. Even my lecturer said I was from another time.
What a brilliant and refreshingly honest video showing how difficult these cars can be to drive. I bought a P2 about 5 years ago, not quite one of the great Bentley but still a 1930s crash gearbox with a very powerful engine. There are plenty of videos on youtube of these type of car being driven perfectly by experienced drivers but nothing showing just how difficult it is to get the knack of. I really didn't enjoy driving it for the first 500 miles and it was very stressful, there are no driving schools for these beasts, I wish there were, you just have to jump in and get on with it but it takes a long time before gear changing (especially down) is anything but not traumatic. Thank you for showing that it's only human getting it wrong when learning.
Great video! My friend has a 1924 Bentley and a couple of years ago we drove it from Alderley Edge to Oulton Park, which had a classic and vintage car show on. I say "we" but after watching my friend struggle changing gears etc, it looked totally exhausting, so, when asked if I wanted to drive back home, I politely declined. Plus, the fact that the accelerator pedal is where the brake pedal usually is, did concern me a tad. My friend laughed and said "you only go for the wrong pedal once!" Then laughed! Watching this video had me in stitches, watching you change gears, as I know just how hard it is! Good job, sir.
He's also got a beautiful XK140 and had an D-Type Replica he had built a few years ago. Absolutely stunning! Keep up the good work. I love your videos.
"Right turn Clyde". Loved it. Use that myself all the time. Great video again.
I have watched loads of your videos, James, and this is my favorite one. I have your playlist going as I drive my American lorry, and I’ve laughed out loud a few times on this one.
Oh James, you really do have to learn to double de-clutch. The car is awesome, I had a 1925 Red Label for a while many years ago. I learned on a 1938 Triumph Gloria with a "crash" gearbox, so the Bentley was second nature. Wonderful video, the best yet.
I grew up with a Lada, and every time I hear the sound of a REALLY old car from interior it freaks me out how similar it is to the lada built in 90 s
Richard Cresswell, RIP, of VBE was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and he took the time to talk Bentley to me at the Silverstone Historic races a year before he died. He also let me drive the 1930 6.5litre Speed Six, which I found to be a very imposing machine but surprisingly easy to learn, & not as bad on the gear-shifting, as your 3 litre. I have had prior experience of driving my 1931 Riley Stelvio 6, so coming to a Bentley just needed a similar vintage mindset. By 1930 the racing Bentley’s were likely more developed! Any vintage car requires a lot of time to learn to drive it well & preferably in a private road setting! Modern car drivers show little consideration for early car driving, hence so few are seen on today’s roads!
Thanks for your comment Nick. The owner of this car also has experience of the Speed Six and says in the context of the gearbox that it is considerably better to use
I found completely double de-clutching and giving the internal mechanicals plenty of time, going up or down was the only way to avoid those unpleasant sounds. Practice, enables better speed matching which is critical to smooth, quiet transition. Of course, once you master this on the road, it all goes to waste when you get on track!
Insanely enjoyable to watch. Wouldn’t worry about the history we can always read it on the tintenet. Don’t crash!!!
8:54 The reflections in the windscreen give a movie style 'flashback memory' as if you were being reminded of some kind of traumatic event. :)
Not sure what I enjoyed more - the constant crunch of gears, the sincere and heartfelt swearing , the concern for the precariously mounted cameras or just the staggered story behind the car .
All in all a bloody good show old bean!
Hi Jay, this is how I drive my modern BMW which I've owned and daily driven since 2017. I'm slightly low on talent but high on enthusiasm baby
A very well timed video. Tonight driving home on a country road in the dark I passed what at first I assumed to be one of those large touring bikes with extra lights approaching, but they were a little dim. Barely level with it (twisty, wooded, dark) 'nah, that's a Bentley'. Turned round at the first opportunity (not immediate) and managed to catch up with it not helped by lights at a narrow railway bridge.
It was a 4½ litre, in fact from googling the plate later, one I'd read about before. Followed down a rural hill and they were doing a decent speed, with periodic light backfiring audible and visible out of the pipe. They turned round at, let's say the pub green, and I came back after going round the subsequent mini roundabout. I gambled they'd turned up the narrow hill, and lost them. Must have gone back up the main hill or been local right where I last saw them.
Coming down the first hill the sound of the 1.1 litre cylinders was quite nice.
Hahahaha love it.. Just casually crunching through the gears on a 99 year old £300,000 Bentley!
Another day at the office
You have to double declutch with crash boxes. It is like a 123 movement with a pause to allow the engine to get to the right speed. It is also an acquired art.
Great variety love your stuff
Splendid. Rorty engine, singing gearbox, along with the intangibles - the smell of hot oil, fuel, and old leather. Thank you, this was wonderful!
I once drove a 1949 MGTC which was pretty worn out. I was used to classic Porsche, Alfa, etc and can heel and toe and double clutch with no problem. The TC defeated me decisively. That was early fifty years ago. It still burns. I feel your pain.
"The fastest lorry in the world" As Ettore Bugatti said.
