In the earliest years of the Classic Era, that brief time before standard and semi-custom coachwork became de rigueur, nearly all automobiles combined the works of a chassis manufacturer with that of an independent coachbuilder. They were what we could call the two cars in every classic; that which was seen, and that which was most often not — the rolling chassis.

The Classic Unseen
Automotive manufacturing as an industry had seen little more than three decades when W.O. Bentley introduced his first car in 1919. The premier model of this new marque, the 3 Litre chassis, went into series production the following year.

To automotive engineers such as Bentley, the motorcar was that which was found beneath the outer body. Bow a chassis was clothed was strictly a matter of taste, but how it ran was a matter of fact. For Bentley, it was methodic, consistent, and reliable fact. Enough so that, from the start, Bentley Motors, Ltd. guaranteed each of its 3 Litre chassis for five years!    Continued...