The hands
The people behind the car
The people whose work shaped the Bentley 8 Litre.
W.O. Bentley
Founder and chief engineer
Directed the 8 Litre programme as the company's large, quiet 100 mph road chassis.
8 Litre
W.O.'s last clean-sheet Bentley
The 8 Litre was W.O. Bentley's last design before Rolls-Royce took control. Each began as a chassis for individual coachwork. Body provenance and the original engine, frame and gearbox matter. Only 100 were built.
Market value · road
$660K–$1.0M
Typical $791K · 17 sales · +110% vs ’19–’20
$398K$3.3M
Market value · road
$660K–$1.0M
Typical $791K · 17 sales · +110% vs ’19–’20
$398K$3.3M
’03’26
Market history · in the terminal
- Top speed
- 100+ mph (161+ km/h · factory guarantee)
- Power
- 200 or 225 bhp (compression-ratio dependent · factory)
- Engine
- ~8.0 litres (SOHC straight-six)
- Transmission
- 4-speed (manual)
- Chassis
- 144 or 156 in (separate frame · coachbuilt body)
- Built
- 100 (1930 to 1932)
Market & Price
The price and the proof
A terminal for one car: the model curve over the documented record, the benchmarks it is measured against, and the instruments that read it.
Records: 29 documented road sales on file · 2003–2026; estimate band $660K–$1.0M · good road cars. recorded sale prices · mixed hammer and premium-inclusive basis.
HCN:8LITRELive model
$791'056-65.3% · 12M
Model curve · anchored to 29 documented sales · benchmarks rebased at window startmodel v1 · seed bentley-8-litre · not investment advice
The readouts · model figures against the benchmarks29 documented anchors · last sale 6 mo ago
Compound annual growth
| Window | This car* | S&P 500 | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | -65.3% | +18.8% | +21.9% |
| 5Y | +2.3% | +11.4% | +17.6% |
| 10Y | -7.6% | +13.3% | +11.8% |
*Modeled price CAGR · S&P is a price index, no dividends
Deepest drawdown · model window
This car*-98.8%Jul 2003 → Aug 2004 · recovered Aug 2007
S&P 500-50.8%Oct 2007 → Mar 2009 · recovered Mar 2013
Gold-39.3%Sep 2011 → Dec 2015 · recovered Jul 2020
Forecast ladder · model quantiles
| Horizon | P10 | P50 | P90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| +6M | $659K | $799K | $970K |
| +12M | $619K | $808K | $1.1M |
| +24M | $566K | $825K | $1.2M |
Median path with the 10th and 90th percentile · not investment advice
Transaction ledger · documented salesMixed price basis · not estimates
30 of 30 recorded sales · shown in USD · recorded currency in each record
Price range · road · openConfidence · mediumThree documented RM Sotheby's sales show the spread between a later special and cars retaining rare original coachwork. The 100 chassis are not interchangeable: body identity, matching major components and restoration quality dominate the result.
Floor
$660K
Typical
$791K
Ceiling
$1.0M
Estimate band for good road cars. 17 documented sales since 2019 plotted below.
$390K$660K$791K$1.0M$3.3M
Hover the spectrum to read a value, or a dot for the sale behind it.
Band and axis shown in USD. Sale positions use indicative fixed-rate conversion to USD; sale readouts retain recorded currencies. Indicative USD band for documented, substantially correct cars. Later specials can fall below it; singular original coachwork can exceed it.
The wider market · Bentley at auction · median per year · modeled between anchors1,032 lots · 2003–2026 · exact yearly anchors · modeled line
Instrument calibration for this file is in progress — the terminal above reads the documented record directly.
Published RM Sotheby's results include buyer's premium. No currency conversion has been applied.
Overview
The final Cricklewood flagship
Bentley enlarged the 6½ Litre straight-six and used an Elektron magnesium-alloy crankcase to contain weight. The result was intended to move formal coachwork at sustained high speed without the noise or strain associated with contemporary performance cars.
The first production car went to entertainer Jack Buchanan in October 1930. Chassis YF5002, the second car, became W.O. Bentley's own H.J. Mulliner-bodied saloon and was used for fast journeys between Britain and the south of France.
The 8 Litre could not reverse the company's finances. Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley Motors in 1931, ending the Cricklewood period; the last chassis were completed in 1932.
- Built
- 100
- Designer
- W.O. Bentley
- Cylinders
- Straight-six
- Factory claim
- 100 mph
- Body
- Owner-commissioned
Reference
Technical specifications
Powertrain
- Engine
- SOHC straight-sixBentley heritage material lists 7'938 cc; period-derived auction specifications commonly list 7'983 cc
- Power
- 200 or 225 bhp at 3'500 rpmfactory figures, depending on compression ratio
- Valve gear
- Four valves per cylinderdouble valve springs
- Crankshaft
- Eight main bearings
- Gearbox
- 4-speed manualsingle dry-plate clutch
Chassis
- Frame
- Pressed steelsupplied to coachbuilders as a running chassis
- Wheelbases
- 144 or 156 in3'658 or 3'962 mm; coachwork determined final dimensions
- Suspension
- Semi-elliptic leaf springssolid front axle and live rear axle
- Brakes
- Four-wheel mechanical drumsservo assisted
The records
0cars
Total production
0mph
Factory-guaranteed speed
regardless of coachwork
0bearings
Crankshaft support
HICON BID
Buying interest, silently.
A HICON Bid is a confidential expression of buying interest on the Bentley 8 Litre file — never public, never shown to other members. It is not a binding purchase, and HICONIUM holds no funds.
Sign in
HICON Bids are a member instrument. Sign in to place one.
The vault
Open a file on yours.
You keep one? The record starts in your garage — identity, papers, photography, and the market evidence this file already carries, bound to your chassis.
The value drivers
What moves the price
Two F40s can be indistinguishable in a photograph and a million apart at the hammer: the difference is never in the paint. Build the file below and watch the band move.
Indicative band · the base car
$660K–$1.0M
a good, honest road car — before its file is read
$121K$3.0M
Spans are indicative, drawn from the documented sales cited beside each attribute. The calibrated multipliers — and how they compound for one specific chassis — are member instruments.
The variants
One badge, 2 executions
The register separates the 8 Litre into its documented executions. One reference silhouette per execution — each opens as its own file as the archive fills.
Short Chassis01Reference in preparationLong Chassis02
2 executions on file · references drawn to the house standard
The cars
The 8 Litre register
Documented individual cars — chassis, colour, ownership and sale history. Open one for its full provenance. Public records only; members see the complete registry.
12 documented · public records