Well, that's more the four and a half litre and Speed Six cars.
sidenote, love your name and pic... I share your enthusiasm, good sir.
Reminds me of when a mechanic friend of mine told me about an E-Type he did some work on. "Terrifying to drive, imagine driving a Morris Minor with a big Jag engine in it"
@@andrewfarrow4699 it must have been a pretty poor example. E-Types were extremely advanced, sophisticated cars for their time, with power-assisted disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering and fully independent suspension front and rear (double wishbone at the front, quad coil-overs with telescopic dampers at the rear). The description your mechanic gives would be more applicable to the Aston Martin DB5, which was a big, heavy truck-like barge with suspension and steering straight out of the 1920s, Hartford friction dampers and all... a properly sorted E-type drives very well even by 21st century standards, and will keep a lot of modern performance cars honest over undulating country roads.
What an absolutely beautiful car - Julian is an absolute star for letting you drive her - i once drove a 1930 Ford Model A and that was not easy ! At 9 years younger than the Bentley she is modern in comparison- Well done James another great video !!
Whenever I see a Bentley of that vintage I immediately think of John Steed's car in The Avengers. Mrs Peel drove a much more modern Lotus Elan, but both were very much classic cars in their own eras.
It’s amazing to see how difficult and savvy it was to drive one of these machines. Especially compared to nowadays. You really had to be a great driver with focus and experience to know how to drive one of these. I have a 2013 Ford Fiesta five speed manual. I gave a gal a ride, and she was really confused why I kept moving this stick thing… that was 7 years ago. Time is gracious and telling to human ingenuity.
Thanks J, was great to see & hear this wonderful car out & about! Easy to forget how difficult the early cars were to drive, & the engineering involved!
The additional component mentioned is in fact a 'clutch brake'. This is a simple device used when changing up gears because for this you want to slow down the driving shaft into the gearbox. The clutch brake will do this when the clutch pedal is pressed fully. You do not want this effect when changing down gears - the changes James was having problems with. In fact you want the opposite, you want to speed up the driving shaft, therefore double declutching and revving the engine in between gears - note this is quite different to modern day 'rev-matching' because it's important to release the clutch pedal as you pass through neutral. So as not to bring the clutch brake into effect when changing down gears one should only depress the clutch partially and that is the art.
Love it, especially questioning the parentage of the gearbox! You’re a brave man, brilliant, well done!
Wouldn't normally never watch a review of car like this but when your videos I try to watch every single one I can
I recently took ownership of a 53 Morgan +4, flat rad, like you say quite terrifying to drive, but everyone should experience a car of this vintage.
Brilliant video btw
It's a very nice car but i'm distracted too much by the bonnet being the wrong colour....... i know bit ocd.
You are knocking it out the park with such force at the moment that the ball is rebounding off the International Space Station! Stunning work, very unique and coming so soon after your superb Steve Nichols piece. You’ve talked about 90’s Top Gear being an inspiration, I think you’re there but with your own unique style.
Well done!
Up there as one of your best, James. Purely for witnessing your driving experience. The 1914 German comment- excellent. A friend has and builds these things and to see what is involved is jaw dropping. These are pure works of art.
I went to a classic and vintage vehicle show a couple of years back, and was chatting with a Bentley owner who had a pre-war model (I honestly don’t know which), he said that driving them is an art form, and even after years, you’ll find a way of doing it better, or in his ways “Making a complete hash of it and looking something of a fool”.
I think you did a good job for a first time!
Happy New Year, and huge shout out to Julian for letting you drive his car.
Absolutely loved this video. Deffo one of your best - simply because of how you were bringing us along with you whilst fully experiencing the good and bad of the car, instead of presenting us a highly polished but albeit more boring video. Brilliant!
Brave man to lend it to you, brave man for you to drive it....I don't think I could trust myself having the accelerator in the middle... Not sure my brain would cope with that whilst trying to just drive it. Great video and is a COOL car!
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one having very little interest in this era of cars. Total surprise. Absolutely brilliant!
Excellent video.
It's a fun car, but it should be obvious that driving one of these is very different from driving a modern car.
I love that it when it pulls away from a stop you hardly hear the revs go up but it just goes. Must have amazing torque.
I take it it’s a sliding mesh box.
Used to drive a Rolls with a 5 speed Dennis crash box, so satisfying to get a good down change. It’s all about matching the revs.
What a fabulous rare car
Bouncy camera = helping show the true experience of driving this historic Bentley. Really adds to your video!👍
What a gorgeous sound it makes through the gears. It sounds just like an old AEC bus
IA few years ago I saw the finish of a rally of old cars in an Italian town.
There were several Bentley .
As soon as theu stopped , the drivers rushed to take some cardboards and put it under the engine to get the oil seeping from the engine.
I would be very scared to drive this. I'm sure you did better than you think. This was a very enjoyable piece.
what an experience...when i was a teenager in the 80's one of the old boys at my hockey club owned a blower Bentley which was occasionally his transport to away matches...never managed to have a ride in it, much to my later regret...too young an embarrassed perhaps....
