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Noel van Raalte's 1921 3-Litre, chassis no. 3, is the oldest surviving production Bentley.
Ninety years after Bentley's very first customer, Noel Van Raalte, took delivery of chassis number 3 (registered AX 3827 in the UK) for the princely sum of £1150, that same 3-Litre was auctioned at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Monterey, California for $962 500 - the equivalent of R6.9 million or £580 000 - a little more than 500 times its new price.
Chassis No.3 is completely original, with the same polished-aluminium bodywork and brass brightwork as when Van Raalte bought it in 1921, and has its original engine, with matching serial number.
Even on this early example, company founder WO Bentley's insistence on fine craftsmanship and durable engineering, a product of his background in aircraft engine design, is clearly evident.
His big, robust cars - once famously referred to by Ettore Bugatti as "the world's fastest lorries" - went on to prove their mettle in the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, winning it five times in eight years.
The first two victories - in 1924 and 1927 - came with 3-Litre models not much different from Van Raalte's car, so much so that the race cars were driven from the Bentley works to Le Mans, and back!
In just 12 years, from his demobilisation in 1919 until he was bought out by Rolls-Royce in 1931, Walter Owen Bentley forged an enduring automotive legend - and it can be said that it all started with this car.
The same car on auction at Pebble Beach in 2011.
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