GoKawiilBentley showcases 1920s Super Sports alongside new model launch
At an event in Monterey where Bentley debuted its new Supersports, the company also brought an original Super Sports from its archive—one of just 18 built between 1925 and 1927. That early model was a shortened, lightened version of the standard 3 Litre car, designed for speed and driver engagement, with bodywork customized by outside coachbuilders and a transmission lever mounted outside the cabin.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The pairing highlights how Bentley continues to frame its modern performance cars as heirs to a century-old engineering philosophy of stripping weight and sharpening driver feedback. It's a branding exercise as much as a historical one, tying the new Supersports' claim to being the lightest Bentley in 85 years directly to the marque's earliest sports models.
- Bentley built only 18 original Super Sports cars between 1925 and 1927.
- The vintage model was a lightened, shortened version of the 3 Litre with custom coachbuilt bodies.
- Bentley uses the historic car to contextualize its new Supersports as the lightest Bentley in 85 years.
Bentley: The Complete Story book — If a ride in a 1920s Bentley Super Sports fires your imagination, a hardcover Bentley history is the natural follow-up, tracing the marque from the 3 Litre and Le Mans-era racers to today's Supersports. It's a great coffee-table companion loaded with archival photos of the very cars this article describes.
See Bentley: The Complete Story book on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-09-01
Published there as: “This is what a supercar was like a century ago”
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