FULL HOUSE

This collection of five vintage Bentleys covers every iteration of the WO era. Robert Coucher drives £17m of pure desire

- Robert Coucher

During the Roaring 1920s, the white heat of technology had created an arms race in the automotive Western World and Bentley Motors was a leading protagonist. Personal freedom was becoming more attainable thanks to rapidly advancing mechanisation, and at the forefront of this technological drive was the automobile industry.

Based in Cricklewood, North London - admittedly a world away from Motown, Detroit - Walter Owen Bentley built his first 3 Litre motor car in 1919, and soon thereafter in 1924, privateers John Duff and Frank Clement won Le Mans in a Bentley that put the marque on the shopping list of every fast-driving motoring enthusiast, many ex-servicemen and intrepid adventurers who had no fear of living life on the edge. The Bentley Boys had arrived with a 'bloody thump, the epithet applied to the engine noise of the original 3 Litre Bentley by none other than WO Bentley himself.

Not many vintage Bentleys were made, as the company was always run on a shoestring and was only really saved by its top racing customer, Captain Barnato, so he could win Le Mans three times before the marque was rather nefariously taken over by Rolls-Royce in 1931. But Bentley had established its unbeatable reputation thanks to its dominance on both road and track, setting records and standards for all other manufacturers to follow. From winning Le Mans five times and setting high-speed records at Brooklands, to offering five-year warranties on its motor cars, Bentleys were built to last the distance.