No problem stopping to replace down shifting! Lovely day for the drive!
YES, IT IS "SOMETHING OF A WEEKNESS" to not be able to downshift, but never mind, it's a glorious day to be piloting one of W. O.'s "trucks". HUGE thanks for being taken along!
Easily my favourite video so far, that thing sounds mad and well done for not killing yourself or it. pedals would mess with my head. Fabulous content
As I recall, James Bond (played by David Niven) drove a Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Blower in the 1967 spoof 'Casino Royale'.
This was the one literarily-correct detail in the film.
What a fabulous car, and a great video. Thank you to both you and to Julian for the chance to ride along with you on this special occasion.
Sees James in a vintage Bentley and bestows an instant "thumbs up". Watches James use said Bentley's gear shift as a coffee grinder and reconsiders. Seriously though, thank you for bringing us this wonderful old campaigner, James!
The one shaky camera was actually quite good! It gave you a real sensation of the ride
I love this video, my absolute favourite of all your videos. Julian, who lent you his pride and joy deserves total respect for being so generous. What a fabulous car and I would love to have a go myself. My late father's first car (in the late 1940's) was a pre war Vauxhall with a glass temperature guage on top of the radiator, hand throttle, hand advance/retard ignition, crash gearbox etc. He lent to his brother in law one day and came back from work to find the car in the exact same position and a dry patch underneath. Turns out his brother in law couldn't work out the correct combination of hand throttle/ignition advance and mixture to start the car and after lots of attempts gave up.
Fantastic car and video, thank you so much for posting it.
I really love cars from this era...I mean twenties and thirties...Those cars were living creatures...smoking,making noises,need engineer specialist to maintain and skilled driver to handle...today ´s cars are computers with wheels,totally dead ones.....P.S-As a skilled lorry driver wouldn´t have problems with double clutching and between gas downshifting ,as we say...Other way-great video as always,I enjoyed every second..!!
In the cars which don’t have synchros, you must practice the double declutching technique, i.e. declutch and bring your gearbox on neutral, reclutch, accelerate to bring the motor at a rotation speed a little bit higher than the rotation speed the motor will have when it will be engaged at the lower speed, declutch, select the lower speed and then reclutch. It will work.
I was double declutching - it just isn't "that simple" with a car like this
Fascinating! If offered to drive a fairly 'modern' supercar like say a McLaren F1 or Porsche 959, or this, I think I'd choose this. To be carried into an entirely different world must surely be a next-level experience. It certainly would be for this petrolhead. The only car that might sway me in terms of dream experience comes from an era roughly in between: the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing.
what a lovely video. What a lovely car. Thanks Julian and Jay for making my day.
You lucky man!!!! You can keep your 'all-look-the-same' supercar junk. This is such a fantastic machine. Excellent to see. Well done!!!!
He needs to take that to The Smallest Cog over in Hereford. What a treat that would be to see. Great vid Jay
Also: 16:57 had me in tears 😂
A proper car. I find 'crash' gearboxes work better if you keep your right foot on the throttle as you down-change. They tend to slide into the gear much smoother. A very enjoyable video.
A vehicle is really difficult to drive with straight cut gears. Matching engine speed to the gearbox is next to near impossible for us modern people used to synchromesh all the way up and down. I have Vintage tractors that provide me with same challenge. i suspect that those that come after us might say similar things about the need to use any kind of gearbox to move a car forwards. Appreciate your reviews James.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video of you 'driving' a car rather than in modern cars, you being driven. I would love to own a vintage Bentley one day.
“Not exactly a VTEC lump” - the best piece of commentary ever 😂😂 great video Jay
Beautiful car. If you're a certain age, you'll associate these with John Steed and the Avengers. It's quite a man's car. In the original James Bond novels, Bond had one of these as well. I remember being confused by that when I read it as a child, as I thought of Bentleys as basically being Rolls, and it seemed a bit posh for Bond to choose. He had a chase in Casino Royale, where his Bentley had trouble outrunning the villain's Citroen DS-21's due to their slippery aerodynamics and front-wheel drive (despite their measly 2-litre fours, presumably).
Wolf Bernato was quite a character. He is always referred to as "Captain" from his WWI service. He married a younger US socialite in the 1930's. His trademark touch was specifying white dials on his personal cars, instead of the standard black ones.
These Bentleys are often called "The World's fastest Lorries." That seems a bit unfair, but it does look like quite a handful to actually drive one. Hope that I get the chance someday, but I'm not optimistic.
You quickly adapt to the pedal position reversal. First couple of trips you have to think carefully, as you did. You then settle into "OK, this is the vintage one" when starting out, and it becomes automatic for the rest of the journey. Remember that motorcycles have things wildly different and people think nothing of it.
To be fair with a motorbike it isnt anything like a car so I'm not lulled into that false sense of security
Best JayEmm video ever!
History, technical detail, and caught by a bus 🤣